[“Good Friends” aims to help the North Korean people from
a humanistic point of view and publishes “North Korea
Today” describing the way the North Korean people live as accurately as
possible. We at Good Friends also hope to be a bridge between the North Korean
people and the world.]
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Defectors Facing Forced Repatriation Attempt
Suicide
China’s Intensified Investigation on
Brokers Trafficking North Koreans
Defectors’ Families Frustrated At Losing
Contact
“Form a Group of Two or Three When Getting
Around in China”
Repercussions of Monitoring Defector Groups
on Their Family Members in North Korea
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Defectors Facing Forced Repatriation
Attempt Suicide
There have been some cases of defectors attempting
suicide when faced forced repatriation after being arrested by Chinese border patrol.
A North Korean official reported that there had been several attempts of
suicide at the Tumen detention facility since the end of last year. “I never
heard of any suicide attempts at the Chinese detention facility during the
Arduous March. But, I guess, people now would rather die there because they shall
die anyway once they are sent back to North Korea”, he said. One of the reasons
behind these suicide attempts is that the severity of punishment for defectors got
increased since last year. Moreover, defectors' despair has been deepened by the
food shortage in North Korea that is so severe that many people stay alive only
by eating tree-bark and wild-plant roots.
“Some
people may go to China for political reasons, but most river-crossers are
simply looking for food. In the past, river-crossers used to be punished by
being sent to a discipline center. However, these days they are sent to re-education
centers and stuck in there for years. That is why those caught while crossing
the river having no money for bribes attempt suicide. A young man who was recently
repatriated also had tried to kill himself. He said he could not get any food,
and now that he got caught by the Chinese border patrol, he did not wish live
any longer. He cried and told me that his family of five would starve to death
while he is in the re-education center. I couldn’t find any words to comfort him.”
The
Chinese government recently re-issued the same order as the one in the last
year not to arrest defectors but threaten them on the spot to go back to North
Korea. “China probably is concerned about the international opinion. As far as
I know, they issued the same instruction last year. It seems that they are
re-emphasizing the order this year”, he added. Most of the North Koreans currently
held in Chinese detention facilities are those who were caught in cities in the
three northeastern provinces in China or were long-term residents in that area
rather than those who were caught right at the border.
China’s Intensified Investigation
on Brokers Trafficking North Koreans
A North
Korean official reported that Chinese government has reinforced surveillance on
brokers helping North Korean defectors just as North Korea does as much as it
can to stop defectors and river-crossers. “It seems that the Chinese government
lately watches those who are connected with North Korean defectors among Chinese
public security units, the border armed police and the border patrol. Anyone slightly
related with North Korean defectors get arrested en mass and get punished
regardless of their rank, once found to have facilitated them. Those who made
illegal phone calls to North Korea are the investigators’ main targets.
Foreigners traveling in China who contact North Koreans may also be
investigated. I was told that even official contacts are included for investigation”,
he said.
The Chinese government imposes penalties of 5,000-20,000
Yuan on those who help defectors or let them stay in their houses. Those
involved in trafficking North Koreans are sentenced to at least three years
after going through 15-day preliminaries. A recent case was someone sentenced
as much as to 17 years. Another North Korean official said, “The Yanbian Autonomous
Prefecture, which is home to a large number of ethnic Koreans, is on a war
footing against North Korean defectors. Because of the negative international public
opinions on forced repatriation, our republic and China are also concerned. I
think China is hunting aggressively for their brokers to do their part in
deterring North Korean defectors.” He explained that China's efforts to find
such connections seem to be driven by its concerns on diplomatic repercussions.
Defectors’ Families Frustrated At
Losing Contact
Nationwide tension about the food shortage
is continuing. North Korean defectors’ family members are worried because
it has been difficult to contact with them via cell phones. Jeong
Hae-suk (alias) in Hyesan, Ryanggang Province, has been unable to talk with her
daughter who went to China for over six months. The surveillance on
phone calls has intensified, making it even more difficult for families to
reach out to their family members who left North Korea. One North
Korean official said, “It is considered an act of treason if caught using a cell
phone illegally. If they do not negotiate with the police on the
spot, they will be sent to a re-education center. The punishment will be even
more severe if they have had previous convictions. People who can afford
to bribe will do so at any cost. Those who cannot afford a bribe do not
dare to use cell phones because of the extremely high risk.”
“Form a Group of Two or Three When Getting
Around in China”
North Korea issued an order to its
officers dispatched to China to form a group of two or three when getting
around and avoid hanging out alone. This is to prevent any possible
defection. A North Korean official said, “The issue
of North Korean defectors seems to have become a very sensitive problem in
China. Since late last year, the Chinese government has been advising
its people that if someone looking like a North Korean tries to stop their car,
don’t stop and report it right away to the government.” The fact that
still more people are trying to get out of North Korea despite the extremely
intensified border control reveals the severity of the food shortage in North
Korea.
An increasing
number of people are trying to get out of North Korea who have never been to China
before or do not have anyone to help them there. Another North Korean official
said, “When we interrogate the defectors sent back to North Korea, seven out of
ten have been aided by their family members who had already fled North Korea
and are now settled down in South Korea. The rest three are those who know
nothing and just tried to get out. Usually, they are women and children who
starved to death and desperately tried to cross the border searching for
food. They say they decided to go to
China after hearing that even dogs are eating rice in China and humans can
definitely eat well as long as they are willing to work.”
Repercussions of Monitoring Defector
Groups on Their Family Members in North Korea
At the end of April, the National Security Agency defined defector
organizations in South Korea
as a major enemy and decided to strengthen its monitoring of them. There was
even a case that North Korean authorities received intelligence on a plot to
bomb statues and buildings at main historic sites across the country organized
by defector groups in South Korea, and cracked down on some of those involved.
After reckoning that North Korean defector
organizations acting abroad have gone too far in denouncing North Korea, the government
decided to take firm action against them. Assuming that there is a linkage
between defector groups and their family members still residing in North Korea,
the government is re-investigating anti-North Korean activities and the
connections between them. Persons who were reported missing are also under
reinvestigation. Defectors’ family members in North Korea say that they are
going through hard times due to these investigations as well as having
difficulty contacting their defector family members due to the government’s
efforts to detect illegal phones and jam signals.
Kim Jeong-sun (alias), who had not been
able to talk to her older sister in Seoul for months, said: “Our younger
brother was in near-fatal condition when he returned home from his military
service. But there was no way for me to tell my sister, who had taken care of
him like a son, about his condition. Because of body searches at every post, I
concealed a phone, burying it in a mountainside, but signal jamming by the
government has become more severe. I am really anxious about how worried my
sister would be when she eventually hears the news about our brother. As
security agents’ monitoring intensifies, they press me hard about when I
contacted my sister and what I received from her. I have never felt so miserable
like these days.” The government is
carefully watching movements of defectors’ family members while tightening
border controls and rendering border areas under the 
jurisdiction
of National Security Agency.
jurisdiction
of National Security Agency. 
