{"id":65934,"date":"2026-01-14T07:16:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T22:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=65934"},"modified":"2026-04-07T13:37:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T04:37:15","slug":"barred-from-hospitals-north-korean-defector-faces-worsening-tuberculosis-and-despair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/barred-from-hospitals-north-korean-defector-faces-worsening-tuberculosis-and-despair\/","title":{"rendered":"Barred from hospitals, North Korean defector faces worsening tuberculosis and despair"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"standard-markdown grid-cols-1 grid gap-3 [&amp;_&gt;_*]:min-w-0\">\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">Some North Korean defectors living in China are still unable to receive hospital treatment even for serious illnesses due to their status as illegal immigrants.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">A Daily NK source in China said recently that one female defector in Jilin province &#8220;urgently needs treatment for tuberculosis and severe depression, but because of her status, she is practically being neglected at home as she can&#8217;t receive hospital treatment.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">According to the source, the woman began suffering from a dry cough, phlegm, a low-grade fever, and breathing problems a few months ago. At first, she believed it was a cold and bought cold medicine at a pharmacy, but the symptoms didn&#8217;t disappear.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">In response, her Chinese husband&#8217;s acquaintance, a friend of a doctor, helped her visit a hospital. Ordinarily, North Korean defectors without identification cannot receive treatment in hospitals, but if they are friends with a doctor, they can secretly get a diagnosis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">The woman paid her husband&#8217;s acquaintance, went to the hospital, met the doctor, and received tests, which determined she had severe tuberculosis. The doctor said she needed to be admitted to the hospital immediately, but she is now taking medicine at home, as she cannot be hospitalized due to her status.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">&#8220;If she had legal status, she could get treatment relatively cheaply because insurance would cover even the medicine, but because she&#8217;s in the country illegally, even medicine purchased at the drug store is expensive,&#8221; the source said. &#8220;So, if somebody must take medicine over a long period, it&#8217;s a heavy financial burden.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold\"><strong>Depression compounds physical illness<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">The woman complains of severe psychiatric and psychological pain due to her situation. Her symptoms are gradually worsening, but she cannot receive proper treatment in a hospital, medicine costs continue to rise, and she is showing signs of severe depression.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">In particular, the source said the woman &#8220;misses her parents in her hometown even more because she&#8217;s sick&#8221; and feels &#8220;both sorry and guilty since she can&#8217;t send money to her family back home,&#8221; leaving her in a &#8220;psychologically precarious state.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">&#8220;She&#8217;s worried that she&#8217;s going to die if things continue this way, and that&#8217;s worsening her depression,&#8221; the source said. &#8220;In this circumstance, her disease won&#8217;t get any better, no matter how much medicine she takes. In fact, it will only get worse.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">The problem is that most North Korean defectors in China are classified as illegal immigrants and are wholly excluded from the healthcare system, like this woman.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">&#8220;This isn&#8217;t just her problem\u2014it&#8217;s a case that clearly demonstrates the situation North Korean defectors in China are up against,&#8221; the source said. &#8220;Because defectors can&#8217;t receive proper medical treatment, this is another reason they want to go to South Korea. But because they could get repatriated to North Korea if they&#8217;re caught, deciding to leave for the South isn&#8217;t easy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/20260114-2\/\">Read in Korean<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some North Korean defectors living in China are still unable to receive hospital treatment even for serious illnesses due to their status as illegal immigrants. A Daily NK source in China said recently that one female defector in Jilin province &#8220;urgently needs treatment for tuberculosis and severe depression, but because of her status, she is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":61566,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,1539],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-north-koreans-in-china"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Barred from hospitals, North Korean defector faces worsening tuberculosis and despair - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/barred-from-hospitals-north-korean-defector-faces-worsening-tuberculosis-and-despair\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Barred from hospitals, North Korean defector faces worsening tuberculosis and despair\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some North Korean defectors living in China are still unable to receive hospital treatment even for serious illnesses due to their status as illegal immigrants. A Daily NK source in China said recently that one female defector in Jilin province &#8220;urgently needs treatment for tuberculosis and severe depression, but because of her status, she is [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/barred-from-hospitals-north-korean-defector-faces-worsening-tuberculosis-and-despair\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-13T22:16:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-07T04:37:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/10\/DSC01810-696x464-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"464\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lee Chae Eun\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lee Chae Eun\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/barred-from-hospitals-north-korean-defector-faces-worsening-tuberculosis-and-despair\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/barred-from-hospitals-north-korean-defector-faces-worsening-tuberculosis-and-despair\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lee Chae Eun\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6c9f40b0a89c4a5354607f43756dbbe0\"},\"headline\":\"Barred from hospitals, North Korean defector faces worsening tuberculosis and despair\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-13T22:16:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-07T04:37:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/barred-from-hospitals-north-korean-defector-faces-worsening-tuberculosis-and-despair\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":500,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/barred-from-hospitals-north-korean-defector-faces-worsening-tuberculosis-and-despair\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/DSC01810-696x464-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"North Koreans in China\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/barred-from-hospitals-north-korean-defector-faces-worsening-tuberculosis-and-despair\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/barred-from-hospitals-north-korean-defector-faces-worsening-tuberculosis-and-despair\\\/\",\"name\":\"Barred from hospitals, North Korean defector faces worsening tuberculosis and despair - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/barred-from-hospitals-north-korean-defector-faces-worsening-tuberculosis-and-despair\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/barred-from-hospitals-north-korean-defector-faces-worsening-tuberculosis-and-despair\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/DSC01810-696x464-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-13T22:16:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-07T04:37:15+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/barred-from-hospitals-north-korean-defector-faces-worsening-tuberculosis-and-despair\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/barred-from-hospitals-north-korean-defector-faces-worsening-tuberculosis-and-despair\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/barred-from-hospitals-north-korean-defector-faces-worsening-tuberculosis-and-despair\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/DSC01810-696x464-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/DSC01810-696x464-1.jpg\",\"width\":696,\"height\":464,\"caption\":\"Village near the Chinese border city of Tumen, Jilin province, February 2019. 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