SEOUL, April 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korean defectors are in poorer health than South Koreans with hepatitis or those who underwent organ transplant surgery, a study showed Monday.

A team led by Choi Myeong-ae, a professor of nursing at Seoul National University, said their research on 213 North Korean defectors showed they received an average of 434.88 points in the category of health condition.

The rate was much lower than that of those with hepatitis (509 points) and those who underwent organ transplant surgery (491.2 points).

About 83 percent of those surveyed suffer from more than one disease, and the average number of diseases they contracted after escaping from their country was 2.3.

Digestive problems were the No. 1 cause of ill health among defectors with 32.85 percent, followed by musculoskeletal disorders with 32.86 percent and mental problems with 20.1 percent.

Most defectors are in poor mental condition and many experience melancholia.

Their average points in the category of mental health was 52.72, lower than South Korean elders residing in rural areas (63.09) and manual laborers (60).

Among those defectors who complained of mental stress, 47.9 percent cited worries about family members living in North Korea and 36.2 percent mentioned an uncertain future in the South as the major reason. About 10 percent singled out political instability in the country.

WASHINGTON, April 5 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday overturned a Los Angeles court's decision and ruled North Korean refugees who previously settled in South Korea are not eligible for asylum in the United States.

Under the ruling, two such refugees were ordered to return to South Korea. The decision is also likely to affect other similar appeals filed by the former North Koreans.

A decision made Wednesday by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), a department agency, said the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 "does not apply to North Koreans who have availed themselves of the right to citizenship in South Korea."
The two people who have requested asylum in the U.S. are thus "precluded from establishing eligibility for asylum as to North Korea on the basis of their firm resettlement in South Korea," the BIA said.

The two, one male and one female, crossed into the U.S. two years ago from the Mexican border. They filed an appeal when they were ordered to leave.

The BIA decision overturns earlier actions by the Los Angeles Immigration Court which granted asylum to a number of North Korean defectors who had legally been living in South Korea before seeking resettlement in the U.S.

The North Korean Human Rights Act states that the U.S. should facilitate the acceptance of refugees from the communist country, but there are varying interpretations on whether it applies to those who received asylum in South Korea.

The State Department had expressed alarm at the earlier decision by the L.A. immigration court, arguing that the act only applies to those who did not obtain legal status in another country.

The BIA said that in reaching the decision, it has "considered that each respondent has significant ties with South Korea, i.e. citizenship and children who live there."
"We also note that while living in South Korea, the respondents were employed, moved freely around the country, made public speeches, raised a family, and easily arranged travel to Mexico," it said.

ldm@yna.co.kr
(END)

UN agency- Outbreak of FMD in North Korea under control

ROME (AP)--A recent outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease among cattle in North Korea appears to be under control and it is unlikely that the virus will spread further, a U.N. food agency said April 4.

The disease was brought into the country through a shipment of live animals and the outbreak started in January at a farm near the capital, Pyongyang, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said after the return of a one-week mission to North Korea.

It was the first outbreak of FMD in North Korea since 1960.

Joseph Domenech, the chief veterinary officer at the Rome-based agency, said that based on the visit to the infected area and discussions with the country's veterinary authorities, "we concluded that there is a limited risk that new outbreaks could occur."

Since the outbreak, quarantine officials have killed more than 400 infected cattle and some 2,600 pigs to prevent the spread of the virus. Last month, South Korea sent a shipload of disinfectant to help its impoverished neighbor deal with the disease.

North Korea has suffered from food shortages since the mid-1990s, when natural disasters and mismanagement devastated its economy and led to a famine estimated to have killed some 2 million people.

While FMD is not known to affect humans, it is highly contagious among cloven-footed animals, causing blisters on the mouth and feet.

The U.N. agency said it is drafting a proposal to help North Korea import high-quality vaccines and improve its surveillance of animals to avoid future outbreaks.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Some 120 inmates escaped from a political concentration camp in northeastern North Korea several months ago in an unprecedented prison break, news reports said Tuesday.

The prisoners escaped from Hwasong camp in North Hamgyong, a province close to the Chinese and Russian borders, in December, the Dong-a Ilbo newspaper reported Wednesday.

Daily NK, a Seoul-based Internet news site focusing on North Korea, also carried a similar report on Tuesday.

Both reports cited multiple unnamed sources in North Korea.

An official at South Korea's Unification Ministry, which deals with North Korean affairs, said he was unable to confirm the reports but questioned their reliability. The official spoke on customary condition of anonymity.

News leaked from the reclusive North, which shuns outside access, is usually hard to confirm.

The Daily NK report said the area was put in a "state of emergency" after the prison break, calling it unprecedented.

North Korean authorities have since tightened inspections at Hwasong and adjacent cities to catch the fugitives, of whom 21 have so far been caught, the report said. So far, 21 prisoners have been caught, most of whom were found in China and sent back to the communist North after failed attempts to defect to South Korea, the report said.

The Hwasong prison camp -- located deep inside a mountain and encircled by high wire fences -- holds about 10,000 prisoners, Daily NK said. The escape seemed to have been carefully planned with outside help since the escapees drove off in a vehicle waiting outside the prison, according to the report.

Between 150,000 and 200,000 people are believed to be held in prison camps in the communist North for political reasons, according to U.S. government data.

Separately, Daily NK reported Sunday that 20 North Korean guards along the border with China had fled the country to avoid arrest for allegedly helping North Korean defectors cross the border.

The guards had fled to China, where the North sent intelligence officials to capture them, the report said, citing a North Korean resident.

Hundreds of North Koreans leave the country every year to escape poverty and political repression, usually through China. Defectors in South Korea say they usually bribe border guards to cross the border.

*** NEWS IN BRIEF (Part 1)

North Korea sets up law office in Pyongyang
SEOUL (Yonhap) -- North Korea, which has pursued a limited opening-up policy, has established a law office to provide legal services for foreign investors as well as its citizens.

The North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Jan. 11, "The Pyongyang Law Office, an independent corporate body, has started operations to provide services for the solution of legal matters arising in various sectors."
The law office in Pyongyang is the first of its kind. North Korea set up a legal counseling office in the capital and the Rason special economic zone in North Hamgyong Province for foreign investors in March 1996.