Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- The main aim of President Barack Obama's getting-to-know-you meetings with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in California is to build a personal relationship between the men who lead the world's two most powerful countries. But they have a lot of thorny issues to discuss, not least the shared challenge of what to do about North Korea. The two sides will probably repeat well-worn mantras on their desires to see the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and the need to ensure stability in the region. But Obama should take a step back from the stalemate high politics and raise the case of Guk-hwa Jang. Guk-hwa is a 15-year-old North Korean orphan who was forcibly repatriated from Laos, through China to Pyongyang last month, along with eight of her young friends who were all trying to get to South Korea.
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Recent case of 9 North Koreans repatriated from Laos highlights human rights
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China regularly repatriates North Koreans, who may face torture back in their country
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China needs to be on the right side of history, writes Sokeel Park
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But there are thousands more North Koreans who have risked their lives to leave their country, only to be caught in @placeholder and forcibly repatriated.
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The @placeholder government makes it illegal to leave the country without state permission, and refugees we have spoken with tell us that a typical minimum punishment for repatriated citizens is a three-month interrogation which involves beatings and torture.
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Chinese authorities have actively cooperated with the North Korean government in this effort by implementing security crackdowns on their side of the border that have made it increasingly difficult for activists and defection brokers to assist people fleeing from @placeholder.
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The result is that 2012 saw a 44% drop in the number of @placeholder refugees arriving in South Korea compared to 2011 (from 2,700 to 1,500).
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This money fuels the grassroots marketization and has the effect of liberalizing and opening up @placeholder society from the bottom-up, increasing the pressure for change.
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And if and when @placeholder finally does open up or reunify with the South, the people of North Korea will not easily forget the Chinese government's brazen complicity during decades of their government's repressive policies.
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And if and when North Korea finally does open up or reunify with the @placeholder, the people of North Korea will not easily forget the Chinese government's brazen complicity during decades of their government's repressive policies.
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This will create a long-term complication in China's relationship with either a reformed North Korea or a reunified @placeholder alike.
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Obama should urge Xi and others with the power to change China's direction to reconsider their active cooperation with @placeholder's repression of their people, particularly on the issue of forced repatriations of refugees, which only prolongs the denial of an opening which will one day become inevitable.