A/HRC/4/15 page 9 criminalized or penalized, because they are victims whose rights need to be respected accordingly. Often they have no choice but to leave their country of origin by paying intermediaries, at times ending up in dire situations. 19. With more literature now available on the subject,9 a number of points deserve attention. First, the issue of characterization and definition. There have for a long time been debates on the status of those seeking refuge from the country, and the earlier reports of the Special Rapporteur have already addressed this issue to a large extent. A “refugee” is defined internationally as a person who has left his/her country of origin owing to a “well-founded fear of persecution”. A key principle of international law is that they must not be pushed back to areas of danger - the principle of “non-refoulement”. Even where they did not leave the country of origin for fear of persecution but fear persecution subsequently, e.g. fear of being punished if they are sent back to the country of origin, they may also be characterized as refugees - or more precisely, “refugees sur place”. The underlying rationale behind refugee status is that the refugee is not protected by the country of origin and is thus entitled to international protection. 20. On analysis, many of those who have sought refuge from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea are refugees or refugees sur place under international protection. In the interviews which the Special Rapporteur has had throughout the years with scores of those who had sought refuge in neighbouring countries, a number of the interviewees described situations of persecution in the country of origin, e.g. a relative who fell out of favour with the authorities, with subsequent persecution of the whole family. A large number of the interviewees also indicated that they had left the country because of hunger and other deprivations. Generally these hunger cases would not be “refugees”, unless the above criteria are fulfilled. In reality, many of the hunger cases can be seen as refugees sur place, because there is a threat of persecution/punishment if they are sent back to the country of origin, on the basis of their having left the country without the required exit visa. It is well known that in that country, there is strict control over migration - people are not allowed to move without permission and they need an exit visa to leave the country, with resultant sanctions in the case of failure to abide by the national law on this matter. 21. Recent reports indicate that the punishments meted out to those forced back to the country of origin may have been reduced partly because of the reform of the criminal law in 2004. The progression of the law has been observed as follows in a recent document: “Article 47 of the 1987 Penal Code stipulated that anyone caught fleeing the country would be deemed as committing treason against the fatherland and be punished with a seven-year or heavier correctional labour punishment. But the revised 1999 Penal 9 See further: International Crisis Group, “Perilous Journeys: The Plight of North Koreans in China and Beyond”, Asia Report No. 122, 26 October 2006; Stephen Haggard and Marcus Noland (eds.), The North Korean Refugee Crisis: Human Rights and International Response, United States Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, Washington, 2006; “Life and Human Rights in North Korea”, The Society to Help Returnees to North Korea and Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, Tokyo/Seoul, vol. 42 (2006).