FILE PHOTO: Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North Korea Tomas Ojea Quintana attends a news conference at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland June 7, 2018. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

SEOUL: China should not repatriate the increasing number of North Korean escapees it has arrested in recent months, because severe punishment faces those sent home, a UN human rights investigator said on Friday (Jun 21).