Give Life and Hope to a North Korean Refugee

In January and February of 2018, NKHR successfully rescued 11 North Korean refugees (9 women - all in their 20s and 30s, a 7-year-old child and a 1-month-old infant). Until March we raised $5,605 through our Global Giving refugee project, representing donations from December until end of February 2018 and spent a total of $20,600 in rescue operations. Thank you for your very generous contributions!

The following personal messages were given to the rescue workers while the rescued women were still in China: 

Park ***

Birth Year: 1982

Female

Hamkyung-buk Province

My life is unjust and miserable beyond words. I was happy when I was initially promised a well-paying job at a factory in China. However, I was sold and instead came to a wilderness where they raised sheep. I was there for two years before I found out where I was. My life felt unstable due to an insecure legal status. In my neighborhood, a North Korean woman was caught and taken away. My wish is to live in peace with my child for even a day. Why must we North Korean people have to wander and live in such injustice and misery?

Byun ***

Birth Year: 1991

Female

Yang-kang Province

When I was little, my father died from an accident and my mother went missing, so I came to live at my grandmother’s house. I felt desolate at the thought of not having anyone to depend on after my grandmother’s passing when I received news from my mother, whom I had believed to be dead, to come to China. In 2014, I crossed the river as an 18-year-old and resolved never to return to North Korea. I was so glad to be reunited with my mother and never wanted to be separated from her again...but in the end, I, too, was sold into marriage like my mother, weeping over our pitiful circumstances.

Choi ***

Birth Year: 1989

Female

Yang-kang Province

After my father passed away while I was in the elementary school, there was not a day my mother and I were at peace, struggling each day to keep ourselves from starving to death. My desire for South Korea grew as my friends and I secretly watched South Korean films, and I resolved that someday I would go and live in a free country. In the summer of 2010, I followed a smuggler across the river to go to South Korea, but instead I was sold into marriage. I didn’t know where I was, only that I was in a remote area in which I had to walk for several hours to reach the nearest bus stop. The only thing that helped me persevere and continue living was the thought that once I reached South Korea, I could live.

Lee ***

Birth Year: 1993

Female

Yang-kang Province

I made a living selling goods until I became a victim of fraud, after which I lost my house and fell into debt. To pay off my debt, I had no other choice but to marry in China. In the winter of 2012, a 19-year-old me, with eyes shut frozen by her tears, crossed the Tumen River into China and was married off. I later discovered that my mother had received 5,000 CNY (800 USD) for me. I was sold to a farmer twenty years older than me, from whom I then ran away. If I survive, it will be like saving several lives in North Korea. We, too, are human beings that want to live.

Please note: for security reasons of the rescue operations, the names of the places are not revealed.

In 2017, NKHR has rescued a total of 83 North Korean refugees. Giving priority aid to vulnerable women, children, and those who are at risk of execution if repatriated back to North Korea, NKHR assisted the refugees’ journey to South Korea through third countries providing humanitarian assistance. The rescue missions are conducted by trusted local activists in the third countries, with the relief funds collected by NKHR to provide humanitarian assistance and the safe passage.

This December, NKHR Team consisting of officers, senior management and consultant joined a mission to observe the rescue situation of North Korean refugees in a Southeast Asian country under the guidance of local activists. While assisting with the rescue work, and observing humanitarian situation on the ground, they had the opportunity to experience what North Koreans go through firsthand on the escape routes.

NKHR Team arrived at the destination country on December 4^th, 2017. One team waited for North Korean refugees at the final destination where North Koreans undertake relevant administrative procedures to be admitted into South Korea. The other team moved to a city where the refugees pass on the way to the final destination. They had to ride a bus without air conditioner in uncomfortable seats for 9 hours to reach the meeting point. The bus was filled with people, with every isle fully occupied, and the driver continuously made stops to take as many passengers as possible. NKHR’s consultant Sungju said, “The road was bumpy that I felt sick.” All the participating officers mentioned that they could not even imagine how North Korean refugees endure more than 70 hours in such conditions; all while fearing that they could be caught and repatriated back to North Korea.

While waiting for the arrival of the North Korean refugees, the second team bought clothes, shoes and food for the refugees and explored the nearby jungle. When North Korean refugees cross the border with China or with South East Asian countries, they often have to move in extreme conditions all whilst under incredible emotional pressure from the possibility of arrest and without any guidance, enough food or clothing. Our Team was required to cut branches in order to move forward and had to climb up the cliff with their bare hands. Recalling this experience, NKHR’s officer said that “it was very tough even though we had a reliable guide who could lead us”.

Both teams and North Korean refugees met each other on December 6^th, and after having sometime for conversation, NKHR officers guided the North Korean refugees to a secure shelter where they could take required safe procedures to enter into South Korea.

Through this mission, three North Korean women and a 3-year-old boy were rescued.

One of the rescued women confessed that she had hidden potassium cyanide in her hair and carried it with her throughout the journey to commit suicide in case of an arrest. Many North Korean refugees do so fearing torture, execution and potential danger for their families back in North Korea in case they are repatriated.

There are countless, voiceless people who are still suffering in North Korea and disappear during their journey to seek freedom. NKHR continues to speak up for them and to protect the lives and human rights of the North Korean people.