Mass deportations of North Koreans cause tragic family separation

This photo taken last year shows Kim Cheol-ok, a North Korean escapee who had lived in China for 25 years with her family before being deported by Chinese authorities on Oct. 9. Courtesy of Kim Hyuk

Kim Cheol-ok, who had lived in China for 25 years, was among hundreds of victimsBy Jung Min-ho

After escaping North Korea at 14 in the midst of a catastrophic famine in 1998, Kim Cheol-ok settled down in a small town in the northeastern Chinese province of Jilin, where she married a Chinese man and gave birth to a daughter.

Kim did not want to be married, set up by a Chinese marriage broker, but she gradually came to love her family and accept her new life there while assimilating into that community. But the family fell apart on Oct. 9, when the Chinese government deported her and hundreds of other North Koreans against their will. This move came after she was arrested on April 4 for unknown reasons.

The news immediately broke the hearts of her entire family. They fear that torture, death or both may be awaiting her in a North Korean prison.

“Her husband, daughter and other members of the family desperately want her back, calling for her safety and release,” Kim Hyuk, her cousin living in South Korea, told The Korea Times on Thursday. “After living in China for more than 20 years, she barely speaks Korean, which I worry about deeply. She could be treated even more harshly than others because of that.”

Kim Hyuk speaks from experience. After being caught crossing the border in 1998, he was sent to a concentration camp where he suffered beatings and torture for three years.

“The guards beat me every time I said something they did not like or could not understand,” he said.

Activists lament South Korea's hollow promise of human rights diplomacy 2023-10-20 16:58  |  Foreign Affairs

He added that releasing her name and picture was their last resort to keep her alive.

“It might be impossible to free her immediately at this point. But if she dies, all hopes of a reunion would die. We want to keep them alive for that possibility no matter how scant it is,” he said.

This photo shows the flags of China and North Korea during the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, Sept. 26. Reuters-Yonhap

Her repatriation suggests that any North Korean living in China could be targeted, regardless of how long he or she has been in the country and how brutal the government could be to its own citizens, experts said.

More than 70 percent of North Korean escapees are women, many of whom end up forming families, often against their will. If their children are born, they can obtain Chinese citizenship as long as they meet certain requirements.

By separating such Chinese citizens from their wives and mothers, the Chinese government violates the basic human right to family life,” said Lee Kyu-chang, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, a state-funded think tank.

In a democratic country, such state violence would be met with civil resistance. But in China, there have been no public calls over the issue.

“This is astonishing that China sacrifices the rights of its citizens for the relations with North Korea despite its enormous influence over the state,” said Shin Hee-seok, a legal analyst at Transitional Justice Working Group, a Seoul-based rights group.

“I think the Chinese attitude demonstrates the little value of its citizens’ rights rather than the high value of its diplomatic relationship with North Korea.”

He also pointed out that North Korean women returning from China pregnant are forced to have abortions, which he thinks is not just a serious violation of international law but also the North Korean regime’s violence against would-be Chinese citizens.

“It is ironic that the Chinese authorities deport North Korean women to North Korea where forced abortion or infanticide of their babies awaits them because ‘Chinese blood’ is viewed as corrupting ‘Korean racial purity.’ I cannot think of any country other than North Korea that carries out mass abortions or infanticide on such racist grounds, nor can I think of any country other than China that would enable such mass abortions or infanticide against its own blood,’” he said.