NK Investigative Report 2001

North Korea Investigative Report

Week 8 - North Korean Refugees (cont)

With intolerable living conditions in the northern regions of North Korea, people are escaping in droves to China to find money, food and clothing. Each day hundreds of people are estimated to cross the Tumen River, which serves as the eastern boundary between China and North Korea.

A North Korean border patrol building stands at the edge of the Tumen River.

Most people cross the Tumen River early in the morning under the cover of darkness to hide from North Korean border guards. In the summer, water levels are lowest, ranging from about an adult's waist to chest. The width of the river averages about 50 meters (54 yards) wide. Thus a person with a reasonable amount of strength and swimming ability should be able to traverse the river. During the winter, the river is frozen over, allowing people to walk across it.

Refugees who have gone into China and returned with supplies have inspired others to do likewise. Many people sneaking into China for the first time are told to look for a building with a cross on it and seek shelter there. However, because Christianity isn't taught in North Korea, many will ask what a cross looks like.

North Korea refugees can be divided into two categories: Those seeking goods to bring back to their families, and those with no intention of ever returning. The first type often must strike deals with North Korean authorities in their town to get permission to leave the area and are required to return at a designated time. Cigarettes and soap are common payments. Others refugees said that they were told to pay 200 Chinese yuan (US$25), which is enough to feed a person for several months. Because many of these North Koreans intend to return home, the Chinese goverment refuses to grant them refugee status, and instead classifies them as "economic migrants."

While in China, refugees experience life in the outside world for the first time. They encounter people with not-so favorable views on their homeland and have access to foreign media, including South Korean television stations. After the first trip, some become suspicious about the truthfulness of North Korea. After four or five trips, many realize they've been lied to their entire lives.

Those who decide to remain in China live in constant fear of being caught. Consequences range from beatings to imprisonment to death. Local Christians may give them protective shelter, but the likelihood of long-term freedom is slim. Some have attempted to take refugees to third-party countries in southeast Asia to seek political amnesty and eventually be sent to South Korea. However the number of successful cases is dwarfed by the number of refugees still hiding in China.

Refugees in Yanbian pose a problem for China and North Korea. Authorities on both sides have cracked down on their presence despite cries to grant them international refugee status by human rights groups. China sees them as a threat to the flourishing tourism industry surrounding Mt. Paektu, the legendary birthplace of Korea. Some tourists have been robbed and one reportedly murdered by desperate refugees. For North Korea, the refugees threaten their national security by exposing outsiders to the country's current situation.

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