North Korean defector shares her story as China reasserts determination to deport refugees 

Chinese local officials have issued a new warning to North Korean defectors, vowing that if they are found, they will be returned to North Korea. What does that process look like? So Young, who escaped North Korea twice, shares her story.

Chinese local officials have sent a new warning to North Korean refugees in their area that China’s stance against them remains unchanged, according to Daily NK. 

“China doesn’t view them as refugees who need to be protected under the Human Rights Declaration but as illegal immigrants who can be repatriated,” says Simon Lee*, Open Doors’ coordinator for North Korea ministry. 

Among these refugees are also Christians or people who have been in touch with churches, pastors or missionaries while in China, who potentially face more severe punishment if caught.  

“Every person who is arrested in China and then sent back will be tortured and interrogated,” Lee says. “The interrogators will ask if you have seen a Bible, if you’ve been to church or if you have met with any missionaries. If you answer ‘yes’ to any of these questions, they will try to find out if you’ve become a Christian. The more mature of a Christian you are, the heavier the punishment. In a worst-case scenario, you’ll be sent to a labour camp for political prisoners with no chance to be released.” 

Lee confirms that tensions are growing in China among refugees. “There have been waves of arrests and repatriations. Others have been warned, especially women who are married to Chinese men. They are often sold into marriage and, though life is hard for them, it’s often better than the lives they led in North Korea. Also, they may be able to help their families.” 

“You made a wrong friend”: So Young’s story 

Open Doors partners spoke to a former prisoner, So Young*, who explained what she went through after she was arrested. “I was about to attend a meeting of other Christian, North Korean refugees. I didn’t know they had been arrested a day earlier. When I opened the door, suddenly someone grabbed my hands. It was a police officer. 

“I was shocked, paralysed. I didn’t know what was happening to me. They brought me to a nearby police station by car. On the way, I asked: ‘Why have you arrested me?’ 

“They laughed and said: ‘You made a wrong friend.’” 

So Young was in a Chinese prison for one week and had to give a statement about why she had come to China, if she was married (which she was) and why she attended the Bible study.

“I was lucky that I wasn’t arrested together with the other ladies,” she says. “They couldn’t deny that they had attended Bible study. Their stories had to match and that’s why they stayed in China much longer. But I could tell lies. I said that I wasn’t married and that I just came to visit a friend when I was caught. I told them I didn’t know anything about a Bible study. After a week, they concluded their investigation and decided to send me back to North Korea.” 

She was handcuffed and brought to a van. “The car drove to a bridge and stopped right in the middle. On the other side of the bridge, North Korean officials waited for me. They took me to a police station operated by the Secret Security Agency. The police required me to write a report about my family background and my time in China. I told them I didn’t remember everything from my family, but they already knew exactly who I was and who my family was.” 

She was soon transferred to a local police station near the place where she previously lived. “At least now my mother could bring me food every day.” 

An unfair trial  

Meanwhile, the police kept asking her to write a report almost every day. “I was able to write the same report at least ten times with exactly the same facts. That was important. They were trying to find out if I had lied. That’s why I had to write this so often. They also asked me many questions and would beat me if I made a mistake. But I was very consistent and didn’t share with them that I had married a Chinese man and had a baby with him. That’s a serious offense. I also didn’t tell them I went to church and Bible study.” 

After a few months in prison, she was brought to a court, where a judge was waiting for her. “He sat behind a desk and I sat in front of him, with a big North Korean flag behind me. There was no lawyer to defend me. I sat in front of him, hands behind my back, two guards standing behind me. The judge was very nice – at first. He politely asked me: ‘How have you been treated? Have you been beaten? Were your rights violated?’ 

“I answered: ‘No, sir’. I’m sure no prisoner would dare to admit that his or her rights had been trampled on.” 

But the judge’s tone changed when he began to question So Young.  

“‘Why have you betrayed our country?’ He screamed so loudly I could hardly understand his question. 

“‘I needed the money’, I said. ‘I always planned to come back.’ 

“The whole hearing took only 15 or 20 minutes. Then I received the maximum sentence: five years forced labour and ‘re-education’.” 

Life inside the ‘re-education’ camp 

“I didn’t feel anything when he pronounced his sentence,” So young continues. “I knew this was what was waiting for me. I wasn’t brought to the labour camp immediately. I spent ten more days in prison. During that period, you can appeal the sentence, but nobody does that. There’s no point.” 

Because So Young never admitted she went to Bible study, she was only punished for illegally crossing the border. She wasn’t sent to a labour camp for political prisoners, but to a so-called re-education camp. 

“I can’t remember what happened exactly when I was admitted to the camp. I only know that they checked my health and if I had any contagious diseases. Men and women were immediately separated. Women had to go to the left. To my surprise, they asked me what kind of work I wanted to do. For example, did I want to work in agriculture? I told them that I’m quite good in handicrafts. So they assigned me to the ‘wig factory’. Every week I had to make a certain number of wigs. I don’t know where they went. Perhaps Pyongyang or China. I only know that they used our products to earn foreign currency. 

“The building where I was staying was square-shaped, with two sleeping sections in two corners. Against the other wall was our workplace. We were nine groups, with 15 people per group. We slept on an old floor but were not provided a blanket.” 

Fortunately, So Young’s family were able to support her and offer her some home comforts while she was imprisoned. “They gave me a blanket, and every three months my mother brought me three or four bags full of food and other necessary items,” So Young remembers. “Of course, they needed to bribe the guards, and I had to share what I received with the soldiers and other prisoners, but about half of what was in the bags I could use for myself.  

“Without outside help, it’s really hard to survive a labour camp. Fortunately, because I always stayed in the same building with the other prisoners, nobody could really steal something unnoticed.” 

Punishment, spies and burials 

Her most vivid memory of the camp is the stress she felt to reach her weekly quota. “If we didn’t make it, or if someone made another mistake, we were all punished. They forced us to stand outside in the rain for two or three hours. Those mistakes could be very small. We were allowed to receive food from our families for example, but some food items such as cooking oil were prohibited. If a soldier found it, everybody was punished.” 

So Young also couldn’t trust anybody. “In our groups, there were a lot of spies. We didn’t know who they were, but after some time you get an idea. When the same people are called out by the guards over and over, it’s kind of obvious that they are spying for them.” 

The most shocking thing she experienced? “It was after only a few days in the camp. I was ordered with three other prisoners to bury a 25-year-old girl who had died. I had to hold her by her hair and head. 

“Sometimes when I was ordered to go outside to get wood from the mountains, I came to the place where many people were buried. I saw so many bones. This place where I was living was the most horrible place on earth. I really didn’t want to die here.” 

Reunited with her family  

Every night, So Young and the other prisoners received ideological training from 7.30-10pm. “They didn’t assign a teacher to us,” she says. “We just received a textbook and a newspaper and had to study that by ourselves. We usually used this time to talk to each other. People shared their stories. Some were in prison for escaping to China, others for stealing money or even killing someone. When the guards came nearby, we stopped talking. It was almost like in school.” 

There was no joy in the camp – only when So Young’s mother came. “I always cried when I saw her,” she says. “I really wanted to survive and behaved as best as I could. I became a model prisoner, and after two and half years in the camp I was released. My mother waited for me outside. One of the first things she did was take me to the market so we could buy some food. But she told me not to eat too much. My body needed to get used to consuming like a normal person again. When I went home, I met my younger brothers. I hadn’t seen them in years and they couldn’t even remember my face.” 

Freedom at last in South Korea  

A few years later, she managed to escape from North Korea again. She called her Chinese husband.  

“He was shocked to hear my voice. ‘Are you alive?’ he said. ‘I thought you had died.’ 

“I laughed at him. ‘I’m calling you alive! Please, come pick me up.’ I gave him the address. He got in his car immediately and arrived a few hours later. We went home. My son, who was 13 when I last saw him, had grown up a lot. He was now a strong 18-year-old boy. I hardly recognised him.” 

Very soon, the family made the decision to go to South Korea. “My husband went first to make some money. He actually didn’t want me to come as well, because I had to go illegally, over dangerous mountain roads and through the jungles of Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. But I was very stubborn and went anyway. 

“I paid a broker and together with two other ladies, we escaped from China. We were very lucky that everything went smoothly, even though there was a moment where we needed to climb a mountain for nine hours. The previous group who took the same way were shot by soldiers in Laos. It took us almost a month to go from China to Thailand. There I stayed in an official refugee camp and was brought to South Korea another month later.” 

Praise God, So Young now lives safely in South Korea with her family. But many refugees like her are still trapped in China. Please pray that God will protect them and fill them with His peace ‘which surpasses all understanding’ (Philippians 4:7).   

*Names changed for security reasons