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UN investigator reports surge in women defectors from N. Korea

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Wednesday, November 9, 2005

More North Korean women than men are fleeing their communist homeland, especially after the country announced it wants no more food aid from the international community, a UN special investigator said.

Vitit Muntarbhorn, in a report to the UN General Assembly, said an increasing number of North Korean women are leaving the country, according to diplomatic sources in Seoul. Women defectors outnumber men defectors, they said.

North Korean defector Oh Young Hui, a former gymnast and Olympics coach, has been outspoken on the misery of North Korean women refugees in China.
Muntarbhorn said said human traffickers prefer to smuggle women out because they are more reliable in paying their fees, which can be as high as $3,000. Women also usually receive lighter punishments than men when they are caught, said Muntarbhorn who is a UN special investigator on North Korean human rights.

Perhaps more to the point, according to North Korean defectors and intelligence sources in Seoul, human trafficking is rampant along the China-North Korean border.

"North Korean women who illegally crossed the border into China for food were sold into the sex trade," one defector said. "Female fugitives are working in restaurants and karaoke in China to earn money," she said.

Muntarbhorn predicted more North Korean women would flee the country as the food situation worsens without outside aid. About one third of North Korean women with children suffer from malnutrition, he said.

North Korean defectors recently seeking asylum in the South are mostly women, according to Seoul's Unification Ministry.

Seoul-based human right groups say up to 300,000 North Korean refugee-seekers are believed to be hiding in China and Russia in hopes of reaching the South.

Based on Muntarbhorn's report, the European Union submitted a resolution on North Korea's human rights record at the United Nations General Assembly.

The EU's draft resolution expresses "serious concern" over violations of human rights in North Korea, the cruel treatment of political prisoners, human trafficking, and the punishment of refugee-seekers, among others.

It was the first time that the world's largest political and economic bloc brought up the communist state's human rights to the United Nations.

In a closed-door conference on North Korean human rights conditions held in Seoul on Nov. 3, Muntarbhorn called for the South to assume a greater role in improving human rights situations in the North.

But South Korea will likely abstain on a UN resolution to condemn North Korea for human rights abuses, a government official said.

The Seoul government has maintained a low-key stance toward human right abuses in the North for fear of creating friction with Pyongyang, despite strong outcries at home.

North Korea has accused the United States of attempting to overthrow the communist regime with human rights laws and warned of an "ultra hard-line" response if it does so.


Copyright © 2005 East West Services, Inc.

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