 North Korean defectors say their journey to freedom is often long and painful, according to Seoul's state-affiliated human rights advocate. The picture shows a group of North Koreans seeking political asylum enter Denmark's embassy in Hanoi in this Yonhap photo dated Sept. 24, 2009. |
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
North Korean refugees in general, and women in particular, suffer from ordeals that are often beyond description, especially during their stay in refugee camps in third countries on their way to South Korea, a defector was quoted as saying by Seoul's state-affiliated human rights agency.
"I had to eat and sleep standing until finding an empty place and had to pay for it," a North Korean woman defector said according to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in its latest report released on Monday. "My life there was like that of a wild animal." The commission held a news conference in Seoul but kept the identity of the woman confidential because of the potential risk to herself and her family in the North.
She described the period of her life in the refugee camp as the most "horrendous" experience she ever had and that she didn't want to think about it again.
"I felt as if one day lasted a thousand years," she said in the report. "A toilet could be used only during daytime and the inmates had to deal with nature's call inside their cell where there was not even a pot for that purpose."
She is one of 274 female defectors surveyed for the report that places an emphasis on the human rights of women in the North, third countries and South Korea.
The report said that human rights of female defectors in refugee camps in Thailand, Cambodia and Mongolia were seriously ignored.
Many defectors undertake their risky journey to South Korea via the three countries because, unlike China, they regard North Korean refugees as asylum seekers so they don't repatriate them.
But the commission said that many female defectors had been exposed to extreme mental and physical hardship including sexual harassment during their stay in the countries by peer defectors, brokers and native citizens.
"Many female defectors who have settled in the South still struggle with memories from such harsh experiences," said Cho Young-gook, a NHRC official who led the research with Prof. Park Soon-sung of Dongguk University in Seoul between April and December last year. "But virtually no measures have been taken at state level to deal with their psychological anguish."
As of August last year, only one counselor is offering services to nearly 600 defectors at Hanawon, the state-backed resettlement center for North Korean defectors, south of Seoul, which opened in 1999.
"Some of them suffer physical illness generated by their stressful memories," Cho said.
The official urged the Korean government to immediately set up measures to assist female defectors suffering from mental problems. The commission also called on the governments of the three Asian states to provide better treatment for North Korean defectors.
pss@koreatimes.co.kr
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