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TechnoratiBut a few months after she was released, Mun was again crossing the river with a trafficker.
“There are some ways in which human trafficking is more profitable and less risky than drug trafficking,” commented Ambassador Lagon on Monday. “A person can be sold and sold and sold over again. Sex trafficking victims can be sold in the sex industry many times over. It is not a consumable product like drugs.”
While some North Korean women willingly sell themselves, others are kidnapped in China by traffickers and sold as wives or used in the sex industry.
In general, hundreds of thousands of North Koreans have crossed the North Korea-China border, with more than 10,000 North Koreans now residing in South Korea, and an estimated 40,000 North Koreans living in third countries such as China. At least 500,000 North Koreans are believed to have crossed the border over to China in the past 10 years.
North Korean refugees are officially considered illegal economic migrants by the Chinese government and therefore receive no legal protection in China. They are harshly treated before being deported to North Korea despite the fact that the U.N. Special Rapporteur on North Korea declared that North Koreans who flee to China are “refugees.”
The United Nations, the United States, and human rights organizations around the world have decried China’s treatment of the refugees, especially because many countries welcome North Korean refugees to resettle in their land. These countries include South Korea – where North Koreans have automatic citizenship – and the United States. Human rights groups argue that China has no reason to feel burdened by the refugees and sends them back to North Korea where they face torture and possibly death. It is a state crime to leave the country.
“On the Border” is Korea’s first global cross-media program on North Korean refugees produced by Chosun Ilbo in cooperation with leading international broadcasters.
The United Nations estimates conservatively that overall there are more than 700,000 people trafficked worldwide each year, generating revenue close to $10 billion.
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