https://news.nifty.com/article/world/korea/12240-1202227/
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China's Public Security Bureau Arrests One Defecting North Korean Woman After Another, Spreading Anxiety
August 18, 2021, 06:03, Daily NK Japan
China's public security arrests of "officially resident" North Korean women spread fears
North Korean women trapped in a detention facility (Courtesy of HRW)
China considers North Korean defectors who enter its territory to be "illegal immigrants for economic purposes" and arrests and deports them as soon as they are found.
However, for women who have married Chinese men, had children, and are living in the community without causing any problems, they are registered with the public security authorities and allowed to stay under their control. Recently, however, there have been a number of cases in which these women have been arrested, and the women and their families are trembling with fear, the U.S. government-affiliated Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported.
A Chinese ethnic Korean source in Jilin Province said that since last month, it has been reported that a number of North Korean women have been arrested by public security authorities in the province, most of whom were married to Chinese men, had families, and were living peacefully.
To give one example, a woman in her late 30s who had been living in a village on the outskirts of the provincial city of Tonghua was arrested suddenly by the public security and put in a prison camp. The woman had been married to a Chinese man, had a child, and had been living there for almost ten years. The villagers knew that she was a defector, but they had never had any problems with her.
She was widely known for her good deeds, providing food, clothing, jobs, and homes to North Korean defectors who had nowhere else to go. For this reason, the villagers were very disappointed to hear of his death. The nine-year-old child left behind is crying for her mother, and the villagers are pleading with the public security to release her, saying that they can't stand to see her like this.
The charge that the public security put on her is human trafficking. The villagers, who have watched her diligently, are puzzled by the charges, but believe that she was spotted by the public security because of her prominent activities.
In the month of July, two women defected from North Korea and were arrested in Tonghua. Local residents have strongly criticized the inhumane methods of the public security authorities, saying, "What will happen to the children who have lost their mothers if they are caught with charges against those who have given birth to children and lived a normal life?
Meanwhile, Korean ethnic sources in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, also reported that women defecting from North Korea have been arrested one after another in the city. In the middle of last month, a Korean man of acquaintance called to ask for help, saying that he had lost contact with his girlfriend (a defector) who worked at a restaurant near Shenyang Railway Station.
Four days later, he found out that she had been arrested. She was working in a cafeteria when she was suddenly arrested by the public security. She was so shocked that she had difficulty breathing and fainted, and is being treated at a hospital in the camp.
The woman borrowed a cell phone to contact the man, avoiding the eyes of the public security. She told us that there were 10 other women who had defected from North Korea and that if they were deported, they would never be able to come back. When the man heard this, he said he was living in tears.
Such stories spread, and the defecting women and their Chinese husbands are frightened with anxiety. In the past, women who defected from North Korea were allowed to stay in the country as long as they did not cause any problems, but it is believed that the public security system has changed its policy to actively arrest them.
North Korea is currently refusing to accept people subject to deportation because of the new coronavirus. Under such circumstances, it is not known why the public security authorities have shifted to a policy of actively arresting women who have defected from North Korea.
According to the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch, as of the 22nd of last month, at least 1,170 defectors were imprisoned in camps in China. In Changchun Prison in Jilin Province, 450 men, 325 Tumen, 104 Linjiang, 47 Changbai Korean Autonomous Prefecture, 64 Shenyang in Liaoning Province, and 180 Dandong defectors are imprisoned, and the group claims that rescue is urgently needed.
The group says it is urgent to rescue them.
https://www.news-postseven.com/archives/20210929_1694536.html?DETAIL
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More cases of arrests on the grounds that "it is illegal to contact North Korean defectors."
Photo 1
It has been revealed that there have been a number of cases in which agents of the Ministry of State Security, North Korea's secret police, have been impersonating cell phone brokers and visiting homes with family members who have defected from North Korea and having them call the defectors, then arresting them on the grounds that it is illegal to contact the defectors.
In North Korea, the spread of the new coronavirus has worsened the economic situation and food shortages have become more serious. The families left behind in North Korea cannot afford to turn their backs on their loved ones and are forced to rely on defectors who have gone to South Korea and other countries. Radio Free Asia (RFA), a U.S. government-affiliated news organization, reported.
The operating system of North Korea's cell phone brokers is to use China's mobile network to help families contact defectors using Chinese-made cell phones, and to collect a reasonable "contact fee" after receiving remittances from the defectors.
However, in January 2020, in response to the spread of the new coronavirus, the North Korean authorities banned North Korean citizens from contacting people abroad, mainly in border areas where Chinese cell phone networks are available, and imposed severe penalties such as sending them to incarceration if they violate the ban.
In this context, in North Korea, agents of the Ministry of State Security have recently been impersonating telephone brokers and arresting citizens one after another who are trying to contact their relatives abroad.
When the virus infection was just starting to spread, families mostly refrained from contacting defectors because the government was tightening surveillance. However, as the economic situation worsened and food shortages became more serious, "more and more people are trying to get in touch with defectors again, thinking that they would rather contact their family members who have defected than die of starvation and face severe punishment if they are found out," a source inside North Korea told RFA. A source inside North Korea told RFA.
Citizens are also wary of such tactics by the Ministry of National Security and are trying to identify brokers by using their secret networks to distinguish between real brokers and fake ones.
According to interviews conducted by the North Korea Human Rights Information Center, a South Korean non-governmental organization (NGO), which interviewed 414 North Korean defectors, 47% were in constant contact with their families in North Korea in 2018. Of those, about 93 percent said they were in contact with their families by phone.
Sixty-two percent also said they had sent money to North Korea. Based on their answers, the center estimates that defectors send money to North Korea about twice a year, with an average of about 2.7 million won (about 270,000 yen). In doing so, they have to pay a brokerage fee of nearly 30%.
According to the South Korean Unification Ministry, more than 33,000 North Korean defectors have settled in South Korea since 1998, but only 229 entered the country last year due to the spread of the new coronavirus.
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