[imText1]Many of the illegal “border transgressors” from North Korea, who left North Korea due to hunger, are women. The vast Chinese land is where sufferings of North Korean women are hidden.
Living in China for few years made them more and more a Chinese. The bigger problem, though, is education of the children they bear.
“I worry for my child not being able to speak Korean.”
Park Eun Ju, age 21, tells us her worries. She lives in Mudanjiang city of Heilongjiang, China.
Six years ago, her mother and she buried her father who died of starvation and crossed over the Tumen River. She has become 21 years old now. She gave a birth to a boy of a Chinese man whom she lives with. She registered her son on the temporary registry, but Park still does not hold legal status.
Following is interview with her.
– Does a North Korea woman has to get married when she comes to China?
To be sold is more like a destiny. They say “marry” so it sounds better, but in fact, they are being sold. Just as I heard, I came to China and I no longer have to worry about food. However, it is hard to protect even myself here. Women are scarce here, so they are sold like belongings. We are illegal here, so we have to rely on destiny.
– Did you come to China alone?
I came with my mother and we lived together in Wangqing, a mountainous region until I was seventeen years old. When I became seventeen, the owner of the house, who was a Korean descendent, old my mother to send me away or leave together because two North Koreans together makes easier for the Chinese police to find us. At the time the police fined those employed North Koreans about 5,000Yuan ($800 USD).
A few days later, a Chinese who introduced us first to the house we were residing came to visit us. He told my other, “I found a job for your daughter in the inner part of China” and tried to take me away. My mother cried and could not say much. I did not know what was going on, so I told my mother, “I will get settle down first and I will come back for you.” That is how we became apart.
– Where were you first sent?
I followed the man to Heilongjiang passing by Harbin. It was three nights four days without a stop, taking bus and train. We arrived at a house of a Han Chinese, who had black beard and looked over thirty years old. In Yanbian, many people spoke Korea, but I got scared because he only spoke Chinese. The person who took me and the Chinese man, who was a bachelor unable to get married until he became over thirty years old, talked among themselves. The person who took me there left on the same leaving me there.
– If you knew that you were sold, why did you not escape?
On that day I was so scared that I stayed in the corner of room shivering the whole day. The Chinese man brought me some food and told me something, but I could not understand what he was saying. I did not remember the way back, and even if I did, what good would that have been? I did not have money and I could not speack Chinese…
The Chiense man did not leave me alone the entire day. I could not even dare to escape. In a small caged town, I could not run away. Later I found out that I was sold to the man when a Korean descendent in the town told me.
– Did he not mistreat you?
I fell asleep sitting down in the corner, and all of sudden I felt lifted up and someone touching me. I screamed and yelled and hit the wall with my fists. It was the Chinese man who was trying to lie me down because I stayed sat down for so long.
Fortunately, the Chinese man did not hit me or mistreat me. He smoked a lot in the middle of the room and spent the night without sleeping. I spent the night with eyes open. I was so skinny for not having eaten anything and my eyes were swollen.
– Are you living with that Han Chinese man?
On the next day, a Korean descendent woman from the next town came to translate. The woman looked at me with pitying eyes and said, “small girl like you were sold all the say to here.”
“I was sold?”I was dumfounded. “I am only seventeen years old! I am so scared!” I begged the woman, because she seemed like the only person who could understand me. She understood my situation but could not do anything but let me know that I was sold to the man. Where would she able to get 10,000Yuan? Later I thought of escaping many times, but I delayed my plan each time and now I live with him. I gave a birth to a son last year.”
North Korean women are sold to many places in the inner parts of China including Heilongjiang, Shandong, Hunan as far as Southern parts such as Guangdongsheng, which makes it very difficult to predict their number.
Park says she cries at nights thinking of her mother. She revisited Wangqing where she used to live with her mother, but her mother have left the place two years ago. She says when she thinks about her mother who would be looking for her somewhere in the vast Chinese land makes her cry.
Park expressed some vague hope by saying,“I will be able to meet after the unification (of the two Koreas). When will the mother and the daughter be able to meet each other?
