A U.S. congressional commission has reviewed China’s forced repatriation of North Korean escapees and discussed countermeasures.

The Congressional-Executive Commission on China held an emergency hearing on Monday and studied the aspects of China’s forced repatriation of North Korean escapees and cases of the North violating human rights.

The commission’s chairman, Christopher Smith, claimed that out of the total North Korean escapees that are expected to be forcibly sent back to the North, some 80 are at the risk of being executed once they return.

At the hearing, a group of North Korean escapees provided clear testimonies on how escapees’ human rights are being violated in their homeland. The group held a rally in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington last Thursday to protest the forced repatriation.

Head of the North Korean Freedom Coalition, Suzanne Scholte, said at the hearing that the Chinese government’s action to forcibly send back North Korean escapees while knowing the consequences those defectors will face goes against international laws and humanity.