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The United Nations (UN) estimates that more than two million people
died during the 1995-1998 famine in the Democratic People's Republic
of Korea (DPRK) or North Korea. The famine triggered an exodus of
North Koreans into neighbouring China in search of food and work,
and the continuing food crisis means this flow of migrants has continued.
While some of those fleeing into China are refugees seeking to escape
persecution from the Kim Jong-il Government, the majority of North
Koreans crossing the border are women trying to survive and to earn
money to send back to their families in North Korea.
Trafficking in women
In this context, traffickers seek out North Korean women to exploit
at border areas, train stations and markets. Traffickers promise
food, employment and shelter, but the women involved can find themselves
forced to marry Chinese men or work in brothels and karaoke
bars. While some North Koreans willingly agree to marriages in China,
others are sold as brides for anywhere from 400-5,000 yuan (US$50-625).
It is difficult for women in a forced marriage to escape, as they
are isolated from any support. Marriages involving North Korean
women who are in China illegally are not legally binding and if
discovered by the Chinese authorities, these women face deportation.
Leaving the DPRK without permission is a criminal offence that
can carry the death penalty so deportation has very serious consequences.
At the very least, those deported will spend between one and three
months in detention in which they are likely to become malnourished,
live in unsanitary conditions and be subjected to forced labour.
There are also testimonies of beatings, torture, degrading treatment,
and even forced abortions and infanticide from those who have escaped.
Forced labour
In detention labour facilities, the workday begins at five in the
morning and ends at seven or eight in the evening. Pregnant, elderly
and sick women are not exempt from work. Types of labour include
farming, construction, collecting firewood and brick-making. For
meals, they are given a meagre quantity of corn and soup. There
are a high number of deaths in these facilities resulting from hard
labour coupled with substandard food and unsanitary living conditions.
Very sick people are often released early to prevent them from dying
in custody, thus, removing the administrative burden of processing
a death.
Estimates of the numbers of North Koreans living illegally in China
vary considerably, but there are at least 50,0001
in China, mainly in Jilin Province. Acknowledging the dangers of
deporting irregular migrants back to North Korea, Vitit Muntarbhorn,
the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in North Korea, recognised
in his 2005 Report that North Koreans who have crossed the border
into other countries are refugees sur place, that is, those
"who did not leave their country of origin for fear of persecution,
but who fear persecution upon return".
Despite this, and the fact that China is a party to the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which prohibits
the forced returns of refugees, the Chinese Government continues
to deport irregular North Koreans. China maintains that the North
Koreans are economic migrants yet denies the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) access to screen and assist North Koreans in
China.
Case studies
The following case studies illustrate the sexual exploitation of
North Korean women in China and the practice of forced labour in
detention facilities in the DPRK.
A 21-year-old woman from Taedong-gang, South Pyongan Province
went to China in the late 1990s:
A human trafficker sold me to an anonymous man living deep in the
mountains of China. He had a dark complexion and was around forty
and below 160 cm tall. He spoke incomprehensible Chinese and confined
me in a room, locking the door. When night fell, he appeared, reeking
of alcohol, and ruthlessly abused me… He shackled me like a
dog so I could not get away. I suffered such a miserable life for
half a year2 .
A 42-year-old woman and her 15-year-old daughter from Pyongyang
left North Korea in 1997 during the food crisis to find work in
China:
I worked as a nanny for a Korean-Chinese family in Hwaryong. After
a week there, I was sent out to the market on an errand and when
I returned, my younger daughter was gone. The family said that they
didn't know anything about it. I ran out of the house in despair
searching for her. I found out later that she was sold for 4,000
yuan (US$480) and forced to marry a man in a remote rural village.
To get her back, I had to pay 4,000 yuan.
The mother and daughter were both arrested by the Chinese authorities
and repatriated to the DPRK in 1999:
When we were sent back to North Korea, we were stripped naked,
checked for hidden money and sent to a labour camp in Musan. My
daughter was beaten and interrogated on whether we met any South
Koreans or missionaries in China. All we had for food was porridge
made from black, rotten corn flour and watery soup. The guards made
us run eight kilometres everyday. We worked in the cabbage patches
and carried heavy logs from the mountains. The guards threw stones
at us if we weren't quick enough 3.
Recommendations
Tens of thousands of irregular North Koreans living in China continue
to be vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. They have no protection
from the authorities in either China or the DPRK, and there is little
recognition of their plight from the international community. Those
who come to the attention of the Chinese authorities are forcibly
repatriated to North Korea where they will be detained and may be
subjected to forced labour and torture.
In view of the above, Anti-Slavery International calls for:
- The UNHCR to publicly oppose the forcible repatriation of North
Koreans from China or from any other country. We state that North
Koreans should be considered refugees sur place.
- The Chinese Government to grant the UNHCR access to North Koreans
in China, so that the UNHCR can assess their individual circumstances
and seek a safe and permanent solution to their situation.
- The DPRK Government to stop the use of forced labour in detention
facilities and to amend their Criminal Code so that leaving the
country without permission does not incur severe penalties.
- The DPRK Government to grant access to the Special Rapporteur
on North Korea so that he can visit the DPRK and monitor human
rights conditions in the country, including conditions in detention
centres and prisons.
1 Estimates range from 10,000 to 300,000. In
this submission, we have used the conservative estimate from a study
conducted by Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
2 Interviewed between 1998-1999 by Good Friends cited in Andrew
S. Natsios, The Great North Korean Famine, USIP, 2002, p.
68.
3 Interviewed on 12 February 2005 by Anti-Slavery International.
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