Story here.
We actually get a surprising number of North Korean refugees in Thailand. I have no idea how they manage to do it, but they make it overland all the way across China and Burma or Laos, crossing into Thailand in the North. Many cross at Mae Sai, the northernmost tip of Thailand; the town borders Burma. I’ve read of Korean restaurants up there owned and operated by South Koreans who seem to be in on the route. Sounds like a real Underground Railway. The authorities say that whenever they catch a North Korean and hold him or her, one of these Korean restauranteurs always shows up to help provide legal assistance and such.
While up North in Chiang Rai province for the elephant-polo tournament in September 2006, the wife and were taking a bus from Chiang Saen to Chiang Rai town when these five or six ladies boarded the bus. Asian, but none looked Thai. Some ways down the road, an Immigration cop boards the bus for a routine look. The ladies cannot speak Thai or provide ID. Except one lady who could speak some Thai; she said they were tourists on an outing. The cop took them all away. We had just read a day or so before about North Korean refugees using that area to cross over. We figure the lady who could speak some Thai was a local South Korean.
At least twice that I can recall, large groups of North Korean refugees have rushed into the Japanese Embassy in Bangkok. And at least once there was a big Immigration raid on a housing development in Bangkok with mostly Korean residents; that netted scores of North Koreans who were being hidden by the others.
I have to say, to their credit I have never heard of the Thai authorities returning a North Korean to North Korea. The two countries do have dilpomatic relations. They’re always detained for a spell and eventually allowed to go to a third country.