A/HRC/31/38 C. Freedom of movement and the right to seek asylum 28. In order to travel within the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, citizens are required to obtain a permit from local authorities. Such permits are said to be valid for only one trip, for which the destination and purpose must be explicitly clarified. Some individuals are reportedly able to circumvent that requirement by paying bribes. 29. Citizens of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea are also prohibited from leaving the country without permission. Information from people who have left the country indicates that controls along the border between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and China have tightened since 2011. That information appears to be supported by a notable decrease in the number of nationals of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea who reach the Republic of Korea. In 2015, some 1,276 persons reportedly arrived in the Republic of Korea (80 per cent of them women), as opposed to 1,397 in 2014. Other factors, such as the rotation of guards along the border, the reported increase in the cost of engaging a broker to secure passage and, in some areas, possible increased economic opportunities domestically, may have contributed to the decrease. Some people also partly attribute the situation to increasing difficulties with mobile communications, which makes it problematic to arrange brokers. In 2014, the authorities reportedly warned residents in the border areas that they and their families would face severe punishment for assisting individuals who were planning or attempting to cross the border, or for failing to report such cases. 30. In past years, a large number of brokers, many of them operating mainly for financial gain, have assisted citizens of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to cross the border. The fees charged by brokers have reportedly increased as movement across the border has become more difficult. Additionally, women who wish to leave the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea with the assistance of a broker remain vulnerable to human trafficking, which, unlike passage using a broker, is coercive. Reportedly, some women were indeed subjected to trafficking in that context. 31. Individuals repatriated to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from China and other counties are at risk of prolonged unlawful detention, ill-treatment and torture. Those found to have sought to defect to the Republic of Korea or to have been in communication with Christian organizations suffer particularly harsh punishment and risk imprisonment in political prison camps, as they are regarded as having committed particularly serious political crimes. 32. Despite the risk of torture and other violations facing those who are returned to the country, some neighbouring States have refouled refugees to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. On 22 October 2015, a group of nine refugees, including an infant and a teenager, were arrested in Viet Nam and transferred to China. They were reportedly transferred to a town close to the border with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, indicating that they were at risk of being forcibly repatriated. 7 In a statement issued on 3 December 2015, the Government of China reiterated that it considered those who had fled the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as illegal immigrants rather than refugees. 33. The Committee against Torture, in its concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of China, expressed concern at the rigorous policy of China of forcibly repatriating all nationals of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on the ground that they had illegally crossed the border solely for economic reasons. The Committee took note of over 100 testimonies received by United Nations sources indicating that persons forcibly 7 See http://ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=16784&LangID=E. 7