North Koreans in the People's Republic of China
November 19, 2002

China must end the forcible return of North Korean asylum-seekers and the arrest and harassment of aid workers who assist them, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. The 36-page report, The Invisible Exodus: North Koreans in the People's Republic of China, details the exploitation and years of life underground that North Koreans endure in China.The report documents the trafficking of North Korean "wives" for Chinese men, and the torture and humiliation returnees suffer at the hands of North Korean officials. Based on interviews with North Korean refugees now in Seoul, humanitarian activists, academics and government officials in various countries, the report paints a grim picture of the sub-human conditions and abuses returnees are subject to in forced labor colonies and prison camps in North Korea.