Boney M to Support N. Korean Refugees at Seoul Rally

Disco group Boney M will join a candlelight rally in Seoul supporting North Korean refugees who fled to China and now face repatriation to their impoverished homeland, organizers said Tuesday.

Boney M, who was hugely popular during the disco era of the late 1970s, will join the rally outside the Chinese embassy, said concert promoter Btechnic in a statement.

On Saturday the vocal group, whose hits include "Rivers of Babylon", will play a concert in the South Korean capital and donate part of its ticket sales to defectors, Btechnic said.

Defectors and activists have been staging hunger strikes or rallies outside the Chinese embassy in protest at Beijing's crackdown on fugitives from North Korea.

China has repatriated dozens of refugees this year, despite pleas from South Korea and international rights groups for Beijing to change its policy.

If repatriated, North Korean refugees face harsh punishment, but China says they are economic migrants and not refugees deserving protection.

Tens of thousands of North Koreans have fled poverty or repression in their impoverished homeland, almost all of them across the border to China.

Some hide out among -- or marry into -- the ethnic Korean community in China's northeast. Others try to travel on to Southeast Asian nations before flying to Seoul.