North Korean refugees in Russia are at risk of being forcibly returned to North Korea, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Thursday.

Many North Koreans travel to Russia for work, but they are kept under surveillance by North Korean officials while they are there. A North Korean worker, Choe Kum Chol, evaded his minders with the help of an activist in July 2021. However, by September Choe had been taken from his safe house by Russian police. The activist later learned that Choe was being held in the North Korean consulate in Vladivostok with two other North Korean refugees.

The activist came forward with the information to try to pressure the Russian government to prevent Choe’s forced return. Refugees who are forced back to North Korea face punishments that include torture, forced labor, long imprisonment, and even execution. The total number of North Koreans who have been returned to North Korea by Russia is unknown, but HRW knows of at least three other cases of North Koreans being disappeared in Russia while applying for refugee status.

HRW noted that Russia is signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention. The organization called upon Russia to protect the right of North Koreans to seek asylum under the Convention. Russia also “needs to protect asylum seekers from enforced disappearance and prevent their forced return” as well as provide Choe and other North Koreans safe passage to third countries.