Katharina Hesse

ASIA: NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES work in progress

"When you stand in front of me and look at me, what do you know of the griefs that are in me and what do I know of yours?" Franz Kafka....

Wenn Du vor mir stehst und mich ansiehst, was weißt Du von den Schmerzen,

die in mir sind und was weiß ich von den Deinen.

[Franz Kafka: Aus einem Brief an Oskar Pollak vom 8. November 1903)

The lack of food is a major reason North Koreans cross the border to China. According to an activist, many North Koreans initially have no plan to leave for good. In the hermetically closed country though ( unlike in former Eastern Germany,North Koreans have no access to TV or any info about foreign countries) people are educated to believe their country is better off than the world that surrounds North Korea.

They merely hope to earn some money which is used to buy food for their families.

However, once North Koreans arrive in China, they gradually realize by watching Korean satellite TV and observing the comparatively prosperous lifes of the Chinese that they are better off by not returning. They become refugees.

As it's illegal to stay in China, the journey continues to South Korea which can take a few weeks for people with connections up to several years by traveling through China to South -East Asia or Mongolia. There's constant fear of being discovered by police and unforeseen abuse: People are not paid by their employers and women are particularly vulnarable as they occasionally fall into the hands of traffickers and are sold to men as second wifes or as prostitutes to brothels.

It's a dangerous trip as people who are caught, usually are forcibly repatriated and put into jail or labour camps.

There are about 154.000 North Koreans who have left their home country in recent years by crossing the border.According to a Human Rights report published in December 2006, South Korea had become less welcoming to refugees because of concerns about destabilizing North Korea and the increasing costs associated with assimilating the poorer, less educated immigrants.

North Korean refugee, Nov. 2006
   
the Yalu river in Northern China
   
North Korean border, Oct, 2002: activist
     
  
a boat from North Korea sails on the Yalu river, Nov. 2006.
   
A 20 -year old refugee from North Korea hides his identity in a farm house in Northern China, November 11,2006.He left his mother and sister in North Korea in April 2006 to come to China. In North Korea he was a road worker and constantly hungry." The safest thing would be not to move at all because if you do physical activities, you get hungry ", he says.In China he lives as a labourer for farmers and as a construction worker . If he's lucky he makes about 40 EU/month. But he says his boss often does not pay him and he's beaten by locals who know he cannot seek help due to his illegal status.
   
The Yalu river that divides North Korea (L) and China (R), Dandong, Nov. 2006.
     
  
2 relatives, 38 (L) and 42 (R) year-old, hide their identity in a farm house in Northern China, November 10, 2006.They crossed the border together and arrived in March 2006. They decided to leave North Korea because they were starving and even can't remember their former salary as they had not been paid for several years.
   
Kim Jung-ae (a pseudonym), 62, hides in a house in Northern China. The elderly woman left North Korea in mid-2006 as she didn't "want to wait to die". Being retired , she had no income and was obliged to live on herbs and grass she collected in the mountains. Her son died two years ago of starvation. Kim survives in China by reselling garbage she collects in the streets. She makes between 30-50 cent EU/day.Kim says she does not know where to go or how she could travel to South Korea.
   
Park Lee Hwan (a pseudonym), 67, stands in the hallway of a building where mostly North Korean immigrants live, Seoul October 25, 2006.Park left North Korea on November 3, 1997 and it took her 5 years to travel clandestinely from China to South Korea...Park finally decided to flee to South Korea when a campaign against North Koreans was launched in Northern China . Park says she had to hide in cupboards and slept in forests fearing police was going to find her.In 2003 she managed to break into the Korean Embassy in Beijing , from there she was sent to a third country, the Phillipines and from Manila to Seoul.Park's 4 daughters who have stayed in North Korea, do not know that their mother lives in Seoul and not in China.
     
  
the Friendship bridge in Dandong that connects China and North Korea, Nov. 2006