The Role of Gender in Shaping the North Korean Escapee Experience

By Ellie Richard, former HRNK intern
Edited by Greg Scarlatoiu, HRNK President and CEO

The dangers of escaping from North Korea are well-documented. Between dodging landmines, eluding border patrol agents, and avoiding arrest by Chinese officials, North Korean escapees face a path replete with risks. Success on this journey can be the difference between life and death – and it’s a trek that disproportionately affects one group above all others:
 
North Korean women.
 
According to the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, “approximately 80% of North Korean escapees are women.” There are plenty of reasons why North Korean women flee the country more than their male counterparts. To begin, men and women assume different roles in North Korean society, and such differences influence escape capabilities. Men are typically under strict surveillance from the Korean Workers’ Party (KWP), and they are required to serve in the military for a minimum of ten years. While service in the military is compulsory for men, participation is voluntary for women. Women who enlist in the military — though not all are required to — serve for six years. This relatively shorter term provides a broader window for escape for women, as men are conscripted for longer periods.  
 
Generally, North Korean women have more time to spend on their families and communities compared to men, especially married women. Most women in the country participate in the Socialist Women’s Union of Korea, an organization that enlists women in various public mobilization campaigns. Women who are a part of this union spend their weekends working on public infrastructure projects, including road construction work and railway assignments. Married women are exempt from union service, allowing them more time to care for their families. As primary caretakers, they bear a heavy burden, particularly as many families struggle to meet basic needs.
 
Food insecurity is a common push factor that encourages women to flee from North Korea. Most North Korean citizens suffer from some form of food insecurity. The World Food Programme estimates that 10.7 million people are malnourished in North Korea, which is approximately 40% of the population. Food shortages largely stem from North Korea’s decision to prioritize military spending and nuclear weapons development rather than agricultural sectors. Such food deprivation places an enormous strain on North Korean women, who assume more family responsibilities than men. Driven by the urgent need to feed their families, many women flee North Korea in search of food and resources essential for survival.
 
This food insecurity and resulting economic hardships encourage women to seek pathways to escape from North Korea. During the famine of the 1990s, many women became more involved in informal markets known as the Jangmadang. Their participation in these markets enabled them to gain more financial independence and, as a result, become exposed to outside market actors. Women were introduced to economic opportunities outside of North Korea, and these opportunities for a lucrative career became enticing as many struggled to feed their families.
 
Human traffickers target these women and prey on their vulnerabilities — especially ringleaders who run complex human trafficking networks in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Perpetrators in China work in tandem with corrupt brokers who lure North Korean women to China under false promises of employment to exploit them for financial gain. One common form of exploitation and crime is sex trafficking. A report by the Migration Policy Institute states that “more than 60 percent of North Korean girls and women between ages 12-29 who escape are trafficked into China’s lucrative sex trade.”
 
Cybersex trafficking is a dangerous subset of this crime. The Migration Policy Institute reports that in recent years, “a growing number – approximately 15 percent of those trafficked – have been coerced into cybersex, which includes livestreamed sexual abuse and rape to a paying clientele of mostly South Korean men.” Such a finding demonstrates the expansive nature of these trafficking networks, as traffickers exploit women in China and other countries.
 
The black market for North Korean women in China extends beyond sex trafficking, too. Traffickers also coerce women into forced marriages. Indeed, the Migration Policy Institute finds that “more than 30 percent [of women] are believed to be sold into forced marriages with rural Chinese men.” This situation stems from a lack of marriage-age women in the northeast region of China due to previous population control measures implemented by the PRC. The infamous ‘one child’ policy, where the government restricted families from having more than one child, resulted in a skewed sex ratio in China, as families would undergo gender-based abortions to avoid having a female child. This female infanticide, in turn, created a large demand for brides, and North Korean women proved a convenient solution.
 
The consequences of this situation are devastating. North Korean women in forced marriages not only suffer from rape and gender-based violence but also live under constant threat of arrest. They have no official standing in China, nor do they have any legal avenues they can pursue to protect themselves. The Chinese government often categorizes North Korean escapees as ‘economic migrants’ rather than asylum seekers, and such mis categorization facilitates a system of forced repatriation. The government can deport citizens without acknowledging the immense danger they face upon returning home, including imprisonment, torture, and execution upon return to North Korea. Female escapees face a unique set of hazards. The Transitional Justice Working Group affirmed that “in detention centers and interrogation facilities, female returnees are reportedly subject to invasive gynecological exams, beatings, and sexual assault, all without medical justification or legal oversight.” Women carrying children face even greater consequences. Pregnant women in detention centers are subjected to forced abortions and infanticide as punishment for their ‘disloyalty’ to the Kim regime.
 
This data, if nothing else, provides a window into the experiences of women who try to escape from North Korea and the dangers they face along the way. However, the data can only tell so much of the story. Statistics on a page cannot sufficiently convey the overwhelming fear these women experience and the strength they are required to possess during their journeys. The voice of Vivian Kim, an escapee-turned-human rights advocate and U.S. CEO, best showcases the resilience of female North Korean escapees.
 
***
 
Originally born in the northern province of Hamgyong Bukdo, Vivian spent her entire childhood and adolescence in North Korea. She witnessed extreme poverty and starvation firsthand, as well as the censorship and indoctrination levied by the Kim regime. She knows how it feels to live in a totalitarian state, and she knows how dangerous it is to leave it, having done so herself in 2010. Vivian recently described her experience leaving the regime in an interview with HRNK, and among all the trials and tribulations she faced, one topic kept resurfacing throughout the conversation:
 
Fear.
 
When asked about the scariest moment during her escape, Vivian didn’t hesitate to answer: “Every single moment. It’s not just one moment. Every single step. Every single moment until I got to Thailand.” Her journey stretched from backcountry roads in China, jungles in Laos, rivers in Thailand, and eventually the Hanawon refugee center in South Korea. Natural dangers jeopardized her safety at every location, as she navigated rugged mountains, frozen rivers, and treacherous insects during her trip.
 
Man-made threats were even more frightening. “The first scary thing when I decided to escape, and as I crossed the border, was that I might be shot in the back by the North Korean government,” Vivian said. “The second [threat] was not by the North Korean government but by the brokers, the human traffickers.”
 
In her interview with HRNK, Vivian provided greater insight into the mindset of the brokers who help North Koreans escape. Many of them charge substantial fees to individuals and their families looking to leave North Korea. Even if a woman can meet the base costs, she still runs the risk of being outbid by a human trafficking perpetrator who wants to sell her into sex work. Many brokers will choose the more profitable option, creating a cycle of exploitation. Vivian’s husband, a fellow defector and human rights advocate named Jake Kim, wired a substantial amount of money to their broker to protect his wife’s safety. As a result, Vivian avoided any ensnarement in these human trafficking rings. The same cannot be said for every woman who makes this journey. Many who rely on their brokers are ultimately betrayed, highlighting how difficult it is for these women to decide whom to trust.
 
These anxieties stick with defectors long after they arrive in a safe new country. Some defectors might struggle to trust people following their experiences with these brokers. Vivian, meanwhile, still carries trauma related to law enforcement as the Chinese government could have arrested her on multiple occasions.
 
 “Police cars are normal. Police cars are everywhere in the world, but the lights, not only for me but for all North Korean escapees in China, [I feel like] someone is watching me, and they are going to shoot me,” Vivian lamented. “It’s so so scary. Every time I see police car lights, it’s this kind of trauma.”
 
The struggles she faced, both as a North Korean defector and as a woman, during her escape, were tremendous. Her journey is described in much greater detail in her book, A Necessary Lie: Escape for Freedom and Love, which she co-wrote with her husband and author Heidi Tucker.
 
After speaking with HRNK, Heidi reaffirmed how traumatizing this experience was for Vivian, having worked with her to translate her story. “The fear kept coming up,” Heidi recalled. “The fear of Vivian crossing the ice [on the frozen Yalu River]. She was just like ‘How did my heart not stop beating? The fear that they were going to shoot her in the back at any moment…[she] would often go back to the fear.”
 
Fear is a central part of her story, but so too is the strength and perseverance she displayed in the face of this distress. Despite the odds being widely stacked against her, Vivian Kim found a way out and eventually reunited with her husband. She is now a loving mother of two children, a proud college graduate, a prominent CEO of a children’s clothing brand, and an empowered human rights activist in the United States. Vivian’s story is nothing short of inspiring and a critical reminder of the importance of this issue.
 
***
 
I believe that the United States of America has a moral responsibility and strategic opportunity to promote and protect the rights of North Korean citizens and refugees. Escapees — many of them women — are often overlooked and forgotten about. To amplify their voices, I believe we must urge members of Congress to reauthorize the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004. Although this legislation largely enjoyed bipartisan support, it expired in 2023 and its renewal is critical. The bill not only reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to protecting human rights and democracy on the international stage but also funded vital refugee support programs and supported independent media outlets like Radio Free Asia and Voice of America that broadcast information into the country. Reauthorizing this act would send a clear message: the United States cares about the well-being of North Korean refugees and citizens and will not turn away from their struggle.
 
With over three years since the last congressional hearing on North Korea, it’s time to push for renewed focus. Contact your representatives to demonstrate your concern for this issue. More specifically, let them know that you want to see the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 renewed. The time for passive concern has come and gone. We must act decisively, and we must act now.
 

Ellie Richard is a senior at the University of Michigan, where she is pursuing a double major in International Relations and Spanish, along with a minor in History. As a pre-law student, she is deeply passionate about foreign affairs, with particular interests in international human rights law and immigrant rights protection. Ellie brings valuable research experience to HRNK, having previously served as a research assistant for the University of Michigan Law School. In that role, she collaborated with former U.S. State Department Ambassador and Department of Justice Prosecutor Luis C. deBaca to create an archive documenting the early efforts of the anti-human trafficking movement. This experience — combined with a formative lecture on the implications of the Songbun system in North Korea — sparked her interest in Korean peninsula affairs and strengthened her commitment to uncovering human rights abuses through research with HRNK.

 
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