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The Korea Times

A North Korean defector, who asked to be identified only by her surname Kim, has panicked as the worst-case scenario about her daughter appears to have become a reality.
Kim recently lost contact with her daughter, who had been detained in China since 2021.
Kim took this as a sign that her daughter was sent back to North Korea along with hundreds of other North Korean detainees.
“I was told that my daughter was no longer there,” Kim told The Korea Times on Thursday over the phone.
South Korea makes rare protest to China over Northern defectors
Kim said her heart sank when she spoke with a Korean-Chinese woman whom she called “auntie” over the phone to ask about her daughter, only to hear that her daughter was no longer at the detention centre located in northeastern China.
Her daughter had been working as a waitress at a restaurant owned by the woman when she was arrested by Chinese security forces during a crackdown on illegal immigrants.
“Auntie told me that she went to the detention centre to see my daughter, as she did regularly. This time, she heard from the corrections officer that my daughter was no longer there,” Kim said.
“I think she was repatriated back to North Korea. It’s really difficult to accept it, but that seems to be true.”
North Koreans use fake names, scripts to land remote IT work for cash
Kim said she had the phone conversation with the woman in October, shortly after news reports that China secretly sent 500 to 600 North Korean escapees back to the North shortly after the end of the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games.
South Korea’s Ministry of Unification confirmed the reports.
Kim was devastated but said that “this too shall pass”.
“I will live a life no matter what because I am still alive,” she said. “I pinned my hopes on my daughter, but a miracle didn’t happen, and my poor daughter was sent back to the horrible country.”

Oh Chang-hwa, a human-rights activist who has helped Kim and other North Korean defectors, said he “double-checked” Kim’s daughter’s whereabouts in a separate phone call with an unnamed broker who had contacted Kim’s family living in the North.
“I was told that Ms Kim’s brother was coerced by North Korea’s security forces to cooperate with them as they worked on a background check. They asked if the young woman they held was his niece. He said yes because he knew they knew everything about her after interrogating her,” Oh told The Korea Times.
“In China, Ms Kim’s daughter insisted she was an orphan having no family members in North Korea, because she wanted to spare her family members from any persecution because of her. I guess she was tortured.”
Oh said the past several weeks have been particularly tough for Kim and other North Korean defectors because of the news about China’s forced repatriation of hundreds of North Korean detainees.
He said they were devastated again at the news that the National Assembly failed to adopt a resolution urging China to stop repatriating North Korean defectors.
He lashed out at the lawmakers for their “inhumane” nature.
“What kind of politicians are they?” he asked. “They didn’t to live up to their commitment to serve the best interest of their nationals, because of China? Does that make sense?”

The two main parties were divided over the motion. The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) opposed the parliamentary resolution initiated by lawmakers of the ruling People Power Party (PPP).
If passed, the DPK claimed, the motion would further deteriorate South Korea’s relations with China.
The subcommittee consists of eight lawmakers, five from the DPK and three from the PPP.
The ruling party lawmakers slammed their DPK counterparts for their double standard on human rights.
“In the National Assembly interpellation session, the DPK members denounced Cabinet ministers for the failure to stop China from sending North Korean detainees back to the North. But when they sat down at the subcommittee to deliberate the motion, they did the opposite and refused to cooperate with us in passing it,” Ha Tae-kyung said.
Kim Kyung-hyup of the DPK tried to justify his disapproval of the motion, saying in a media interview: “I wonder if the United Nations has accurate information about North Koreans detained in China. And I think we need to learn more about China’s internal process to identify how many asylum-seekers were there among illegal immigrants.”
Why North Korean defectors issue could derail Seoul-Beijing bridge building
He claimed that not all North Korean escapees in China were defectors.
“I understand that some North Koreans crossed the border for food or to avoid political persecution. But not all of them are defectors; as I understand there are some who come to China illegally to make money. We need to clarify who are economic migrants and who are defectors,” he said.
Lee Yong-hee, a human-rights activist and professor of economics at Gachon University in Seoul, voiced worries about the consequences of the unsuccessful parliamentary motion.
He said many North Korean defectors are increasingly feeling insecure about their life in South Korea because of people who sympathise with North Korea.
“During the previous Moon Jae-in government, they witnessed South Korean government repatriating North Korean escapees back to the North against their will. Some politicians bullied the defectors, calling them ‘traitors’.
“I’m concerned that the unsuccessful parliamentary motion would pave the way for their distrust of this society,” he said.


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South Korea

Defector devastated as daughter feared to be repatriated to North Korea from China

North Korean and Chinese flags fly in Pyongyang. Photo: AFP 

A South Korean national flag flutters in the wind at the unification observatory in Paju, South Korea on Wednesday. Photo: AP

People walk on a street in Dandong in Liaoning province, northeastern China, near the border with North Korea on Wednesday. Photo: Kyodo 

Activists were upset that South Korea’s National Assembly failed to adopt a resolution urging China to stop repatriating North Korean defectors. Photo: DPA

South Korea won’t risk ties with China amid Beijing’s ambivalence over Moscow-Pyongyang alliance: analysts

South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol arrives at Stansted Airport for the start of his state visit to the UK. Yoon said he believed China’s interests did not align with those of the North or Russia, stressing Beijing’s role in promoting peace and prosperity in the region. Photo: dpa

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife Kim Keon-hee arrive at London Stansted Airport on Monday for a four-day state visit to Britain. Photo: EPA-EFE

A man in Seoul walks past a television showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test. North Korea plans to launch a space satellite between November 22 and December 1 in the direction of the Yellow Sea and East China Sea. Photo: AFP

South Korea’s Yoon Suk-yeol (left) and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the APEC summit’s leaders’ retreat in San Francisco. South Korean diplomats reportedly sought a summit between Yoon and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the meeting. Photo: Bloomberg

North Korea threatens to deploy new weapons at border after halting military pact with Seoul

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson docks at a port in Busan, South Korea, on November 22. Photo: EPA-EFE

North Korea claims success in launching first spy satellite after 3 attempts

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un watches the satellite launch on Tuesday, in a photo released by state media. Photo: Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP

A photo provided by the North Korean government shows what it said was the launch of the Malligyong-1, a military spy satellite, into orbit late on Tuesday. Photo: Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP

Scientists and engineers from North Korea’s National Directorate of Aeronautics and Space Technology celebrate with Kim after the satellite launch late on Tuesday. Photo: KCNA via KNS / AFP

North Korea’s Kim Jong-un inspects new spy satellite photos of ‘target regions’

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un visits the Pyongyang General Control Centre of the National Aerospace Technology Administration to inspect operational readiness of the reconnaissance satellites and view aerospace photographs. Photo: KCNA via Reuters

4 North Koreans flee to South in small wooden boat, believed to be from same family

Four suspected North Korean defectors have been found in a small wooden boat, which was towed into a port in Yangyang, South Korea on Tuesday. Photo: AP

A North Korean flag in Geneva. More than 30,000 North Koreans have fled to the South since the 1990s. Photo: Reuters

News

Asia

East Asia

North Korean defector says the worst-case scenario about her daughter, who has been detained in China since 2021, appears to have become a reality
She recently lost contact with her child and has taken this as a sign she was sent back to North Korea along with hundreds of other detainees


North Korean defector fears her daughter, who had been detained in China since 2021 and with whom she had recently lost contact, has been sent back to North Korea along with hundreds of other detainees.


North Korea

Defector devastated as daughter feared to be repatriated to North Korea from China

North Korean defector says the worst-case scenario about her daughter, who has been detained in China since 2021, appears to have become a reality She recently lost contact with her child and has taken this as a sign she was sent back to North Korea along with hundreds of other detainees

North Korean defector says the worst-case scenario about her daughter, who has been detained in China since 2021, appears to have become a reality

She recently lost contact with her child and has taken this as a sign she was sent back to North Korea along with hundreds of other detainees