Victims were coerced into a journey, forced to leave their homelands and cross the border from North Korea to China.

NORTH KOREAN REGIME

Driven by Desperation, Not Choice | North Korean women cross the border into China, not as a voluntary choice, but as a desperate measure for survival. They leave behind their homeland, families, and memories, crossing the border into China. But this journey, driven by desperation, exposes them to vulnerabilities, exploitation, and danger at every turn.

Beyond The Border : A New Set of Chain

Many perceive the defection of North Korean women as a pursuit for a 'better life.' The harsh reality? It's a choice between life and death. These women had no real choice but to leave North Korea, and now they grapple with a heart-wrenching longing, an ache to return to a place they can no longer call home

Defectors from North Korea embark on a perilous journey driven by survival, leaving behind cherished memories and families. Despite reaching safety, the haunting pull of their homeland lingers, leaving them emotionally torn between their past and present.

North Korean women, who constitute 70% of all defectors, often find themselves at the crossroads of life and death. Shockingly, one in ten of these women didn't willingly choose this path but were tricked or abducted into this treacherous journey.

Capture by authorities is a constant threat. Those unfortunate enough to be detained face a harrowing return to North Korea.

Constant Surveillance

In their desperate quest for freedom, defectors live under the ever-watchful eyes of authorities. Every step they take, every corner they turn, the shadow of capture looms large. It's a life of looking over one's shoulder, where trust is a luxury few can afford.

Detention: The Beginning of a Nightmare

For those caught in the dragnet, the consequences are immediate and severe. Detention facilities are often the first stop, where they're stripped of their dignity and rights, facing interrogations and often, physical abuse.

The Harrowing Return to North Korea

The actual act of repatriation is a journey filled with dread. As they're transported back to North Korean soil, memories of the life they once fled come rushing back. The looming punishment awaiting them is a dark cloud overshadowing any relief of returning home.

Beyond Punishment: An Emotional Turmoil

It's not just the physical repercussions of their "betrayal" they must contend with. The emotional and psychological torture, particularly for those separated from their children or loved ones, is a wound that festers long after their physical scars have healed.

Upon repatriation, defectors face harsh reprisals from their homeland's regime, enduring extreme human rights violations. Many also grapple with the anguish of being forcibly separated from their children, amplifying their trauma.

Because of their children left behind, many decide to risk it all and re-defect in hopes of reuniting with their young ones in China, only to face another human trafficking again.

Leaving Children Behind: A Heart-Wrenching Choice for Safety

The Imminent Threat of Forced Repatriation

For North Korean mothers in China, the ever-present danger of being discovered and forcibly returned to North Korea hangs like the sword of Damocles. With every passing day, the risk intensifies, pushing them towards an agonizing decision.

A Mother's Dilemma: Safety vs. Separation

The choice to leave for South Korea often comes with a heavy heart. The promise of safety and a better life is tantalizing, but it means leaving their most precious ones behind - their children. It's a decision that haunts them every waking moment.

The Journey to South Korea: A Second Leap of Faith

Escaping from China to South Korea is no easy feat. It's a path fraught with danger, challenges, and uncertainty. Yet, the hope of a safer future propels these brave mothers forward, even if it means traversing unfamiliar terrains and trusting strangers.

The Emotional Toll: Living with the Weight of Separation

While South Korea offers them a haven from the threats they faced in China, the emotional trauma of leaving their children behind is a constant companion. The nights are long, filled with dreams of reunions, and days are a reminder of the sacrifices made for a shot at freedom.

To escape the danger of forced repatriation, many North Korean mothers decide to leave China, this time towards the promise of safety in South Korea. The mothers have to leave their children behind to avoid repatriation. And not all Chinese families support this move.

LIFE IN CHINA : Many North Korean women are trafficked and sold as brides in various parts of China. These forced marriages, devoid of consent, subject them to further exploitation and isolation, stripping them of their autonomy and dignity.

The Illusion of Safety

Seeking refuge from the hardships in North Korea, many women embark on a perilous journey to China, clinging to the hope of a better life. Little do they know, a different kind of nightmare awaits them.

Trafficked and Trapped: The Dark Underbelly of the Bride Market

On entering China, a significant number of North Korean women find themselves ensnared in a web of human trafficking. These women, desperate and vulnerable, are sold as brides in various parts of China.

Forced Marriages: Living with Strangers

Once sold, they are thrust into marriages with Chinese men they've never met. While some may find a semblance of acceptance, many others face exploitation, abuse, and a life of servitude in unfamiliar households.

Cultural and Language Barriers: Isolation in a Foreign Land

Beyond the challenge of forced marriages, these women grapple with language barriers, cultural differences, and the constant fear of discovery. Their illegal status makes them vulnerable, with no avenue for legal recourse or protection.

The quantitative research below shows that 90% of respondents have experienced trafficking, and 75.0% of domestic Chinese husbands agree on the severity of the trafficking market in China. While not all marriages are trafficked, marriages arranged through money transactions are more likely to involve unfair labor, domestic violence, sexual assault, and surveillance. In addition, the desire of North Korean women to escape their trafficked marriages makes their relationships unstable and vulnerable, as they do not start out on equal footing, but rather are determined in an unfair and hierarchical manner from the outset. The problems that emerge negatively impact not only the women, but also their husbands, their families, and ultimately their children.

The quantitative research below shows that 90% of respondents have experienced trafficking, and 75.0% of domestic Chinese husbands agree on the severity of the trafficking market in China.

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Every day felt like an endless cycle of labor, with no hope. It wasn't a home; it was a prison.” Modern-day slavery is a harsh reality for these women. Trapped in households where they are trafficked, they become subjected to relentless forced labor. Stripped of their rights, these mothers toil under oppressive conditions, with no end in sight.

For North Korean women, half do not have the freedom to go outside in China. When they are confined to your home, their family's environment is very important. Half of them were not initially treated as family members and are still treated as women who have given birth to children, not as family members. They are forced into forced labor. They go out at 3 a.m. and work until 8 p.m., but they don't get paid because they don't have legal status. They are forced to continue working within their families.

Chinese public security has been issuing temporary residence permits, a new type of surveillance system for North Korean refugee women in China. The temporary residence permit was issued mainly in areas where only Han Chinese live. In the region where the temporary permit was first approved, about 100 North Korean refugee women were in the area, and Chinese people protested that it would be a big problem for Chinese families if defectors were caught. They have protested to local public security, saying, "It’s so serious that it would stop the breeding of Chinese people." These complaints were accepted, and a temporary residence permit to reside in the area was issued.

However, this is not a nationwide project, and in fact, many public security officials are unaware of this permit. Public security registration procedures vary by region. The registration fee varies widely, ranging from 5,000 to 8,000 Chinese yuan in the six areas surveyed. Moreover, in economically difficult areas, public security searches for hiding refugees and forces them to register. If they don't register, public security threatens them that their Chinese husbands will be sent to jail, forcing them to come to the public security office with money as a fine to register.

With the document, they can get a job in the region and use a bus or taxi, but travel is limited only to that area. Most importantly, medical care services for these women are still impossible with the permit. In addition, Chinese public security inspects the cell phones of registered refugee women two to three times a month. The surveillance mainly focuses on whether there are phone calls or text messages with someone in South Korea.

It can be seen that the temporary residence permit issued at the request of the Han Chinese in China is not something that ensures the safe living of North Korean refugee women but for the Han Chinese husband and/or family for reassurance. The Chinese authorities are establishing a more systematic surveillance system for North Korean defectors. In this process, North Korean refugee women live under new forms of threat and surveillance, different from the existing anxiety that they had to live without any documents.

Even if a free life is guaranteed in the future, it may become more difficult for female defectors in China to escape from their place of residence due to regular cell phone surveillance. And since it is not a guarantee of permanent residence in China but is still subject to be repatriated at any time, North Korean refugee women will continue to suffer from psychological anxiety.

Forced Abortions in North Korea

The Unforgivable Sin: Mixed Heritage In the eyes of the North Korean regime, a child conceived with a Chinese father represents a stain on the nation's "pure bloodline". This deeply ingrained prejudice results in one of the most heinous human rights violations: the forced abortion of these innocent lives.

The issue of forced abortion was found to be a serious problem in the human rights of pregnant women after forced repatriation. Among the pregnant North Korean women who were repatriated, those who were pregnant with a South Korean man's child forcibly disappeared, while those who were pregnant with a Chinese man's child were unconditionally aborted if the father was Han Chinese, but left alone if the father was ethnic Korean-Chinese.

The Brutal Procedure: Pain Beyond Words Repatriated pregnant women are not given the dignity or medical care they deserve. Instead, they are subjected to brutal, unsanitary, and inhumane procedures. Without anesthesia, the agony they endure is unimaginable, but the emotional and psychological scars run even deeper.

A Mother's Nightmare: Reliving the Trauma One mother recounts the horrors of March 20th, the day her unborn child was ruthlessly taken from her. Not only was the procedure excruciatingly painful, but she was also forced to witness the lifeless form of her baby boy. This traumatic event is a recurring nightmare that haunts her every year on that fateful date.

An Endless Cycle of Grief For these women, the trauma of their forced abortions doesn't end with the procedure. The memory of that day, the pain, and the loss persist, casting a shadow over their lives. Their testimonies shed light on the deep-seated cruelty of the North Korean regime and the need for global intervention.

The case of a North Korean woman who was trafficked at the age of 14 to a Chinese man 20 years older and was forcibly raped and assaulted just one month after her first period, gave birth at the age of 15. She was repatriated three years later with a baby in her belly on the report of her Chinese family. She was forced to have an abortion after being repatriated, and was forced to perform forced labor for three years before being re-trafficked and sold to another Chinese man.

Moreover, it is the Chinese government's policy of forcibly aborting North Korean women who are pregnant with Chinese children in China and forcibly repatriating pregnant women to North Korea that creates the conditions for forced abortions in North Korea.

The Devastating Consequence of Repatriation Policies For North Korean refugee mothers in South Korea, the painful reality of having their children left behind in China is a direct result of relentless forced repatriation policies. These policies force mothers into heart-wrenching decisions for the sake of survival, creating a chasm between them and their offspring.

A Vulnerable Generation: Children Left Unprotected With their mothers either forcibly sent back to North Korea or seeking refuge in South Korea, countless children face dire circumstances. Alone and unprotected, many find themselves in orphanages, while others fall prey to the dark world of human trafficking.

Reunion: A Dream Denied The yearning of a mother to hold her child again is a powerful force. Yet, the bureaucratic barriers, intensified by the ever-present shadow of repatriation policies, make reunions nearly impossible. This not only infringes on the fundamental human rights of these families but also leaves emotional scars that linger for a lifetime.

The Ripple Effect: Transgenerational Trauma The trauma induced by forced separations doesn't end with the mothers and children directly affected. It extends across generations, with the pain and distress carried forward, underscoring the urgency for international intervention and policy reform.

In China, while mothers live under constant threat of repatriation, their children experience constant separation anxiety, fearing that their mother will leave them. 87% of North Korean women in China surveyed have given birth. 79% of North Korean women in China have children in China (an average of 1.37). 36% of North Korean women have given birth to children in North Korea, with an average of 1.4 children, and 28% of those surveyed have children in both China and North Korea. These statistics illustrate how many North Korean women and their children are at risk of being forcibly separated due to the forced repatriation policy.

One of the biggest challenges for North Korean women is separation from their children. Sixty percent of Chinese husbands in South Korea have experienced separation from their children, either during the process of entering South Korea (74%) or due to their wife's forced repatriation (14%). Thirteen percent said they were separated from their children because they traveled long distances to earn money to avoid repatriation. In 58% of cases, the separation lasted more than a year.

When North Korean women are unexpectedly repatriated or travel to South Korea without discussing it with their husbands, mothers and children are separated very abruptly, causing emotional distress. The children are hurt because they believe they have been abandoned by their mother.

In fact, according to one witness, there was a case where a relative said, "Your mom went and abandoned you, and your mom is the mom who went and abandoned you." This is not just one case, but in a survey of actual Chinese husbands and wives, half said they had heard of such cases.

When a mother separates from her child, especially if the child is young or there is a lack of communication, the child may feel abandoned by her mother. This can lead to the child's own rejection when you try to invite them to Korea if they feel hurt by their mother. Even after the child arrives safely in South Korea, if the parent and child have been separated for a long time, the reunification process can reopen old wounds and cause new ones. This policy of forced repatriation is one of the biggest causes of long-term relationship instability for North Korean mothers and their children.

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The Unspoken Pain: Forced Silence

The Weight of Suppressed Voices In a world where speaking out often becomes a means of survival, North Korean women find themselves silenced by fear, stigma, and the looming threat of retaliation. The silence they are forced into is not just a personal burden; it's a collective muffling of cries for justice, rights, and recognition.

The Consequences of Silence Forced silence isn't just the absence of voice. It's the suppression of rights, stories, and identities. This silence leaves emotional and psychological scars, perpetuating a cycle of trauma and preventing healing. In the shadows, many victims suffer in isolation, their stories untold and their pain unrecognized.

The Need for Change: Victim Centered Accountability

Placing the Victim at the Core Accountability, to be truly meaningful, must revolve around those who have suffered the most. Victim-centered accountability prioritizes the experiences, needs, and rights of the victims. It recognizes their pain, validates their experiences, and ensures that justice is both seen and felt.

Bridging the Gap: From Silence to Recognition For too long, the narratives of North Korean women have been overshadowed by political agendas and diplomatic negotiations. A shift towards victim-centered accountability ensures that their voices rise above the din, leading to policies and actions that genuinely reflect their needs and aspirations.

The Way Forward: Empowerment through Recognition To break the chains of forced silence, we must create platforms where victims are heard, recognized, and empowered. By centering accountability around them, we pave the way for healing, justice, and a future where their rights are unconditionally upheld.

The answer to victim-centered accountability is simpler than you might think. Rather than having witnesses misunderstand accountability through the media, we believe that victim-centered accountability is the process of having a final review of the testimonies that will be released through seminars or workshops with the witnesses after the report is completed and before the final release, so that they can understand exactly what human rights will be improved when the report is released, what measures will be taken in the field of these human rights violations, the efforts of the organizations conducting the research, why the United Nations and the international community need this report, and the impact of these reports.

However, in the past, most of the North Korean human rights reports were conducted by investigators who did not have the same experience and lacked an understanding of North Korea, from surveys to testimonies to secure data on human rights violations, so North Korean defectors responded in a passive checking method when they were asked about terms they did not understand, and when they testified, they answered roughly if they did not understand the other person and compressed their testimonies to finish the testimony quickly. However, the North Korean defector women researchers were quick to respond to the same situation because they had the same experience, and if the testimonies were difficult to summarize, they instead proceeded by accurately judging and analyzing the details of the testimonies and the scale of the damage while testifying.

North Korean women in China have been excluded from North Korean human rights issues. There is a misconception among some domestic human rights organizations and experts that North Korean women's rights are a Chinese issue while they are being trafficked and sold to Chinese men, and only after they are forcibly repatriated to North Korea do they demand an end to their forced repatriation. In order to improve human rights in North Korea, the organization found that it is necessary to correct the wrong view of North Korean women who are currently living as trafficked women in China as a Chinese problem, so that the root cause of forced repatriation can be solved with a victim-centered approach and process. The 2022 Human Rights Report on Forced Repatriation of North Korean Women in China, the result of the RFNK's five-year North Korean human rights activities, concluded that the Chinese government must be held jointly responsible with the North Korean government as a suspect for the forced repatriation of North Korean defectors, which is the key to improving North Korean human rights, and that the vicious circle of forced repatriation can only be resolved through a victim-centered approach and process.

The Invisible Wounds: Scars Unseen

Living in the Shadows of Fear Imagine a life where every moment is clouded by the anxiety of being captured, every face a potential threat, and every night a terrifying ordeal filled with nightmares of persecution. For two out of three North Korean women in China, this isn't just imagination - it's their daily reality. Even after spending over a decade in China, the looming dread of deportation to North Korea remains ever-present.

The Psychological Toll: Beyond Physical Boundaries The scars these women bear aren't visible, but they run deep. The relentless fear leads to severe psychological symptoms: an aversion to social interaction, an overwhelming sense of hopelessness, incessant crying, and haunting nightmares of public execution in North Korea. The trauma persists, with one in three contemplating death to escape the terror of repatriation. Alarmingly, several of these resilient women have even gone to the extent of keeping suicide pills at hand, with some having made the heart-wrenching decision to attempt ending their lives.

The Lingering Trauma: Beyond Borders The emotional and psychological scars don't vanish once they cross the border into South Korea. The trauma lingers, manifesting in challenges during resettlement. For these women, their past haunts every step of their journey, making healing and integration a constant struggle.

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