To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the safety of the families of North Korean refugees who remain in North Korea was considered before the United Kingdom designated South Korea as a safe country of origin for refugees.
Answered on
6 January 2015
The legal test for designation of a State (or part of a State) is set out in section 94(5) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. A country can be designated if it is "generally safe", i.e. that persecution or other serious human rights abuses are not widespread and that removal of a person to that State would not in general contravene the UK’s obligations under European Convention on Human Rights. The treatment faced outside of the state (or part of state) by those entitled to reside in it is not a relevant consideration. Any risk faced by the families of refugees would be the same whether the person gets protection in the UK or in South Korea. Even if that risk were different, designation of South Korea is still appropriate because there is, in general, no risk to nationals or residents of that country.