Join us to help 3 North Korean refugees
On July 24, LFNKR received urgent requests for help from three North Korean women, who are the victims of human trafficking. Here are brief descriptions of their backgrounds:
Ms. K.H., 36 years old, from Kilju in North Hamgyeong Province
When I was 20, my life was difficult so I crossed over into China but was sold into prostitution in an agricultural village; gave birth to a child, and lived there for a while. The Han-Chinese husband who bought me both neglected and abused me due to my being a North Korean woman without social status. Thinking that this situation might change if I gave birth to a child, I endured this but in the end, nothing changed. Unable to ignore being made a fool of and abused any longer, I fled from that house but being a North Korean woman without Chinese nationality, I had nowhere to go, and was sold once again into the countryside in Hebei. Though I was sold not twice, but three times; a North Korean woman sold like a status-less object, my conditions have not changed. The second man who bought me, thinking I was a woman without status also abused me but I had neither a place to flee to nor a place to go. Born as a person, with no place to rest my body and no place to go; living life whilst accepting these absurd conditions as my fate, I have now lived this way for over ten years. At the very least, I want to go to South Korea and live a life worthy of a human being. Please help me somehow.
Ms. P.K, 58 years old, from Onsong County in North Hamgyeong Province
I was struggling with life in North Korea, so in order to make some money I crossed over into China but was trafficked into a little agricultural village in Liaoning, sold to Han Chinese living there. I had come to China thinking I could make some money and return home, but I was deceived by the broker. In a place of unfamiliar people, along with being afraid of the possibility of being repatriated to the North someday, I lived this way for several years. However, the husband died of a fall in a construction accident, and when I thought that I might be repatriated to the North by the authorities I was terribly afraid. I lamented my own conditions and wept. In addition, upon the death of the husband I had believed in as I lived there, I had nowhere to go and the place I was once again sold into was an agricultural village in Liaoning. The Han-Chinese man who bought me, seeing me as someone not only without status but as a woman bought with money, made a fool out of me and abused me but since I had nowhere to go whilst being abused, I continue to live a tragic life. Whilst living on someone else’s land, with both my body and mind suffering from illness, when I think that even if I died there would be nowhere to bury me, I don’t even have a place to complain about my wretched thoughts. Have mercy on me, who has nowhere to go, and please help me to get to South Korea. I urgently implore you.
Ms L.I., 50 years old, from Myongchon County in North Hamgyeong Province
My life was distressing, and thinking that fleeing North Korea was the only way to live, I fled 10 years ago. I tried to earn some money, but since I was a North Korean woman without Chinese nationality, not only could I not earn money, but just like an object I was sold into the house of a Han Chinese farming village in Shandong. The family was rather badly off and if I hadn’t worked, they wouldn’t have been able to sustain themselves, so I washed dishes in a cafeteria and took on a variety of difficult jobs in order to make some money. However, as a North Korean woman with no social status, I received less compensation than others doing the same jobs. But since I feared being reported to the authorities I did not complain, I held my breath and lived in this way. Living in a foreign country for 10 years, with nowhere to seek refuge beyond here, I cannot continue to live without a Chinese nationality. I will summon the courage needed to break away from this pain…
I want to go to South Korea. Please help me go to South Korea.
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