“Nanjing road Shanghai” by L1mey is licensed under CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0.
By Seunghyun Nam Escaping North Korea Motivated by political oppression, financial struggles and hunger, many North Koreans risk their lives to escape their country. The majority of North Korean defectors resettle in South Korea, where they have a birthright to citizenship. Upon arrival, they receive an allowance, free higher education, and housing. Aside from these provisions, the Korean language and culture allow them to better integrate into society. To date, more than 33,000 North Koreans have resettled in South Korea. However, the North and South Korean border is heavily armed, and escaping through this route is especially perilous and rare. Instead, North Koreans are forced to defect through China, where there is a network of professional smugglers alongside a large community of ethnic Koreans. Since Kim Jong-Un came to power in 2011, policies against North Korean defectors entering China have been reinforced. In addition to intensified border patrol and surveillance technology, Beijing has also increased its law enforcement units assigned to track down and forcibly repatriate North Koreans. Nonetheless, China remains the optimal route to defect. Russia—North Korea’s only other bordering neighbor—provides even fewer opportunities for employment and housing, and there are greater linguistic and cultural barriers. Among the hundreds of thousands of North Koreans who have fled their country from the 1990s Arduous March and onwards, approximately 60,000 have resettled in China. Gender imbalance of North Korean defectors In general, asylum seekers in other countries tend to be male-dominated. In the case of North Korea, however, only a quarter of North Korean migrants are male. This trend has become more prominent over recent years, with women accounting for 83 per cent and 85 per cent of North Korean defectors in 2017 and 2018, respectively. There are various factors contributing to this gender imbalance. North Korean males are usually employed at state-owned firms or factories, where absences are immediately reported. On the other hand, most North Korean females are not formally employed and thus, not kept under as much surveillance. Upon entering China, there are more jobs readily available for women, which constitute relatively low-paying jobs that require less skills and are traditionally female-dominated. These jobs include caring for the elderly, cleaning, and serving at restaurants. Many North Korean women also get into common law relationships with local Chinese men, which provides some form of financial security. But lesser known to the public is the highly exploitative nature of these marital unions, and the widespread sexual violence and abuse that North Korean females are subject to. Trafficking of North Korean females While some common law relationships are voluntary, the majority of these marriages are forced, typically involving coercion and outright violence. According to a study conducted by Kim Dong-wan and Ri Chong-seok in 2017, approximately 75 percent of the marriages investigated were involuntary, while more than half pertained to the forceful kidnapping and trade of North Korean females prior to getting sold into repressive marriages. North Korean defectors typically pay brokers hundreds to thousands of dollars to facilitate their entry into China. But upon arrival, more than 70 per cent of the female defectors are sold to local men at a price determined by their appearance and age. Prices range from 6,000 yuan to 30,000 yuan—equivalent to $890 and $4,500 USD. For an average Chinese farmer, this is a considerable amount of money. But there is an equally high demand for young North Korean females in rural Northeast China, where there is a growing gender imbalance. There are limited women available locally, as many migrate to larger cities or overseas. Men tend to stay behind to look after their ancestral land. In this context, rural bachelors in their thirties or beyond have a slim chance of ever getting married. While some North Korean women end up in forced marriages, others are subjected to systematic rape, sex trafficking, prostitution, sexual slavery, and forced pregnancies. According to a report published by Korea Future Initiative (KFI) in 2019, North Korean women and girls—many of whom are between 12 and 29 years old—are particularly vulnerable to sex trafficking in China. North Korean females who have fallen victim number in thousands. In a country where prostitution makes for a sheer six per cent of its gross domestic product, the practice of abducting and selling North Korean females as prostitutes is prevalent. The market is in high demand especially in the northeastern provinces of China, where there are less trafficked women from Southeast Asia. The 2019 KFI report indicates that approximately half of the victims were forced into prostitution, while close to 30 percent were sold into forced marriages. The remaining 15 per cent is allotted to cybersex trafficking. Victims are raped, sexually assaulted, and forced to perform graphic sex acts, all of which are live-streamed to a global audience. The majority of consumers are believed to be South Korean males, who make significant amounts of payments that largely contribute to the sustenance of the market. Addressing the root causes The commercial sex trade of North Korean women and girls is worth close to $105 million USD annually. It is a highly systematic, large-scale business that strives without the intervention of the state. While the high trafficking of North Korean females stems from its high demand by local Chinese men, the root of the problem is Beijing’s negligence, or its disinclination to recognize North Korean defectors as legal residents. UNHCR has historically urged Beijing to grant North Koreans special humanitarian status. This would provide them with access to legal services and protection from illegal networks. With the cooperation of the UNHCR, China has regularly made accommodations for refugees from other countries to either settle in China or elsewhere. Yet, China has refused to grant any form of legitimate refugee status for North Koreans, leaving females especially vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation. Without a legal standing, it is virtually impossible for North Korean women to move around the country or get a proper job. They are forced to commit to their common law relationships, performing their duties as a common wife and providing offspring for the household. They also have to live in constant fear of repatriation, in which case they would be subject to systematic repression, torture, and forced labour. As a signatory to the 1951 Convention outlining the Status of Refugees, China is legally obligated to provide North Koreans with legitimate refugee status. Instead, Beijing has refused to do so under the grounds that North Koreans are “economic migrants” driven by poverty and hunger. In practice, China is committed to its 1986 Bilateral Agreement with North Korea, which calls for the forced repatriation of North Korean defectors. While this agreement violates the principle of non-refoulement, China is not disposed to risk its relationship with North Korea. Beijing is not likely to address the plight of North Korean females without international condemnation. In addition to the international community’s continued advocacy for the legal standing of North Korean refugees, more extensive and structured efforts are required to shed light on the struggles of North Korean females residing in China.
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