Changchun, China -- Since the detention of the two U.S. journalists, refugees in China have been hiding more deeply to preserve themselves, and those engaged in assisting them have been following suit.

The time had finally arrived when regulations on refugees, which had been strengthened during and after the Beijing Olympics, were weakening, but Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who had been collecting sources by the Tumen River, were caught and detained by North Korean border guards on March 17.

The Chinese police have subsequently started pursuing missionaries and NGO activists helping refugees in China due to concerns over foreign media’s succeeding selection of news material. Therefore, Korean-Chinese helpers, who take the role of guide for North Korean refugees in China, are going underground. As the network between helpers and refugees has started shaking, the number of refugees isolated from security has been increasing.

Since the 1990s a Korean-Chinese man called Kim has worked for refugees with the support of a U.S. Protestant organization. He explained, “During the period of the Beijing Olympics last year, it was not as difficult as these days.” He has had to drop his correspondence with all the North Korean refugees whom he used to contact.

He has changed his mobile-phone number and left his home, staying instead at his relative’s home in Dunhua, Jilin. Currently he never meets any missionaries or NGO activists. Although he worries about the refugees he took care of, it is unavoidable.

In fact, it is rare that refugee helpers like Mr. Kim are put under arrest even if they get caught, because with a 10,000~20,000 Yuan penalty they can be released easily.

The problem is that in that case, the refugees can be traced through the interrogations and then the refugees are usually repatriated to North Korea. Therefore, all the activists working around Yanbian are waiting for the time when the Chinese police regulations are relaxed.

Regarding the refugees’ situation, he explained, “Since a few years ago, the number of people crossing the river has decreased, but there are many who have been caught and come back to China again. Such people already have their own ways to survive, so they cross the border immediately after being released. Some of them who have experienced this course several times, caught-repatriated-released-cross the border, eventually want to head for South Korea. Now, I can say that you can hardly meet any refugees who come from North Korea anew.”

The first location on the refugees’ sojourn is Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture. They generally leave North Korea from Musan, Hoiryeong, Onsung, Saebyul and Eunduk, and go to Helong, Longjing, Tumen and Huichun, cities in the Yanbian region.

The Yalu River regions are not used as a route for crossing the border because the Yalu River is quite wide and in cities around the river on the Chinese side the rate of Korean-Chinese residents is low. Those who decide to head for China from Yangkang, South Hamkyung Provinces as well as North Hamkyung Province select the Tumen River as their route. Even the people from Pyongyang and Hwanghae Province also head for the Tumen River. It is narrow in places, and the concentration of Korean-Chinese residents on the other side is higher. Many refugees finally head for Wangching, a suburb of Yanji, the densely-populated capital city of the region..

If people are prepared to cross the Yalu River, the route they use is via Changbai on the opposite side of the river from Hyesan, the biggest city in the region of the upper Yalu on the North Korean side. However, it is far from Changbai to anywhere else so there is not a large enough number of routes for refugees to take.