[imText1]8 North Korean defectors living in hiding in Yanji, Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture were arrested last week by the Chinese Police Agency.
On 28 March, a North Korean defector Mr.Choi, his wife Ms. Kang and her sister in Beida in Yanji city, were arrested by Chinese police. On March 26, a North Korean defector, Ms. Kim, living with a Chinese Korean in Henan in Yanji city and her daughter (14), were arrested.
On April 3, a North Korean defector in her 60s, Ms Park and her son Mr.Kim were arrested by local police in the Northwestern part of Yanji. Ms. Park was released after one day because she was 69 years old, but it seems that 7 others are in the process of forcible repatriation as they cannot even be identified.
These 8 North Korean defectors were not arrested through the crackdown of North Koreans, which causes sympathy from others.
They were all arrested in their home, and their neighbors said, “They were suspected of ‘illegal border-crossing’ as officials from Architecture, Environment and Hygeine Department visited the houses.
Gas Intoxication Incidents Affected the North Koreans in Hiding
On February 13, the ‘2.13 Gas Intoxication’ incident happened, which is called the worst incident of the year in the Yanbian area. Because of the abnormal phenomenon of a sudden rise in temperature, which formed a thick layer of low pressure air, 277 were intoxicated by carbon monoxide in 6 areas including Yanji, Longjing, Wangqing, Huolong, Tumen. 16 died of the incident while 31 received emergency treatment.
Those who were intoxicated and died were all living in one-storied houses where they use coal for heating. From this incident, the government of Jilin Province ordered the government of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture to carry out a project to ‘remove one storied houses and move the residents’. Accordingly, the government of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture has chosen the project as one of the main projects of 2006.
For the project to remove the one storied houses, officials from the Department of Architecture, Environment and Hygiene visited each houses in order to research the area and announce compensation for movement for the owners of the houses. This process unexpectedly came to harm to the North Korean defectors.
[imText2]One Storied Houses Cost 100~150 Yuan Monthly
Most of the North Korean defectors living in hiding in Yanbian area lives in one storied houses. One storied houses only cost 100~150 yuan per month without a security deposit.
House owners in the Yanbian areas usually receive 6 months of monthly payments in advance, but for one storied houses, they only receive 3 months worth of the payment. Therefore, North Korean defectors who need to move frequently and who do not have enough money, usually prefer one storied houses.
‘One storied houses’ are built with bricks and kitchen and bedroom are not separated. Water and electricity is provided, but there is only a public bathroom. They are similar to ‘houses made of boards’ in 1960s~70s in South Korea, but the inside, the house is far worse. Coal and woods are used for heating, but North Korean defectors without money sometimes use garbage for heating. This is why the sudden rise in temperature in the winter causes many to be intoxicated by carbon monoxide .
North Koreans Without Home Are Threatened
Kim Chul Ho (North Korean Defector, 39), who has been living in Yanji for 2 years say, ‘ Chinese polices targets one storied houses when they crackdown on North Koreans, so it is safer to stay in apartments. However, it is impossilbe for us to stay in apartments which cost more than 400 yuan per month’. Mr. Kim plans to move to rural areas in Jilin or Mudan River with his wife.
North Korean defectors like Mr. Kim who can speak Chinese have a bit easier lives. For North Korean defectors who have been in China for one or two years, it is hard to leave Yanbian area because of the language barrier. Last May, Ms. Chang (North Korean defector) in Yanji shed tears as she said, “When North Korean defector women want to live in China, they have no other way but to work at bars, message parlor or to be sold to Chinese men in rural areas”.
The government of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture has decided to spend 96 hundred million Yuan (approximately 110 billion KRW) to rebuild one storied houses of 1.83 million㎡. Government of Yanji is removing approximately 8000 houses and moving 30 thousand residents this year. Government of Hunchun, Tumen and Hualung also plans to accelerate the process.
Mr. A, a missionary helping the North Koreans in Yanbian was concerned and said, ‘Rebuilding of one storied houses is a good policy to modernize Yanbian area, but it will fundamentally threaten the security of North Koreans.”
