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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.


Washington, April 5 (Yonhap News)