North Korean defectors targeted by Chinese authorities in crackdown on ‘underground railroad’
- North Koreans who enter China illegally face numerous threats, including from the criminal networks they often have to turn to for help
- Tens of thousands of women and girls trying to flee North Korea have been pressed into prostitution, forced marriage, or cybersex operations in China
While speaking to him again on the phone days later, however, she listened in horror as the safe house where her son and four other North Korean escapees were hiding was raided by Chinese authorities.
“I heard voices, someone saying ‘shut up’ in Chinese,” said the woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect her son’s safety. “Then the line was cut off, and I heard later he was caught.”
The woman, now living in South Korea, said she heard rumours her son is being held in a Chinese prison near the North Korean border, but has had no official news of his whereabouts.
At least 30 North Korean escapees have been rounded up in a string of raids across China since mid-April, according to family members and activist groups.
It is not clear whether this is part of a larger crackdown by China, but activists say the raids have disrupted parts of the informal network of brokers, charities, and middlemen who have been dubbed the North Korean “underground railroad”.
“The crackdown is severe,” said Y.H. Kim, chairman of the North Korea Refugees Human Rights Association of Korea.