South Korea has advised China to protect the human rights of North Korean escapees at a United Nations review session on China’s human rights.

Yun Seong-deok, South Korean ambassador to the UN office in Geneva, made the recommendation on Tuesday during China’s fourth universal periodic review(UPR) held under the auspices of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

In the session, Yun called on Beijing to provide foreign defectors including North Korean escapees with the relevant protections and humanitarian support as South Korea broached the issue of the defectors’ human rights for the first time in a UPR of China.

Yun asked China to respect the principle of noun-refoulement and consider creating its own refugee law in an effort to implement the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention, which outlines refugees' rights and the international standards of treatment for their protection.

Each UN member state undergoes a peer review of its rights record roughly every five years, with South Korea undergoing a UPR last year.