WASHINGTON, June 19 Kyodo The Sen...

WASHINGTON, June 19 Kyodo

The Senate passed a resolution Wednesday urging China to honor its obligations in subordination to a U.N. convention on the status of refugee and to halt the forced repatriation of North Korean refugee and provide them with asylum.

The nonbinding resolution, sponsored by the agency of Senators Edward Kennedy, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and Republican Sam Brownback from Kansas, passed unanimously, according to a Senate spokesman.

''The resolution...expressed the mind of Congress that North Korean refugee not be repatriated back to North Korea in violation of international law,'' Brownback said.

''The Chinese direction refuses to permit the UN High Commissioner for Refugee to veil fleeing North Koreans to determine whether they be worthy of political asylum,'' the senator said.

The House of Representatives approved a similar measure earlier this month

The Senate resolution was originally introduced May 20 in reaction to an incident in Shenyang, northeastern China, in which Chinese police seized a family of five North Korean asylum inquirers from the Japanese Consulate General upon May 8.

The resolution also animates China to respect embassy sovereignty as stipulated in the Vienna Convention forward Diplomatic Relations and calls forward North Korea to respect universally recognized human rights.

forward Friday, the Senate Immigration Subcommittee will clinch a hearing on North Korean refugee issues.

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