Korea’s nuclear weapon programs and frequent missile tests have caught the attention of the world, while people who are affected by the horrible human rights crisis is hidden from the rest of the world.
Due to the location of North Korea, many North Korean defectors escape to China. A North Korean defector undergoes many challenges and sacrifices everything they have for a glimpse of freedom from the corrupt Regime. It is estimated that there are 50,000 to 200,000 North Korean refugees that are currently living illegally in China. China does not recognize these defectors to be refugees, and coordinates a program where they return defectors back to Pyongyang.
Among the defectors that make it across the border, women make up the majority. However, in their search for freedom, many women are abused, treated inhumanely, detained and were even being trafficked…
Many North Korean women are drawn into the idea of finding work in China; it was a chance for them to rebuild their life outside such a tyrannical regime. Instead, many women are abducted and sold to Chinese or Chinese-Korean men who lived in the rural areas. These men were often too poor, or lived in undesirable conditions who couldn’t find wives. China’s demographic was lopsided for a while, due to the one child policy, which culturally promoted having male children rather than female children. There are some North Korean women who say that they are happy and content with their new husband, but this VERY small minority.
Most of these women who are abducted are locked away so they do not escape. They are denied being able to contact their friends and family, and are constantly being watched by guards or the community. These women have to endure hard labor, physical abuse and all of the greuling household chores. Sometimes, the men that these women are sold to turn violent, and regularly abuse them. Unfortunately, many women become pregnant due to being repeatedly sexually assaulted. Some women are able to escape to South Korea; some women have to leave their child behind for them to escape. Leaving your child a hard thing to live with itself, but knowing that China will not be providing education and healthcare to these left behind children is even more horrific. These children are denied their basic rights, basic education and healthcare.
Why don’t these defectors talk about this openly and fight back? Many defectors will not talk about leaving their child out of pure guilt and shame, and try to repress such thoughts. One must sympathise with these mothers; they left their kids by necessity, not by choice.
Well, what has been done to address such injustice?
There have been protests held by pro-defectors at the Chinese Embassy in Seoul to help get the message across: these defectors need help and should not be treated like animals. In 2014, the UNHRC published the UN Commission of Inquiry report which criticized how the Chinese government was dealing with the North Korean situation. The Chinese government, however, rebuked all the claims made in the report and refused to change their policy on dealing with defectors and recognizing these children that were being left behind.
So what now?
It is hard to know what we can do as citizens to improve the situation in China. Defectors risk their lives to cross the border to get a glimpse of freedom to only be trapped and captured. The best thing that we can do together is to be educated and aware of all of these injustice that is occurring. This situation can only get better if the international community can pressure China into changing their stance.
February 2014 UN Commision of Inquiry Report
Link of PDF in English : http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/CoIDPRK/Report/coi-dprk-q-and-a.pdf
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