By A pair of North Korean refugees describe what it is like being a modern day comfort woman in China:
Two women who escaped from North Korea appeared at a news conference Wednesday afternoon at the National Press Club in Washington.
They were speaking at an event to mark the publication of “Lives for Sale,” a report on North Korea’s human rights and human trafficking written by the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.
The two women tearfully described the hardships they suffered before arriving in South Korea.
Bang Mi-sun, who came to the South in 2004, spoke first. She said she fled the North to feed her two children after her husband starved to death in 2002.
A former actress in a propaganda troupe at Moosan mine, Bang was sold to a human trafficking gang upon her arrival in China and forced to marry a Chinese man. She described a life of misery in China, saying she wishes North Korean women will no longer being sold and treated like animals.
“I thought that if I went to China, I could eat heartily and lead a better life than in North Korea. What waited for me was a wretched life,” she said.
“I was sold to a disabled Chinese man for 585 dollars at a human trafficking market and resold to another man.”
“I ended up in the hands of a man 14 years younger than me and had to marry him. He asked me to give birth to a baby.”
Bang was caught by Chinese police and repatriated to North Korea. There, she was subjected to severe corporal punishment and forced labor.
“I was put in a detention camp and flogged. I was battered so badly that I cannot walk well now,” she said.
Reporters were taken aback when she showed thigh wounds she received in the camp.
Choked with emotion, she said, “The United States and the international community should help North Koreans not to experience the same story as mine. Please help us bring a day when no North Korean woman undergoes this hardship.”
The second defector, Kim Young-ae, said, “What I went through in China was so horrible that I didn’t want to tell anybody about it. But I’ve decided to tell my story since my testimony can raise international awareness about the harsh reality facing North Koreans and prevent the same tragedy from happening again.”
Kim also said she fled the North to feed her young son after her husband died.
“Little did I know that the person who helped me flee North Korea was a member of a human trafficking gang,” she said. “I was sold to a mentally unstable Chinese man for 730 dollars and gave birth to a daughter.”
She said he physically abused her so she ran away. After being sold to several Chinese men, she finally found her way to South Korea on Dec. 24, 2007.
Kim said she is having difficulty bringing her child in China to South Korea.
The human rights committee said in its 64-page report, “The world has turned a blind eye to North Korea’s human right abuses for a long time.”
“Now is the time to pay attention to the miserable state of North Korean female defectors, who face forced marriages and confinement in China and torture and death in the worst-case scenarios when repatriated to North Korea.” [Donga Ilbo]
The treatment of North Korean refugees in China, especially women is something I have long been trying to bring attention to because it is one of the greatest human rights travesty going on right now that even Barack Obama on the campaign trail felt the need to bring up:
Presumptive U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Friday urged the Bush administration to press the issue of forced repatriation of North Korean defectors to China, often under fire for human rights violations.
“When they do leave, they should not be forcibly returned into persecution; they should have the protection to which asylum seekers and refugees are entitled under international law,” Obama said in a letter to the Korean Church Coalition (KCC) for North Korea Freedom obtained here Friday. “These issues should be on the table when we talk to countries in the region, including China.” [Yonhap]
The only problem is that Barack Obama only cares about North Korean human rights when it is politically expedient and so far in office he has done nothing in regards to addressing North Korean human rights abuses. In fact when Hillary Clinton made her trip to China she said nothing about China’s human rights abuses of North Korean refugees as Obama claimed his administration would on the campaign trail. In fact she actually down played the significance of human rights.
I guess no one should be surprised that neither Hillary Clinton or President Obama were on hand to listen to these two women recall their days of sexual slavery in China.
9:46 pm on April 30th, 2009 1
The Chosun newspaper also reported the following news:
Bang testified that one 21-year-old pregnant woman who had fled to China and been forcibly repatriated was killed when she refused to have an abortion. Forced abortions of half-Chinese children apparently aim to prevent the proliferation of "unclean" stock due to the North's archaic obsession with the national bloodline.
Now after having read this paragraph ladies and gentlemen, consider what this means for interracial couples and their children in South Korea if the North and the South were to reunite in the not so distant future. They (the North) have apparently imbibed this rabid racism in their children from the earliest years. Do you think these people will easily part with their racist mentality/ideology? You be the judge. And keep in mind, the Chinese are their closest ally!
1:03 am on May 1st, 2009 2
The whole world should be listening and addressing the problems these ladies and others have to face and have had to face, not just the US.
Yeah, shit In Seoul, I mean look how South Koreans are…
http://www.rjkoehler.com/2006/04/06/hines-wards-m…
http://jellomando.blogspot.com/2007/10/racism-and…
http://www.mixedmediawatch.com/2006/02/12/hines-w…
Of course South Korea makes up for this by accepting boat loads of refugees every year.
North Koreans would probably be 1.5 times as bad as the South Koreans.
1:46 am on May 1st, 2009 3
"I guess no one should be surprised that neither Hillary Clinton or President Obama were on hand to listen to these two women recall their days of sexual slavery in China."
Um, do you have the names of all the prominent Republicans who attended this event?
You are a pretty good blogger until you go off the rails with your hatred for anyone who does not share your political views. Then your posts turn into crap.
2:17 am on May 1st, 2009 4
I don't believe that's hatered of either of them, just the facts. If the Obama administration was concerned about human rights of these women, they would have sent a representative to observe the hearings and report back what happened.
This has been going on for quite awhile, so if you want to start blaming people, start with Bill Clinton and work from there. I'm saying 'ole Bill as the starvation issue began during his administration.
We have known for quite sometime that NK treates their people very badly and that this has to end. However until the Kim dynasty is destroyed, stuff like this will continue for a very long time.
9:52 am on May 1st, 2009 5
Listen people, If you are going to blame Obama after three months on the job then you have to Blame Bush for 8 years and Clinton for another 8 if you are talking about North Korean human rights. They are neglected in every administration so far.
10:19 am on May 1st, 2009 6
“Listen ‘people,’ if you are going to blame Obama…”
Listener, show me from my posting where I was blaming Mr. Obama. I’m interracially married with a kid and concerned about what the long-term implications of that may involve while living on the Korean peninsula.
11:47 am on May 1st, 2009 7
Show me one posting where I have "hatred" for President Obama? You Obamabots are a strange lot because if you criticize Obama you are automatically labeled as a hater or better yet you a racist instead of debating the points.
My criticism is not even over something theoretical but factual. He has said he cares about North Korean human rights in the past to include signing a letter to the family of Kim Dong-sik and then proceeded to throw that family under the bus for political expediency.
Since taking office he hasn't done anything in regards to promoting North Korean human rights and actually had Secretary Clinton play this issue down during her trip to China. Then he couldn't even bother to attend or even send Secretary Clinton to participate in North Korea Freedom Week. Those are the facts, deal with it.
11:56 am on May 1st, 2009 8
It doesn't matter how long it is you are on the job when you sign a letter to the family of someone kidnapped and probably executed by Kim Jong-il and then proceed to throw the family under the bus for political expediency. It doesn't matter how long you are in office to attend and support North Korea Freedom Week.
The Bush administration at least passed the North Korean Human Rights Act and then proceeded to sell it out when they needed to cut a deal with Kim Jong-il which predictably collapsed on them anyway. The criticizing of Bush's North Korea policies is well established on this site and other that follow the North Korea issue. So to claim that I am some how unjustly criticizing the Obama administration is a poor argument.
In my opinion caring about NK human rights is not something politically popular so the Obama administration doesn't care, releasing memos about the CIA threatening a terrorist with a catepillar is. Hopefully if people criticize the Obama administration enough they will take the NK human rights situation more seriously.
11:59 am on May 1st, 2009 9
By the way Republican Senator Sam Brownback has been highly involved in North Korean human rights issues over the years and has been a key participant in North Korea Freedom Week:
5:08 pm on May 1st, 2009 10
I will give a sh1t when South Koreans give a sh1t. Until then, I plan on watching TV and having a good time.
11:40 pm on May 1st, 2009 11
It's a shame nobody cares enough to help North Koreans escape their horrible trapped life. One of the worst human tragedies of all time.
1:25 am on May 2nd, 2009 12
South Koreans have done more then anyone else to help the NK defectors. The vast majority of the underground railroad in China is operated by South Korean Christian groups. South Korea has also accepted more NK defectors then anyone else.
Much more can be done and the Lee government has done more, but it is still not enough and the US government can do much more to help as well.
1:51 am on May 2nd, 2009 13
Let's get real here: At this point does the US really have any credibly in lecturing other countries about human rights when it itself has been found to have committed egregious violations?
Unless there's going to be a concerted effort to put through the ringer those individuals who committed torture during the Bush era, then I think that it's rather inane to be lecturing the NORK's are any other country for that matter. See, this is what happens when you reserve a set of special privileges for oneself while denying it to others. If one wants a rules-based, equitable system of norms, then it behooves those advocating for it to follow through on their part.
8:32 am on May 2nd, 2009 14
It is amazing how many people like you are out there that equate systematic North Korean gulags with threatening terrorists with catepillars. You sound like someone that should be working with Amnesty International.
10:24 am on May 2nd, 2009 15
GI, this guy is not worthy of a response.
10:57 am on May 2nd, 2009 16
It's not about an issue of "equating" the US with that of the DPRK or other odious regimes throughout the globe, GI. It's about setting an example.
You can go on all day about how the US is different from the DPRK. In fact, you'd be right on a lot of points. But that still leaves the question of the US's credibility over such issues. If it is found to be doing the very same acts that it deplores in others and even goes to the extent of sanctioning and putting those nations in the vise, then what's to stop others from drawing the conclusion that the US is acting hypocritically? If you want to comment about issues relating to international affairs, then I think it behooves you place yourself in the shoes of others before you start to make sweeping statements.
Finally, I don't think the "enhanced interrogation" techniques of the Bush years was just an issue of "caterpillars". Does waterboarding ring a bell? Last time I checked, there's a pretty broad consensus domestically, internationally, and within US legal statutes that define this as torture and a violation of human rights. Most likely you'd castigate the NORK's if they did such a thing, yet you're how some oddly complacent when it comes to the US doing the very same acts.
Human rights violations for me but not for thee is it GI?
10:59 pm on May 2nd, 2009 17
You are claiming the US has no creditability because it is doing in your own words "the very same acts" as the DPRK. By your own words you are equating NK with the US. That is why I bring up the example of the caterpillar to further emphasize how ridiculous anyone making this claim is. Since the US waterboarded only three terrorists five years ago after a terrorist attack that killed thousands on our East Coast then the US has no creditability to criticize a systematic gulag system that imprisons tens of thousands of people or the thousands more of North Koreans held as sex slaves in China. According to your logic then no one can criticize North Korea. That is why you would make a great candidate to work with Amnesty International.
As far as sweeping statements you are the one making them saying I support waterboarding. I have never supported waterboarding and have been against it. However I side with Dennis Blair that what they didn't isn't illegal and if it was then we better put Presidents Kennedy and Johnson on trial as well since it was going on in the CIA under their watch as well.
While were at it lets put according to your logic the biggest human rights violator of all President Obama on trial for ordering the execution of three Somali teenagers. Similar to my prior criticism of waterboarding when President Obama ordered the Navy SEALS to execute three teenage Somali pirates was that the last option or the easy option? I guess since the President violated the human rights of these Somali teenagers the US now has no creditability to criticize piracy anymore either.
12:52 am on May 3rd, 2009 18
Yes indeed – the US is the worst abuser of human rights in the history of mankind. The US's torturing of prisoners is so bad they make the beating Jesus took in Passion of the Christ look like a picnic.
And just think about all those terrible atrocities at Abu Ghraib….North Korean gulags are a walk in the park in comparison.
The United States of America – synonymous with EVIL.