East Asia is known for its low rates of refugee recognition and states’ reluctance to adhere to international refugee law. This chapter examines the realities of forced migration in the region, focusing on North Korea as a refugee-producing state, South Korea as a receiving state, and China as a source, transit, and destination state. It contextualizes forced migration patterns and state responses within the shifting balance between states’ international legal commitments and their security and diplomatic concerns. To understand these migration realities, this study examines the historical engagement of China and South Korea with the global refugee regime, their contemporary international legal commitments, domestic legislation, and state practices regarding forced migrants. The socialization of China and South Korea within the global refugee regime occurs without effective commitment, and it is the intersection of law and diplomacy that defines not only who will receive international protection but also what kind of protection they will have. North Korean defectors’ migration from China to South Korea is also examined in this chapter as a case study to understand how state responses are shaped by diplomatic tensions in the region.