North Korean defectors in some parts of China have recently been given access to COVID-19 vaccines, Daily NK has learned.
A Daily NK source in China said Tuesday that disease control agencies in some cities of Heilongjiang and Heilongjiang provinces and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region are providing vaccination shots to North Korean defectors in cooperation with local police agencies.
Most defectors in China have been ignored by the Chinese government in a national campaign to vaccinate its population against COVID-19.
Daily NK’s source said that in some cities of Heilongjiang and Heilongjiang provinces, disease control agencies are working with police offices, which are handing over the personal information of North Korean defectors illegally residing in their jurisdictions.
Of the defectors reported to the disease control agencies by the police, local authorities are providing vaccinations to female defectors who live with Chinese nationals at known addresses.
The source said some defectors in these cities have even received their third vaccinations.
In Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, disease control agencies in some cities have said they will provide vaccinations to not only North Korean women living with men at known addresses, but also to male North Korean defectors who have been hiding in the mountains and steppes.
The source said the defectors are receiving Chinese-made vaccines, and that for defectors living in China without IDs, such vaccinations are the most they can hope for.
In fact, Chinese police authorities in regions that are vaccinating defectors are telling undocumented defectors that the shots are being given out “courtesy of the Chinese Communist Party,” and that they “must not abandon their husbands and children to run away to South Korea or engage in crimes while in contact [with people] in North Korea.”
The police authorities further told the defectors they must “live well without causing problems.”
Some of the vaccinated defectors are expressing skepticism about the efficacy of Chinese vaccines, saying that because the jabs are ineffective, they “must receive five or six shots, not just three.”
However, the source said defectors are getting the Chinese vaccinations, albeit warily, saying that the jabs are “still better than receiving no shots at all.”
China’s vaccination campaign for defectors is limited to just some cities in a handful of provinces and autonomous regions, rather than part of a national policy handed down by the central government. As a result, many North Korean defectors in China likely remain without access to vaccines.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
