South Korea strongly protested China's return of the...

South Korea strongly protested China's return of the seven North Korean defectors to North Korea on January 12. A statement released by the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry said that South Korea "expressed deep regrets about the Chinese government's action and lodged a strong protest over the matter." The statement was in response to China's sending the defectors back to the North despite South Korean civic groups' demands that they be allowed to defect to South Korea. Fearing they would face execution if sent back to North Korea, civic groups in South Korea called on Russia and China to send them to South Korea.