North Korea executes 2 women who fled and were forcibly repatriated from China
Metadata
- North Korea executes 2 women who fled and were forcibly repatriated from China
- September 17, 2024
- Article Body Text <p><a href="https://www.rfa.org/korean/in_focus/human_rights_defector/china-forced-repatriation-north-korea-execution-09122024153503.html"><b>Read a version of this story in Korean</b></a></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">North Korea has executed two women who had been forcibly repatriated from China for helping other North Koreans in China escape to South Korea, a human rights organization told Radio Free Asia. </span><b> </b></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Charged with human trafficking, a 39-year-old woman surnamed Ri and a 43-year-old surnamed Kang were executed Aug. 31 after a public trial in the northeastern port city of Chongjin, according to Jang Se-yul, head of Gyeore’eol Unification Solidarity, based in Seoul.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Nine other women were sentenced to life in prison on the same charges.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">All 11 women were among a group of around 500 North Koreans which China </span><a href="https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/china-repatriates-north-korean-defectors-10122023004404.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">forcibly repatriated</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in October 2023.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“These two women were executed because they had sent North Korean escapees from China to their enemy country, South Korea,” Jang told RFA Korean. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“When they first escaped, they were sold to a Chinese adult entertainment business,” he said. “When other North Korean women working there said they wanted to go to South Korea, they made arrangements to send them there.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is the first report of executions since the resumption of forced repatriation of North Korean escapees in China in October. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Escapees in South Korea and elsewhere have urged China not to send North Koreans back, saying they would face severe punishments. China says it has an obligation to repatriate them under bilateral agreements it has with Pyongyang.</span></p> <p><b>Women at risk</b></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Women make up the majority of North Korean escapees in China. While there, they are often </span><a href="https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/trafficking-08042023161453.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">at the mercy</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> of Chinese handlers who can sell them </span><a href="https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/trafficking-07292020160019.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">into servitude</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, either to work in </span><a href="https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/nk-trafficking-chinese-language-05212019204248.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">prostitution</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, or to be the “wives” of Chinese men. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Since the end of the Korean War in 1953, more than 34,000 North Koreans have escaped to South Korea. Of these, around 72% were women. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Jang said that he learned of the trial and execution through </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Freedom Chosun</span></i> <span style="font-weight: 400;">an online media outlet run by North Korean escapees. </span></p> <hr/> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">RELATED STORIES</span></p> <p><a href="https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/china-repatriates-north-korean-defectors-10122023004404.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">China repatriates N Korean escapees after Asian Games: source</span></a></p> <p><a href="https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/nk-trafficking-chinese-language-05212019204248.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">North Korean Women “Uniquely Vulnerable” to Sex Trafficking in China: Report</span></a></p> <p><a href="https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/trafficking-07292020160019.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Interview: They Said My Face Looked Pretty But Also Old, So $1,100 Was All I Was Worth</span></a></p> <p><a href="https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/thae-10162023172735.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">‘Some of them will be sent to … camps,’ some ‘may be executed’ </span></a></p> <hr/> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Residents in North Korea confirmed that the trial and execution occurred.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A resident of the Chinese border city of Hoeryong told RFA that he witnessed the trial while visiting Chongjin, about 44 miles (70 kilometers) away. He said it started at 11 a.m. Aug. 31 and lasted an hour, and hundreds of residents and merchants at the marketplace were in attendance.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The trial concluded when the Social Security Bureau of North Hamgyong Province decided to execute the women on the same day, and put the 11 women in a convoy to send them away, he said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The family of a North Korean escapee in South Korea, also confirmed (to him/her) that two people were executed in Chongjin. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Suzanne Scholte, chairwoman of the Virginia-based North Korea Freedom Coalition, confirmed to RFA Sept 11, that the trial and executions were discussed at a recent meeting of the organization.</span></p> <p><b>Helping escapees</b></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Jang said he had spoken with the younger sister of one of the executed women, who told him that she was able to escape to South Korea with her sister’s help.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">She said that her sister was caught by a Chinese broker while she was trying to escape to the South herself, Jang explained. She had been helping North Korean women escape by running a business with her Chinese husband in Longjing, Jilin province, China.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“She cried a lot,” said Jang. “It seems like her sister had rescued a lot of North Korean escapees and sent them to South Korea.”</span></p> <p><b><i>Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.</i></b></p>
- Content Type Text
- Language English
- NewsML Media Topics Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
- Subtitles / Dubbing Available No
- Rights Kim Ji Eun/RFA
- Network VOA
- Embargo Date September 17, 2024 14:40 EDT
- Byline By Jamin Anderson for RFA Korean
- Brand / Language Service Voice of America - English