If the defectors are caught in China, they are repatriated back to North Korea, where rights groups say they often face harsh interrogations and years of punishment, or even death, in kwalliso prison camps (such as the Pukch'ang camp), or in kyohwaso reeducation camps (such as the Chungsan camp or Chongo-ri camp).
Since the border between the two Koreas is one of the most militarized in the world, almost all defectors first flee to China until they can gather enough money to reach a third country, such as Thailand. Then they can apply for asylum in South Korea, which grants them citizenship after a security screening.
The country seals its borders. And, unless you go to sea, you can only escape to two neighboring countries, South Korea or China. Those who reached China have reached the territory of North Korea's only friend.
In the 2010s, around 1,000 people a year successfully defected from North Korea - the vast majority crossing the northern border with China before seeking asylum in a third country.
The Japanese government, in principle, accepts North Korean defectors on humanitarian grounds, as long as they are Koreans who previously lived in Japan and went to North Korea under a repatriation programme between 1959 and 1984.
North Koreans fleeing into China should be protected as refugees sur place because of the certainty of punishment on return because they left without permission. North Korean law states that leaving the country without permission is a crime of "treachery against the nation," punishable by death.
Shin Dong-hyuk (born Shin In Geun, 19 November 1982 or 1980) is a North Korean-born human rights activist. He claims to be the only prisoner to have successfully escaped from a "total-control zone" grade internment camp in North Korea.
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Women in North Korea, just like men, are severely restricted in everyday life: freedom of speech, freedom of movement and similar rights are tightly controlled by the state.
Nearly all of North Korea's Internet traffic is routed through China. Since February 2013, foreigners have been able to access the Internet using the 3G telecommunications network provided by Koryolink. Permission to access the Internet remains tightly restricted.
The vast majority, like defector Kang Chun-hyuk, flee over North Korea's lengthy border with China. Kang's family made the trip in 1998 when he was 12 years old, before finally making it to South Korea a few years later.
North Koreans living in South Korea are often mistreated at schools, denied employment, and are subject to other kinds of ethnic issues due to their being from North Korea.
There are about 76% to 84% of defectors have fled to China or South Korea. Every year, there are over 1,000 people escape from North Korea to some of the most secretive countries in the world.
Visas. If despite our advice, you travel to North Korea, you need a visa for all types of travel. If you arrive without a valid visa, you may be: detained.
If I find a travel company willing to take me to North Korea on my US passport, can I go? Technically, yes. The North Koreans did not block Americans from entering North Korea on US passports. This was a US government decision.
While it may sound like a violation of human rights by many across the globe, citizens of that country apparently have no problem heeding such laws. Getting a condom is next to impossible because the country has banned all sorts of birth control measures.
According to one Korean American scholar who visited North Korea in the early 1980s, the country has no birth control policies; parents are encouraged to have as many as six children. The state provides tagaso (nurseries) to lessen the burden of childrearing for parents and offers a 77-day paid leave after childbirth.
North Korea ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, which sets a minimum age of marriage of 18, and acceded the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 2001, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.
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Some of the victims were abducted to teach Japanese language and culture at North Korean spy schools. Older victims were also abducted for the purpose of obtaining their identities.
Otto Frederick Warmbier (December 12, 1994 – June 19, 2017) was an American college student who was imprisoned in North Korea in 2016 on a charge of subversion. In June 2017, he was released by North Korea in a vegetative state and died soon afterwards. Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Jin Gyeong-suk (24 June 1980 – 2005), also known as Jin Kyung-sook, was a North Korean woman who, after successfully defecting to South Korea in 2002, was abducted in China two years later and forcefully deported back to North Korea, where she was tortured and murdered.