North Korea executed about 70 refugees

North Korea executed about 70 refugees who were captured in China and sent home, the Commission to Help North Korean Refugees said citing informants in China. 
The group said about eight or nine of the 70 executed sometime in January were put to death in public to discourage others from trying to slip across the border into China.
No independent confirmation of the report was available but the group was regarded as a reliable source of information on reclusive North Korea.
"What the North is aiming to do is to completely shut off the escape route and particularly refugees who try to flee for the second and third time," said a representative of the group, Kim Bum-soo.
China is North Korea's sole remaining important friend and often sends back North Koreans, who China regards as illegal immigrants and not as refugees.
As many as 300,000 North Korean refugees were believed to be hiding in China. A South Korean official who monitors the North said he had no knowledge of any such executions and no other groups that focused on human rights in North Korea had issued similar reports.