Today we are continuing our conversation with Ms. Go Ji Un, a human trafficking victim who was sold to a husband in China. Ms. Go spent 15 years living illegally in China. She has come to offer her testimony regarding the human rights violations that North Korean females are regularly subjected to in China.
Thanks for joining us again. Last week, we discussed how you were trafficked into China. Do you continue to live with the man you were sold to?
It was hard living with a Chinese man, so we separated after a little while. But we broke up very suddenly, and it was a painful experience. After I left, I decided to return to my husband to try to work things out with him. But when I returned, I discovered that he was already living with a different woman. He told me that it was an unfortunate situation but there was nothing he could do. My father-in-law offered the same kind of condolence. I resolved to be happy, and not to dwell on my worries. I left immediately and just kept walking and crying. I went to a friend’s house, who was another defector, and ended up staying there for quite a while.
I was thankful because that friend offered to introduce me to another husband. She introduced me to a woman in a nearby village who had a younger sibling. I guess all my experiences until then had made me look quite pitiful. So her sibling introduced me to a male acquaintance who lived in the village. Thanks to her help, I ended up meeting a new husband through a cordial introduction, rather than through trafficking.
What was it like living with your new husband?
Not very good at all. His dad had significant debt and the whole house was affected by the situation. My husband was a farmer, but the lenders had taken back the land. So he was forced to go to other areas to try to earn money. Of course, I didn’t know about this situation before we got married. Once we started living together, his lenders came around looking for him. It was actually his father’s debt, but his father died before he could pay it off. So my husband became responsible for it.
What was the hardest part of that period?
We were so poor. We couldn’t even afford soap. We were attending church at the time. The church had two containers of soap, so I thought about taking one of them. But I was scared I would be punished, so I didn’t go through with it. That’s how poor we were.
Was your husband a caring person?
Not especially. I cried often while living with him. I thought marriage would bring me a new and happy life. But that is not how it turned out.
When the rumor got out that you were from North Korea, did people in the village begin to treat you differently?
Many people were sympathetic. They know how people in North Korea are starving to death. They know that’s why many have gone to China. They treated me with respect, but tended to look down on me a bit. Some ignored me because I came from such a poor country.
You mentioned that other female defectors eventually came to live in that same town. Did you rely on one another for support?
Absolutely. We relied on each other a lot. We ate together on each other’s birthdays, played together, consoled one another, and talked about our experiences in North Korea.
In some Chinese villages, female defectors can’t freely associate with each other because there’s some concern that they might try to escape together. Did that apply to you at all?
Yes, that was the case. I experienced it myself. All of us defectors have experienced that. People are worried that if we live near one another, we will become close and then try to escape together. If one defector goes to another defector’s house to have a conversation, her husband will eventually come around looking. If he finds her, he might beat her severely. At that time, I thought that getting beaten up was just a fact of life. I thought that was just the husband taking care of the family. If we got caught by a Public Security Officer, it would have been big trouble. So I thought that my husband was just trying to warn me in order to avoid getting into an even worse situation.
However, that’s not always what it was. One defector’s husband beat his wife every time he drank alcohol. He hit her mercilessly with a piece of firewood. To try to prevent the neighbors from finding out, he used to shut the door and turn off the lights whenever he hit her. It would rip her flesh. She cried out so loud that the village chief came to the house. The door was locked so he kicked in the window and entered into the house that way. In the end, the defector got sick of getting beaten, so she escaped.
In another case, the defector was engaged in farming. The husband was constantly afraid that she would attempt to run away. If they were really a couple and they trusted one another, why would he need to be afraid of that? People only try to escape when they are being treated inhumanely. But the husband didn’t understand this, so he harassed her. He even forbade his wife from bringing their son with her when she left the house to go shopping at the market. It basically amounted to holding the son hostage to prevent her from escaping.
At one point, the woman couldn’t stand it any longer, so she tried to escape, but she was caught shortly thereafter, and Public Security Officers came to take her away. This is one of the most frightening prospects for a female defector. So even if you are able to successfully sneak out of your hometown, you need to be stealthy and avoid raising the suspicion of Public Security Officers. The husband even came near my house looking for his escaped wife. I was worried that I might get arrested in the process so I stayed home. It was such a scary time.
Do you have any children?
Yes, I have a daughter.
Were you able to send her to school or to the hospital?
The children of defector women can be put on the family registry. You have to bribe someone at the Public Security office to help arrange it. That makes it possible for the kid to go to school and to the hospital if they get sick.
How about some of the other women that you knew? Did any fail to put their children on the family registry?
Yes. I knew some children who technically had no nationality. Even without citizenship it is possible to go to elementary and middle school, but not further. It is impossible to go to college. Of course, people find out that the child’s parent is a defector. Even so, the child can receive a basic education.
How long did you live in China with your kids?
We lived there together for 15 years. My daughter is now 16 years old.
How did you decide to try and come to South Korea?
Actually, I wanted to go to South Korea from the first day I defected. But I didn’t know any brokers who could help arrange it. Under those circumstances, I raised my child, and could hardly conceive of escaping to South Korea. I wanted to go. But I was worried about getting caught with my child. We would have been sent to a political prison camp. I was so frightened by that prospect. And of course, my husband was opposed to moving to South Korea.
Things went on like that for a while until one day, I needed cataract surgery. If you get that kind of surgery in a Chinese hospital, you have to present your identification card. I didn’t have an ID, so I couldn’t even get basic treatment. I also had no insurance. I felt such regret at that time. I realized that I needed to go to South Korea if I wanted to become a citizen. I realized I wouldn’t receive any protection in China, so I had to go to South Korea.
So that is how you ended up coming to Korea in 2016. We’ve heard that many North Korean women were victims of human trafficking from the mid-1990s to the early-2000s. Does it still happen?
Yes. I think it would be difficult to say that it will stop anytime soon. It seems like there are more women these days who go straight to South Korea, so it seems like less end up being sold, but that’s not always the case. I heard a story from a defector who came to the South last year. She said that there was a young North Korean female college student who excelled in English and was generally an excellent student. She was convinced by someone that she should go to China to study and earn some money. But this was a trick. As soon as she got to China, she was sold and trafficked.
It seems like a number of young women continue to be trafficked into China. Is there any way to reduce the pain of these women?
Even if the Chinese government does not provide citizenship to these women, I wish they would provide some level of protection to them. They risk their lives just to get to China. They are scared to death that they’ll be caught and sent back to North Korea. The fact that China continues to allow such egregious human rights violations to occur is a shocking and sad state of affairs.
Many North Korean women who escape into China choose to cohabitate with a man in order to hide from the authorities. These women are often subjected to cruel treatment, poverty, and abuse. The children of these women do not always have reliable access to schooling or healthcare. The Chinese authorities must provide these female defectors with citizenship and protection.
