Bangkok, OCT 27, SPA -- A Thai provincial court has dropped chargesagainst 91 North Korean asylum seekers arrested earlier this week ina Bangkok suburb for illegally entering the country after travelingthrough China and Laos, court officials confirmed Friday, REPORTED DPA. The Thanyaburi Provincial Court on Thursday dropped chargesagainst the 91 refugees, including 52 women and 13 children, butordered them to seek refuge in a third country, presumably SouthKorea. "The North Koreans will remain in Thanyaburi jail until the leavethe country, but they will not be fined," said an anonymous courtsource at Thanyaburi, 40 kilometres north of Bangkok. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) officein Bangkok welcomed the court's decision. "We trusted that Thailand would not deport them back to NorthKorea or to China because the Thai government has an excellent trackrecord in protecting refugees," said UNHCR spokesperson KittyMcKinsey. The asylum seekers were rounded up Tuesday evening at threeapartment houses in Pathumthani, about 40 kilometres north of Bangkok. They reportedly entered Thailand at Mae Sai in Chiang Mai provinceafter traveling through China to Laos. Thailand's past policy has been to charge North Koreans withillegal entry and to deport them to third countries, primarily SouthKorea, after they have paid fines and served one-month jail terms. The asylum seekers may also be granted official refugee status bythe United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in whichcase they may be sent to a third country without serving a jailsentence in Thailand. Sixteen of the 175 North Koreans arrested in Thailand last Augustwere granted formal refugee status with the UNHCR as Persons ofConcern, excluding them from trials in Thailand. UNHCR's office in Bangkok refused to comment on the fresh batch ofrefugees. Thousands of North Koreans attempt to flee the poverty-wrackeddictatorship where food shortages are believed to have causedwidespread hunger and death. The prickly authoritarian governmenthas almost no tolerance for citizens who question its orders, letalone show dissent.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/398391