The Chinese Public Security Bureau's arrest of "authorized resident" North Korean women is causing widespread anxiety.
August 18, 2021 06:03 PM Daily NK Japan
The arrest of North Korean women who are "authorized residents" of China is causing widespread anxiety.
North Korean women held in detention facilities (courtesy of HRW)
China considers North Korean defectors who enter its country as "illegal immigrants for economic purposes" and arrests and deports them as soon as they are discovered.
However, as for North Korean women who have married Chinese men, given birth to children, and lived in the community without causing any problems, they were allowed to stay in the country after being registered with the public security authorities and placed under their control. Recently, however, there has been a string of arrests of these women, leaving them and their families in fear, the U.S. government-affiliated Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported.
A Chinese Korean source in Jilin Province said that since last month, there have been reports of a string of arrests of North Korean women by public security authorities in the province, most of whom were married to Chinese men, had families, and were living peacefully.
To cite one example, a woman in her late 30s who was living in a village in the suburbs of the provincial city of Tonghua was arrested by the public security authorities who arrived unexpectedly and put her in a prison camp. The woman had been married to a Chinese man, had children, and had lived there for nearly 10 years. The villagers knew that she was a defector, but there had never been any problems.
She was widely known for her good deeds, providing food and clothing to North Korean defectors who had nowhere else to go, and helping them find work and housing. For this reason, the villagers are very sorry to hear about her death. The 9-year-old child left behind has been crying continuously in search of her mother, and the villagers are pleading with the Public Security Bureau to release her, saying that they cannot stand to see her.
The charge the public security placed on her is human trafficking. The villagers, who have been watching her enthusiastic activities, are shaking their heads at the charges, but believe that she has been noticed by the public safety because of her prominent activities.
In the month of July, two defected women were arrested in the city of Tonghua. Local residents have strongly criticized the inhumane approach of the public security authorities, saying, "What will happen to the children who have lost their mothers when they catch them on charges against those who have given birth to their children and lived a normal life?
Meanwhile, Korean sources in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, also reported that a number of North Korean women have been arrested one after another in the city. In the middle of last month, a Korean male acquaintance of mine called me asking for help, saying that he had lost contact with his girlfriend (a North Korean woman who had defected), who worked in a restaurant near Shenyang Station.
Four days later, he found out that she had been arrested. She was arrested by the public security who came suddenly while she was working in the cafeteria. She was so shocked that she had difficulty breathing and fainted, and is now receiving treatment at a hospital in the camp.
The woman avoided the attention of public security and borrowed a cell phone to contact the man. She told him that there were 10 other North Korean women in the camp besides herself, and that if she were deported, she would never be able to return. When the man heard this, he said he was living in tears.
With such stories spreading, the departed women and their Chinese husbands are scared with anxiety. In the past, the North Korean women were allowed to stay in North Korea as long as they did not cause any problems, but it is believed that the public security authorities have changed their policy to aggressively arrest them.
North Korea is currently refusing to accept persons subject to deportation because of the new coronavirus. Under such circumstances, it is not known why the public security authorities have switched to a policy of aggressively arresting North Korean women defectors.
According to Human Rights Watch, an international human rights organization, at least 1,170 defectors were imprisoned in camps in China as of the 22nd of last month. The group claims that 450 men, 325 in Tumen, 104 in Linjiang, 47 in Changbai Korean Autonomous Prefecture, 64 in Shenyang, Liaoning, and 180 in Dandong are imprisoned in Changchun Prison in Jilin Province and are in urgent need of rescue.
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A Series of Cases of Arrests under "It is Illegal to Contact North Korean Defectors"
A Number of Cases of Arrests for "Illegal Contact with Defectors
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It has become clear that operatives of the Ministry of State Security, North Korea's secret police, have been arresting North Korean defectors one after another, claiming that it is illegal to contact them, after visiting the homes of North Korean defectors' families and having the defectors call them, pretending to be brokers of cell phones.
In North Korea, the spread of the new coronavirus has led to an extreme deterioration of the economic situation and a worsening of food shortages. The families left behind in North Korea have no choice but to rely on North Korean defectors who have gone to South Korea and other countries, and the general public is sympathetic to those arrested for what they see as ruthless measures taken against them. The U.S. government-affiliated news agency Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported
North Korea's cell phone broker operating system uses China's mobile network to help families contact defectors using Chinese-made cell phones, and collects a reasonable "contact fee" after receiving money transfers from the defectors.
However, in January 2020, in response to the spread of the new coronavirus, North Korean authorities banned citizens in North Korea from contacting people abroad, mainly in border areas where China's cell phone network is available, and imposed harsh penalties, including sending them to mandatory detention, if they broke this ban.
Against this backdrop, agents of the Ministry of State Security in North Korea have recently been arresting citizens who are trying to contact their relatives overseas, one after another, by impersonating telephone brokers.
When the virus infection first began to spread, families mostly refrained from contacting defectors because the government had tightened its surveillance. However, as the economic situation worsened and food shortages worsened, "An increasing number of people are trying to contact defectors again, believing that it is better to contact their departed family members than to starve to death, and that it is inevitable that they will be severely punished if this is discovered," a source within North Korea told RFA. A source within North Korea told RFA.
Citizens are also said to be wary of the National Security Ministry using such tactics, and are trying to use their secret networks to discern the identity of brokers, in order to distinguish between real brokers and fake ones.
According to interviews conducted by the North Korean Human Rights Information Center, a South Korean nongovernmental organization (NGO), which interviewed 414 defectors, 47% were in constant contact with family members in North Korea in 2018. Of those, about 93% said they kept in touch with their families by phone.
In addition, 62% have sent money to North Korea. Based on their responses, the center estimates that defectors send money to North Korea about twice a year, with the average remittance amounting to about 2.7 million won (about $270,000). In doing so, they have to pay an intermediary fee of nearly 30%.
According to South Korea's Ministry of Unification, 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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