[imText1]Recently, Chinese authorities have been taking additional measures to assist defectors. Since the U.S. North Korean Human Rights Act came into effect, it has now become possible for some defectors to enter the U.S. directly.
As a result, Chinese authorities are increasing their efforts in search of defectors. In particular, as the issue of slave trade of defectors in China is being highlighted in international human rights, Chinese authorities have been respectively implementing stricter penalties. Whether or not an offender of slave trade is a North Korean or South Korean living in China, they are sentenced to severe punishment and the female defectors are forcefully repatriated back to North Korea.
Amongst these circumstances, a Chinese article posted in an online newspaper Renmin (People) Daily, a branch of the official Chinese Communist Party newspaper, is gathering much attention from Chinese internet users after having disclosed a petition on the miserable life of a female defector.
The article published in the Renmin (People) Daily on September 4th, depicts an appeal by a North Korean female defector who was repatriated back to North Korea and punished after being apprehended by Chinese authorities. The writer of this article had the user ID ‘changsiliang (常思量).’
This article first published in the ‘People Daily’ has now expanded to various Chinese community portals such as Sohu.com, 163.com and hundreds of other sites and blogs with more than hundreds and thousands of viewers.
The article was titled, ‘North Korean bride in China: Guaranteed to be wed with riches.’
[imText2]The online version of the Renmin (People) Daily, has a header at the top of the page ‘Special Warning: The article by changsiliang is a personal opinion and is not representative of the ‘People Daily.’” Simply put, ‘Articles of external writers are different to the official editing objective,’ and the Chinese Communist Party stresses a different position on the issue.
The article was publicly posted on internet sites to entice direct action by Chinese people against the desolate issue of female defectors.
The writer revealed that about 10 women had come to the village having been sold through slave trade. The writer’s cousin also paid Chinese 10,000 yuan (US$1,264) and acquired a North Korean woman as his wife this way.
The writer revealed, “The North Korean woman matched with my cousin was apprehended by authorities at the time of wedding preparations and was already pregnant.” The writer petitioned a sincere appeal by the female defector who “does not want to be forcefully repatriated back to North Korea, has not eaten anything for 5 days.”
Following is the Korean and original Chinese report.
