Top South Korean officials have called on China to refrain from detaining and forcibly repatriating North Korean defectors, as thousands face being sent home against their will when the DPRK reopens its borders.

“We ask for the Chinese government's cooperation on the issue of detention and forced repatriation of North Korean defectors in China, which has been continuously raised by South Korea and the international community,” new unification minister Kim Yung-ho said at a press conference in Seoul on Wednesday.