Russia — Stories of North Korean Refugees

NORTH KOREAN WORKERS DISAPPEAR FROM SHANGHAI DORM

North Korea has requested help from China to track down 20 North Korean women working for a clothing company in Shanghai and their manager who they suspect are now on the run as refugees.
Beijing is under two bilateral border and immigration pacts with Pyongyang to return North Koreans found to be illegally within Chinese territory.
The group of textile workers were dispatched from North Korea to earn foreign currency in China for the government and were supposed to be in quarantine when they disappeared from their dormitory in mid-February.
A source told Radio Free Asia that the company owner had immediately reported the disappearance to the North Korean consulate in Beijing, which had in turn sought assistance from the Chinese police to track the escapees and monitor railway stations heading towards the border. The source further commented that “[the] workers and the manager have not been found for a month since they went missing...[the] North Korean consulate is under a state of emergency to find if they have already escaped and are in Southeast Asia or already entered South Korea.”
Another source from Dandong, a Chinese city bordering North Korea, said that Shanghai is so large with a population of around 26 million people that “it would be easy to hide there...[but] if they were to leave by train or bus, they would need to show ID to buy a ticket. It therefore seems this is a planned escape led by a guide, since the manager and the workers have not been caught.”
According to the U.S. State Department’s 2021 Trafficking in Persons Report, there are an estimated 20,000 to 80,000 North Koreans working in China. Meanwhile, escapes by North Koreans working in China are rare because Pyongyang only sends its most loyal citizens abroad, monitors them closely, and punishes their family members.
Although United Nations nuclear sanctions froze the issuance of work visas and mandated the repatriation of North Korean nationals working abroad by the end of 2019, China and Russia often bypass these sanctions by granting workers short-term student or visitor visas so they can legally work in other countries.

Source:
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/china-03222022201416.html
https://www.visiontimes.com/2022/03/23/north-korean-women-rented-to-china-for-work-disappear-from-shanghai-dorm-presumed-defected-report.html

NORTH KOREAN LEADER’S SISTER WARNS OF NUCLEAR RETALIATION

In response to South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook’s remarks on the South’s ability to strike the North’s missile launch points, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister, Kim Yo-jong, issued two statements in state media calling Suh “a scum-like guy” and claiming that “[in] case South Korea opts for military confrontation with us, our nuclear combat force will have to inevitably carry out its duty.”
Kim Yo-jong also dismissed Suh’s assertions in relation to the South’s militia abilities, which North Korean analyst, Cheong Seong-chang, noted was an attempt to “enhance the internal unity within the North” amidst uncertainty and concerns about relations with the new South Korean cabinet.
Kim Yo-jong further added that North Korea did not want a war and would only respond using nuclear weapons if attacked.
According to Sydney Seiler, national intelligence officer for North Korea at the National Intelligence Council, North Korea uses US-South Korea joint military drills as a pretext for its provocations and is employing a “short-term choreography” or propaganda which Pyongyang has historically utilized while seeking to convince others that the escalation of tension is simply a result of the US-South Korean alliance and not the desired outcome of its actions.
Seiler also noted that North Korea has breached numerous denuclearisation agreements in the past, “each breakout that we have seen, agreed framework breakout, six-party talks, breakout, leap day agreement, breakout, Singapore-Hanoi breakout, each time the [North Korean weapons] program advances a little more, making it harder to imagine denuclearisation as a viable topic for discussion.”

Source:
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20220408000121
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-60992313

NORTH KOREA DEMOLISHES SOUTH KOREAN-OWNED $75 MILLION GOLF RESORT

In 2019, Kim Jong-un called the dozens of South Korean-built facilities at North Korea’s Diamond Mountain resort “shabby” and lacked “national character”, and ordered the removal of “all the unpleasant-looking facilities of the south [Korean] side” after Seoul refused to defy US-led sanctions that kept tourism from resuming.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry and other parties requested to negotiate with the North following Kim’s announcement, but their requests were denied.
The North postponed the demolition work in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic until days before the South Korean presidential election in March 2022. South Korea’s Unification Ministry called for North Korea to stop the “unilateral” destruction of the Haegumgang Hotel, which serves as one of the last symbols of inter-Korean engagement.
Weeks later, it was reported that North Korea began to demolish a $75 million South Korean-owned golf resort near Mount Kumgang without permission from the company Anati that built the facility. The Ananti Golf and Spa Resort was open to South Korean tourists in 2008 for one year, before Seoul suspended all tourism to North Korea after a DPRK soldier shot and killed a South Korean national.
Anati’s chairman expressed hopes that his resort could still host the 2025 World Amateur Golf Championship, but this does not seem likely to happen as according to Planet Labs satellite imagery, 10 large lodging buildings have already been partially demolished.

Source:
https://apnews.com/article/business-travel-seoul-south-korea-north-korea-bb623f840c86a80a08cd214cad1233b5
https://www.nknews.org/2022/04/north-korea-begins-demolishing-75-million-south-korean-golf-resort-imagery/

NORTH KOREANS IN RUSSIA: NO WAY HOME

North Korean soldiers dispatched to Russia to earn foreign currency are unable to return home after their three-year services due to Pyongyang’s prolonged border closure as part of their Covid-19 prevention measures.
According to a North Korean soldier in his 20s, Choi, along with four other soldiers who were sent to Russia in 2018, although they were eligible for discharges from the military in 2021, they were not allowed to return home and are still engaging in foreign currency earning activities in Russia.
Choi told Daily NK that two soldiers in similar positions have tried to escape by leaving their base in Moscow without permission in mid-March, but were subsequently apprehended by the Ministry of State Security and imprisoned on charges of attempting to defect.
Choi also noted that the “first thing North Korean authorities consider when choosing soldiers to send abroad is whether or not an individual will run away while in a foreign country...[since] soldiers are thoroughly armed politically and ideologically speaking, and because they have families back home [who are used as hostages], [the authorities] prefer them over regular workers.”
Despite the heavy emphasis on selecting soldiers who are loyal to the ruling Workers’ Party and Kim Jong-un, Choi explained that “there are many soldiers who are considering escaping due to the long working hours that stretch into the night and poor pay, which is not even enough to buy cigarettes.”

Source:
https://www.dailynk.com/english/north-korean-soldiers-russia-earning-foreign-currency-still-unable-return-home/

Background

An estimated 10,000 North Koreans live in Russia. As one of the three border countries to North Korea along with China and South Korea, Russia’s refugee policies have never been sympathetic to North Koreans. Alec Luhn of ForeignPolicy.com reported in 2017 that according to the Civic Assistance human rights group in Russia, only two North Korean applicants out of 211 were granted refugee status in Russia between 2004 and 2014, while 90 out of 170 applicants were granted temporary refugee status, which lasts for only a year. The situation for North Korean refugees became even more challenging when Russia and North Korea signed an agreement in 2014 to repatriate citizens living illegally in each other’s countries (the “2014 Deportation Agreement”).

North Korean refugees in Russia can be divided into two groups: those who enter Russia legally as laborers and escape from their work sites located in the country’s far east, and those who illegally cross the border. The first group is perhaps the most popular form of escape. There is a history of escapes by North Korean laborers due to the extremely harsh living conditions at the North Korean-controlled logging camps. Under the circumstances, most escapees attempt to work in farms or factories owned by Russians in return for shelter or minimal wage. However, since they are often left homeless and vulnerable to exploitation and risk of deportation, escapees are likely to find themselves with no choice but to commit theft in order to survive the bitter winters. This has understandably caused antipathy among the local communities towards North Korean refugees, which in turn makes their lives more difficult as illegal aliens in society.

Why China and Not Russia?

Between North Korea’s two neighboring countries, there are five main reasons why North Koreans might choose to defect to China and not Russia.

First, as northeastern China is home to the largest population of ethnic Koreans living outside of the Korean Peninsula, North Korean refugees easily blend in and can hide among the Chinese as they journey along the underground network to freedom. As compared to hiding in Russia, the culturally diverse environment in China further allows North Korean refugees to communicate with and seek help from ethnic Koreans, often passing off as Korean-speaking Chinese without immediately raising suspicion.

Second, stemming from the reason above, China has a much more established underground network comprising experienced brokers and Christian missionary groups than Russia. Although it is never safe to remain in the bordering towns due to constant inspections undertaken by the Chinese authorities, North Korean refugees also have a chance to earn money while living in China and might find work at one of the many Korean restaurants and companies operated by ethnic Koreans or South Koreans who are sympathetic towards the refugees.

Third, North Korea shares a 839 mile (1,350 km) border with China, which increases the chances for refugees to successfully cross without detection, compared to the mere 11 mile (18 km) heavily-patrolled border with Russia. In particular, some parts of the Yalu river dividing North Korean and China’s border city, Dandong, are narrow and relatively easier to crawl over in the winter when the river freezes or to swim across in the summer.

Fourth, due to the relatively less-guarded border between China and North Korea compared to that between Russia and North Korea, it is much easier for North Korean refugees to return home with food and money, especially if their family remains in North Korea. There is a long history where North Korean refugees wandered back and forth between China and Korea since 1865 when Koreans were allowed to live and farm in Machuria during the Qing Dynasty, and it has been reported that in some circumstances, refugees who surrender themselves to Korean border guards claiming to have crossed the border to China for business purposes may simply pay a bribe and go unpunished.

Finally, compared to China’s climate which is similar to that in North Korea, it is much more difficult for refugees who are on the run to survive the harsh weather conditions and long Siberian winters in Russia without shelter.

Friendly Ties Between North Korea and Russia

Although Russia has ratified a number of international law treaties which are favourable to the protection of refugees, the signing of the 2014 Deportation Agreement controversially undermines the same. To date, the Russian government has not yet clarified its legal and political stance.

For instance, although Russia is a signatory to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and recognises the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights, the 2017 Choe Myong Bok case sparked much public debate and remains largely controversial to this day. Choe legally arrived in Russia in 1999 to work as part of a group of labourers in a logging camp run by North Korean authorities. He has since lived in Russia with his partner and their two young children without legal documents after escaping from the camp in 2002. Choe was arrested in 2017 and received a deportation order from the Vsevolozhsky District Court. Despite a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights ordering Russia not to deport Choe back to North Korea where he is likely to face torture or even death, his fate remains uncertain due to 2014 Deportation Agreement. It should be noted that Choe was not the first North Korean refugee who had been caught in Russia. A fellow refugee, Ryu En Nam, was forcibly repatriated back to North Korea in 2008 and tortured to death by being roped to the back of a moving train.

After almost entirely dissipating in the 90’s, Russia and North Korea’s political and economic relationships have greatly improved. In the spring of 2014 Russia made moves to strengthen its ties with North Korea, including signing an economic agreement to raise bilateral trade from $112 million to $1 billion by 2020 and investing $340 million in a joint venture to build a railway stretching between the two countries. North Korean labor is extremely cheap and it is to Russia’s benefit that North Korea’s options are limited. Russia is expected to strictly comply with the 2014 Deportation Agreement and avoid the risk of becoming a new destination for North Koreans refugees.

Top North Korean Headlines - April 2022