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| North Korean defectors attend a bakery class at Hanawon, a government-run adjustment and education center for North Koreans, in Anseong, Gyeonggi province, Monday. Joint Press Corps |
'If there was safe route to South Korea, everyone would come here,' escapee says
By Jung Min-ho
ANSEONG, Gyeonggi Province ― As the COVID-19 pandemic prompted countries around the world to tighten their borders, the number of North Korean escapees arriving in South Korea plummeted from more than 1,000 a year to 63 in 2021 and has remained at that level since.
The number is expected to swell this year as the world, particularly China, emerges from the health crisis. According to three North Korean women who shared their stories on Monday, leaving China became imaginable only because it started easing draconian virus restrictions, which had largely kept them away from public places over the past three years.
Life was tough for everyone during the pandemic, but it was especially so for North Koreans living in China, where officials can deport them back to North Korea against their will. The women ― who all arrived this year after living in China for years ― said they had been living in constant fear without being able to go to a hospital or use public transportation there.
"If there was a safe route to South Korea, everyone would come here," one of the women said during a media event at Hanawon, a government-run adjustment and education center for North Korean escapees. "Many don't try because they do not know what will happen to them and not because they don't want to come here."
Another woman, who had lived in China for nearly 20 years until recently, said she knew her life was at stake when she decided to come to South Korea in search of freedom.
"I succeeded after risking my life, but many don't even try because of the danger (of being sent back)," she said.
For years, human rights activists have criticized China for deporting North Korean defectors, whom it treats as illegal migrants searching for economic opportunities instead of refugees.
Seoul has long asked Beijing to give such North Koreans the option of returning to the North or heading to the South. Despite South Korean diplomatic efforts, however, Beijing has maintained the policy, Unification Minister Kwon Young-se said.
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| Unification Minister Kwon Young-se speaks to reporters at Hanawon, a government-run adjustment and education center for North Koreans, at Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. Joint Press Corps |
"When I became the South Korean Ambassador to China about 10 years ago, it had already been one of the most important tasks required for the post," he said.
In 2022, only 67 freedom-seeking North Koreans made it to the South, compared to 1,047 in 2019 and 1,514 in 2013. Thirty-four arrived here in the first four months of this year; there has been a clear upward trend also in the second quarter, officials said.
Kwon said the number is expected to increase in the coming years. But given the advanced surveillance systems and other tracking methods increasingly adopted by Beijing in recent years, it is difficult to predict whether the number will ever reach pre-pandemic levels, he added.
After the number of new arrivals dropped to nearly zero, Hanawon, a facility that can house up to 750 people, has recently been used to provide job training for North Koreans.
Asked whether the ministry is considering redesigning Hanawon's buildings ― including one in Hwacheon County ― to make them more suitable for the smaller number of defectors, Kwon said the idea is not under review currently.
