The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has urged the Chinese government to halt the repatriation of North Korean escapees.

The UN Refugee Agency’s spokesman Adrian Edwards said Friday that the agency is closely watching the situation regarding 25 North Korean escapees that were arrested in China.

Edwards said the agency has spoken with the Chinese government on the issue and urged government officials to abide by the policy preventing the forced repatriation of defectors.

The spokesman also urged China to devise a humanitarian solution to guarantee the safety of the North Korean defectors and that negotiations on the matter would be held on all sides.

The defectors were recently captured by Chinese police and facing forced repatriation to their homeland. Ten of the defectors have requested emergency relief from the National Human Rights Association of Korea in Seoul through South Korean groups working for human rights in North Korea.