AsiaMedia :: KOREA: N.K. refugee women sold to Chinese, Chosun documentary shows

AsiaMedia :: KOREA: N.K. refugee women sold to Chinese, Chosun documentary shows:
"South Korea's 'Chosun Ilbo' newspaper releases a four-part series exposing the sale of North Korean women as wives

The Korea Herald
Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Many of the female North Korean refugees in China are being sold into marriage or forced to perform unpaid labor, according to a television documentary, reported Bloomberg News.

'Human rights groups estimate there are about 100,000 North Korean refugees hiding out in China, and seven out of 10 are females,' Park Jong-in, senior producer of 'On the Border,' told journalists at the Seoul Foreign Correspondents' Club. 'Many cross the border through brokers who sell them as wives to farmers in rural China, and sometimes as workers in the service industry who are never paid.'

Women from the ages of 18 to 20 are sold for 7,000 yuan ($989), those 21 to 25 are sold for 5,000 yuan, while women over 25 are sold for more than 3,000 yuan, according to Lee Hark-joon, the reporter on the four-part series by the media unit of South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper. Girls under 18 are also targeted, and can be sold at higher prices. A summary of the film was shown at the correspondents' club."