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Report: Women Forcibly Deported by China to North Korea Suffer Appalling
Abuse

Lisa Schlein

   GENEVA - The U.N. human rights office says North Korean women, who
   escaped to China and were subsequently forcibly deported to their home
   country, are subjected to horrific abuse, including imprisonment,
   torture and sexual violence.

   The report is based on eyewitness accounts by 100 North Korean women
   who managed to escape after being detained in the North from 2009 to
   2019. The women recount the appalling abuse to which they were subject
   by human traffickers who helped them flee to China. They say they were
   used as cheap bonded labor or sexually exploited. Some were forced into
   marriage.
   The report by the U.N. Human Rights Office said the nightmare continued
   in other horrific ways after the women's forcible return to North
   Korea. It said they often were sent to prison without a trial or any
   recourse to a legal defense.
   Agency spokeswoman Liz Throssell said many of the women were labeled as
   traitors, systematically punished and subjected to human rights
   violations.
   "Among the testimonies, one woman describes how she tried hard not to
   reveal details of her life in China, and as a result, she was beaten
   and kicked so hard that one of her ribs was broken," Throssell said.
   "And, she said she still feels the pain today. Another woman said that
   the beatings were so excruciating that she even attempted suicide."
   Throssell said women recounted being detained in inhumane, overcrowded
   and unsanitary conditions with little or no access to daylight or fresh
   air. She said they were kept on a starvation diet, subjected to forced
   nudity and invasive body searches. She said many were tortured and
   sexually violated by guards.

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