China deploys AI surveillance to identify and deport North Korean defectors
China has implemented facial recognition cameras, biometric data collection, and police quotas along its border with North Korea to identify and expel North Korean defectors. The surveillance system collects fingerprints, voice recordings, and facial data from North Koreans in China, making it significantly harder for defectors to evade capture.
What happened
Border police in China's northeast have been given quotas to identify and expel undocumented migrants. China has implemented new deportation centres, hundreds of smart facial-recognition cameras and extra boat patrols along its 1,400-kilometre frontier with North Korea.
Chinese police have begun to closely monitor the social media accounts of North Koreans in China, and collect their fingerprints, voice and facial data. According to a missionary working with defectors, more than 90% of the approximately 2,000 defectors currently in China had registered personal and biometric data with the police.
Reported impact
The Seoul-based Transitional Justice Working Group estimates that about 70 percent of defectors attempting to reach South Korea in the past two years have been arrested by Chinese police. Defectors have expressed heightened fear due to the widespread use of facial recognition technology, which has made movement within China more perilous.
Some defectors have avoided registering their biometric data and have undertaken dangerous journeys through third countries to reach South Korea.
Index analysis
The measures took effect since the COVID-19 pandemic and have ramped up from 2023. The budget documents for border police in provinces adjoining North Korea reveal increased funding for border security upgrades, including patrol boats and surveillance systems using deep learning to enhance facial recognition capabilities.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.