By Camille Freestone, HRNK Research Intern Edited by Rosa Park, HRNK Director of Programs and Editor August 13, 2020 Though none can escape the harsh reality of living in North Korea entirely, women often experience the lack of human rights and systematic violence of the totalitarian regime most acutely. They are often the most food insecure, the most vulnerable to domestic and sexual violence, and at high risk of being trafficked when attempting to escape. Though all people in North Korea must navigate a minefield of violence and oppression in order to survive, women face particular difficulties. But the unique challenges of existing as a North Korean woman do not end in the rare case of successful escape to South Korea. Within the escapee community in South Korea, women continue to face challenges, including difficulty adjusting to a new social order, high rates of domestic and economic abuse, difficulty accessing resources that should be readily available, and discrimination in the workplace. In many ways the Moon administration has exacerbated these struggles, creating an environment in which North Korean human rights groups are suppressed and individual escapee’s rights have been trampled in high-profile cases. Challenges in North Korea While nearly all citizens experience hardships of varying degrees, levels of which are often determined by an individual's songbun (political/social/economic status), women often bear the brunt of instability and violence in North Korea. Due to clearly delineated gender roles, women tend to familial needs, even in cases where they also work outside the home.[1] North Korea's food insecurity issue makes that caretaking role especially challenging, and during the famine of 1994–1998, many women found creative ways to make money and procure food in informal and illicit markets.[2] Women's lack of ties to formal workplaces offer a freedom of movement that men cannot obtain, allowing women to engage in the market more easily. Though the food security conditions have improved since 1998, adequate access to food for their families is still an issue women must deal with regularly. Another challenge stemming from strict gender roles is the high rate of domestic violence in North Korea. Some studies estimate that as many as 70% of women experience domestic violence at home.[3] There is little in the way of legal or social protection for these women, regardless of the regime’s much touted laws on gender equality. Additionally, women face a high risk of violence outside the home. For many, engaging in the informal economy carries risks, even as many of these markets are made quasi-legal, as some traded goods are smuggled. These women have been made "vulnerable to abuse and manipulation by the predominantly male authorities.”[4] If detained with or without cause, women are subjected to torture, forced labor, rape by guards, and abortion if made pregnant.[5] These hardships, and myriad other challenges and risks, coupled with their ability to move more freely, contributed to the significantly higher rate of women escaping North Korea compared to men in recent years. In 1998, 12% of escapees were women, but following the famine, the numbers of women crossing the border began to surge, and, in 2019, 80% of escapees were women.[6] Escape is, however, also rife with dangerous struggles. Most escapees must travel through China, where “women are targeted by marriage brokers and pimps involved in human trafficking.”[7] The Korea Future Initiative estimates that "60% of female North Korean refugees in China are trafficked into the sex trade," and of those, 59% percent will be sold more than once.[8] Even when women enter into marriages willingly, the power dynamic is severely skewed, because North Koreans cannot enter into marriages legally in China. They will never have legal status in China, and their children will not be eligible for citizenship in either country. Challenges in South Korea Those who successfully arrive in South Korea are given South Korean citizen status and provided with vocational training, housing subsidies, career counseling, and tuition support for college.[9] While the support available is broad, there are gaps in the education provided, especially as it pertains to social adaptation and psychological resilience; both of which are crucial for successful adaption of escapees to new environments and integration with a new social system. Additionally, for some North Korean new arrivals, there are psychological barriers to accessing the resources to which they are entitled. Much of this derives from two central and conflicting ideas: first, the indoctrinated North Korean ideal of juche (self-reliance), which can make escapees resistant to asking for assistance, and the second is their recognition that North Korea is a failed state partly due to their centrally planned economy, which results in surprisingly conservative political leanings on fiscal policy and makes many unreceptive to the idea of state welfare.[10] Though most studies have shown that women are much quicker at adapting socially and psychologically in South Korea, they are less likely to find regular employment than men and are especially susceptible to social derision based on appearance, which is paramount in the South.[11] Factors ranging from their stunted height to their difficulties with modern fashion sense mark them as North Korean in a society that is so aesthetically driven that a $13 billion global beauty empire was built from the ground up. One study found that South Korean fashion norms could be truly shocking to new arrivals who were used to their appearances being heavily regulated in North Korea. Replacing one to three sets of conservative clothing in dark, neutral tones with bright, sometimes revealing clothes often bought in quantities previously unheard of could range from thrilling to paralyzing depending on the individual and their experience and status in North Korea.[12] Additionally, those who do not conform to South Korean fashion norms are often labeled "fashion terrorists" by acquaintances and colleagues, leading them to feel discriminated against in social settings and in the workplace.[13] Even for those willing and able to assimilate aesthetically, anti-North Korean sentiment in South Korea creates social barriers that can leave escapees feeling isolated from their South Korean neighbors. How to successfully navigate this social context is not adequately covered in initial government education efforts and can make it difficult for North Koreans to build the social networks necessary for their emotional and psychological health as well as their employment prospects. Many North Koreans struggle to make ends meet in South Korea, with the average monthly income estimated at $1636, which is roughly 25% less than the South Korean minimum monthly wage.[14] This can be exacerbated for women who struggle to find regular employment, often piecing together several part-time jobs just to keep food on the table and sometimes resorting to lying about their employment status in order to continue receiving much needed support from the South Korean government. This existential struggle was front and center in 2019, when a North Korean woman and her son were found dead in their Seoul apartment due to starvation.[15] While women might adapt more quickly to their new environment than men, they also deal with higher rates of PTSD from experiences both in North Korea and third countries during their escape.[16] Their vulnerability both inside and outside North Korea makes them especially susceptible to circumstances that result in trauma. Additionally, existing trauma is a contributing factor in the high rates of domestic abuse North Korean women face in South Korea, often at rates "2 to 4 times higher than their South Korean counterparts, depending on the type of abuse."[17] The Path Forward Despite the uphill battle that North Korean women face even after arriving in South Korea, most would never consider returning to North Korea under the current circumstances and more women escapees arrive every year. In spite of the challenges, North Korean women are resilient actors, with political inclinations and the ability to affect future change in South Korea. Jeong and Kim's study in 2016 showed that "North Korean women escapees hold generally participatory attitudes toward politics and mostly liberal opinions on policy issues," fiscal issues excepted.[18] Indeed, the majority expressed the intention to vote in upcoming elections and willingness to engage in civic organizations. Though some of the studies’ outcomes were unexpected, the "results confirm[ed] that North Korean women escapees are indeed political actors," and they deserve attention from South Korea's democratic system.[19] If this political inclination is built upon and North Korean women are adequately integrated into the fabric of South Korean society, they could help build a more open, aware, and engaged South Korea. In order to achieve this, however, South Korea must take steps to remove barriers to proper integration. This will need to be a multi-faceted effort, involving an evolution in the education process of escapees that focuses more on integration than assimilation and emphasizes the services and assistance available to them. There must also be an educational campaign geared towards South Koreans, acknowledging that it is not only up to escapees to integrate, but also South Koreans’ responsibility to hold the space for them to do so. Lastly, South Korea must also acknowledge the psychological challenges North Korean women face and adequately address them, both from a policy and a healthcare standpoint. For too long, South Korea has glossed over the atrocious human rights abuses of North Korea, and the particular way these abuses affect women. The current administration is complicit in this. Acknowledgement of the North’s human rights violations, coupled with a concerted mental health effort geared toward the particular needs of North Korean women would send a clear policy message while also meeting immediate and future needs of women escapees in South Korea. Camille Freestone is a Master’s candidate at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy focused on US-ROK diplomacy, nuclear nonproliferation, Asia-Pacific maritime affairs, and ROK-Japan security relations. [1] Erin Engstran et al, “Gender and Migration from North Korea,” Journal of Public & International Affairs, May 2020, https://jpia.princeton.edu/news/gender-and-migration-north-korea.
[2] Ibid. [3] Edward White, “North Korean defectors reveal wretched state of female healthcare,” Financial Times, December 10, 2019, https://www.ft.com/content/d033c254-1ba6-11ea-9186-7348c2f183af. [4] Erin Engstran et al, “Gender and Migration from North Korea,” Journal of Public & International Affairs, May 2020, https://jpia.princeton.edu/news/gender-and-migration-north-korea. [5] Ibid [6] Ministry of Unification, “Settlement Support for North Korean Defectors,” https://www.unikorea.go.kr/eng_unikorea/whatwedo/support/. [7] Lee Hae-young, “Lives for Sale: Personal Accounts of Women Fleeing North Korea to China,” Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, 2009, p. 16, https://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/Lives_for_Sale.pdf. [8] Korea Future Initiative, “Sex Slaves. The Prostitution, Cybersex & Forced Marriage of North Korean Women and Girls in China,” 2019, p. 12 and 15, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5dc1aed040fe330ac04da331/t/5e20241750880c2dddc45bfc/1579164720911/Sex+Slaves+-+Korea+Future+Initiative. [9] Ministry of Unification, “Settlement Support for North Korean Defectors,” https://www.unikorea.go.kr/eng_unikorea/whatwedo/support/. [10] Erin Engstran et al, “Gender and Migration from North Korea,” Journal of Public & International Affairs, May 2020, https://jpia.princeton.edu/news/gender-and-migration-north-korea. Hoi Ok Jeong and Yoon Sil Kim, "North Korean Women Defectors in South Korea and Their Political Participation," International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 55 (2016), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2016.07.008. [11] Jeyeon Jo and Jisoo Ha, “Clothing acculturation of North Korean female defectors in South Korea,” Fashion and Textiles, 10 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40691-018-0127-3. [12] Ibid. [13] Ibid. [14] Joohee Cho and Hakyung Kate Lee, “After North Korean defector and her son die, a spotlight on their hardships in freedom,” ABC News, November 16, 2019, https://abcnews.go.com/International/north-korean-defector-son-die-spotlight-hardships-freedom/story?id=66818547. [15] Ibid. [16] Erin Engstran et al, “Gender and Migration from North Korea,” Journal of Public & International Affairs, May 2020, https://jpia.princeton.edu/news/gender-and-migration-north-korea. [17] Mee Young Um et al, “Correlates of Domestic Violence Victimization Among North Korean Refugee Women in South Korea,” Journal of Interpersonal Violence 33, no. 13 (July 2018), https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.tufts.edu/10.1177/0886260515622297. [18] Hoi Ok Jeong and Yoon Sil Kim, "North Korean Women Defectors in South Korea and Their Political Participation," International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 55 (2016), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2016.07.008. [19] Ibid.
3 Comments
robert collins
8/14/2020 06:25:26 am
extremely well done. congrats!
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Britt Robinson
9/1/2020 08:31:22 am
Beautifully written, phenomenal job of capturing the numerous barriers North Korean women face in North Korea, China, and South Korea. A complicated topic which you discuss in a easily digestible way.
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DedicationHRNK staff members and interns wish to dedicate this program to our colleagues Katty Chi and Miran Song. Categories
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