01/26/2004

Of the tens of thousands of North Koreans who have crossed into China to escape famine, economic deprivation, and political oppression in their homeland, a mere 4,000 have managed to reach South Korea over the past decade. With the land route south blocked at the demilitarized zone, any North Korean hoping to reach the South must attempt a perilous land journey to reach a South Korean consulate in Beijing. But because the Chinese authorities seek to arrest and deport refugees before they can reach consulates in the capital, a new, even more ambitious route has emerged: an overland journey of between two and three thousand miles across southern China to reach South Korean consulates in Vietnam, Burma, and Thailand.

On a recent visit to Seoul, Refugees International spoke to several North Korean refugees who had reached the South via Thailand and Vietnam. The journey is dangerous and expensive. Networks of South Korean refugee activists, primarily affiliated with evangelical churches, are on the lookout for North Korean refugees in China who might be interested in braving the dangers of this overland route. They provide funds and logistical support to the refugees who want to take the “underground railroad” to reach the South.

One 25-year-old woman, after twice being arrested in China and deported back to North Korea, concluded that her only hope was to try to reach South Korea. Prior to her original departure from North Korea in March 1998, she had worked on government grain distribution during the famine, which suggests that she had political connections and probably left North Korea with some capital. In China she had managed to find work in a restaurant for three years before being deported for the first time. Her plan was to try to make it to Burma and present herself at the South Korean consulate there.

The young woman shared no details about her trip across China. Imagine the difficulty of traveling in a strange country with no papers and no knowledge of the local language! But she did make it all the way into Burma, only to be arrested and turned over to the Chinese border authorities. After nine days in jail, she paid a bribe to be released and made her way to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province in southwest China. After 15 days in Kunming, she was able to obtain false travel documents. With these, she entered Laos and crossed into Thailand. She made it to Bangkok, purchased a false Republic of Korea passport, and used the passport to reach Seoul by air, where she presented herself and asked for asylum.

Another refugee, a 24-year-old man, had traveled through southern China with a group of 13 North Koreans, led by a South Korean pastor and his wife. Of the 13, ten were eventually able to reach Seoul, though not without initially having their asylum claim rejected by the South Korean consulate in Hanoi and being deported by the Vietnamese authorities.

During a visit to Seoul in December, RI was struck that the North Korean refugees in South Korea appeared to be better educated and come from more middle class backgrounds than the refugees that they interviewed along the Chinese border in June 2003. This reflects at least two factors. First, individuals with better education and higher incomes are more likely to have at least some prior knowledge of conditions in South Korea and are therefore more likely to aspire to reach the South rather than enduring a clandestine existence in China. Second, as evident from the young women’s journey, surviving the underground railroad is an expensive proposition, taking into account travel costs, bribes, purchasing illegal documents, and finally buying the plane ticket to safety. Few of the coal miners and peasants whom RI interviewed in China in June could ever dream of amassing the cash needed to take the overland route through Southeast Asia.

Whether in China or along the overland route to Southeast Asia, North Korean refugees remain vulnerable to arrest and deportation, or capture by networks of traffickers. Refugees International continues to advocate for the government of China to stop arresting and deporting North Koreans, and to allow them some form of legal status in China that would reduce their vulnerability. Without changes in Chinese policy, North Koreans will have no choice but to endure suffering in North Korea or take the risks involved in trying to find safety in China or South Korea via the perilous underground railroad.