North Korean defector Ji Myung-hee revealed that she was forcibly repatriated twice due to the inhumane actions of the Chinese government and the North Korean regime, and that she suffered severe human rights abuses and harsh torture during the process.
She succeeded in her third escape and entered South Korea in 2016. However, she still suffers from the pain and human rights abuses she experienced.
She was sentenced to two years of labor reform and imprisoned in the Kaechon Concentration Camp (价川第一號敎化所) in South Pyongan Province.
Its official name is 'Kyohwaso.' In North Korea, a ‘Kyohwaso’ is the same as a ‘prison,’ while a political prison camp is called a ‘Kwanliso.’ Of course, even though it is called a prison, the facilities and treatment are so miserable that they cannot be compared to prisons in civilized countries.
This photo, taken on Oct. 24, 2023, shows a human rights activist holding a press conference in Seoul to explain the route on which North Korean defectors are repatriated by China to their home country. (Yonhap)
There are still countless other defectors like Ji Myung-hee. Ji is earnestly appealing to the international community to pay attention to the barbaric and inhumane practice of the Chinese government in forcibly repatriating defectors to North Korea.
The following is Ji Myung-hee's letter of appeal.
The Kaechon Concentration Camp (价川第一號敎化所) in South Pyongan Province, North Korea. Google map
<Appeal to Stop China’s Forced Repatriation>
I appeal to the conscience of the world.
My name is Ji Myung-hee, a defector from North Korea. Due to the inhumane acts of the Chinese government and the North Korean regime, I was forcibly repatriated twice and suffered extreme human rights abuses and harsh torture during the process. I successfully escaped North Korea for the third time and entered South Korea in 2016, but the suffering and human rights abuses I experienced during that time still torment me.
During the first and second forced repatriations, I was arrested by the Chinese police and detained in the Baeksan City Detention Center in China. There, I was with Chinese prisoners but was treated discriminatorily. The Chinese police took me to their home and made me wash their wife and children’s underwear by hand. After that, I was transferred to the Limgang Border Guard Prison and detained.
It was a cold, damp, moldy, and stinky space, and I couldn’t even wash my hands or feet with a drop of water. I was only allowed to wash my face once. In the prison cell, we had to use shabby buckets without covers as toilets, and the excrement was left there, causing a foul odor. If I protested, the police would threaten me with electric batons and beat me.
After being forcibly repatriated to North Korea, I was taken to the Yanggang Province Security Department’s concentration camp. It was a living hell, hard to imagine. The prisoners had to maintain a prescribed posture, and if they moved even a little, the guards would hit the backs of their hands with the handle of a pistol and stomp on their heads and faces with fists and shoes without mercy. My arms and legs were bruised and blackened by the clubs, and the scars remain even now.
In particular, I witnessed the horrific sight of countless young girls and people in their teens and twenties being taken to political prison camps simply because they wanted a better life or wanted to go to South Korea. They suffered serious injuries, such as broken noses or ruptured eardrums, from the guards’ beatings, and some even lost their lives to cerebral hemorrhages. This inhumane treatment was a complete disregard for basic human rights.
I was able to avoid being sent to a political prison camp by claiming that I had not defected to South Korea, but I was sentenced to two years of labor reform and imprisoned in the Kaechon Concentration Camp in Jagang Province. There, people continued to die from malnutrition.
The camp authorities buried a large number of bodies in pits, and dogs in the vicinity even bit the limbs of the bodies, which was horrifying. They covered up the places where the bodies were buried by planting crops, and the prisoners knew this but had no choice but to continue working there.
North Korea continues to violate human rights and trample on life in the 21st century. While the world is paying attention to the wars between Israel and Palestine, and Russia and Ukraine, more people are being massacred due to the suppression of human rights in North Korea without any gunfire.
The main cause of this massacre is China’s forced repatriation of North Korean defectors. China is repatriating North Korean defectors, knowing that they will face harsh torture and execution. This is a violation of international law, and the Chinese government must stop its barbaric act of complicity in North Korea’s human rights abuses.
I appeal to the conscience of the world. Please stop China’s forced repatriation. Please help North Korean defectors in China to be recognized as refugees and to enjoy freedom. I earnestly urge the international community to stop China’s barbaric genocide so that there will be no more victims.
Thank you very much.
- Ji Myung-hee
by Jang Seiul, October 08, 2024
▶▶ This article was written in English with the help of ChatGPT to actively expose the realities faced by North Korean defectors. If you find any errors, please feel free to contact us at the email address below: MK Lee (mkdkq7@naver.com). Thank you.
저작권자 ⓒ 프리덤조선 무단 전재 및 재배포 금지