User:Evelyn4712/Human trafficking in North Korea

Bride and Sex Trafficking in China
After the Soviet Union's dissolution, the North Korean regime lost their support and fell into an increasingly severe economic depression. Many factories shut down due to a lack of natural resources and an inability to pay laborers, forcing the government to drastically cut food rations.[12] The ensuing famine exacerbated by "agricultural disasters" killed 2 million North Koreans[12] from 1996 to 1999[14], motivating families to migrate to the neighboring nation of China. In the decade leading to 2006, 100,000 North Korean immigrants entered China searching for food and job security.[13] Due to North Korea's discrimination of women in the workforce, the traditional familial view of women as a burden, and the region's ever-increasing poverty, Korean women had many factors motivating them to migrate to China to find a better life. It is estimated that 80% of North Korean migrants were women as of 2019.[11]

China's one-child policy created the perfect environment for the trafficking of North Korean women, years of "sex-selective abortions" and female infanticide leading to a surplus of about 34 million males as of 2016.[11] China's lack of brides and the lucrative nature of the human trafficking profession served as key components that led to a high volume of trafficked Korean women. In 2019, the estimated percentage of trafficked migrant women stood at 60%.[11] Although some North Korean women willingly agree to arranged marriages in China in order to escape extreme poverty, many brokers deceive these vulnerable women by selling them into the sex industry or to undesirable partners (such as older or disabled men).[12] North Korean women are especially vulnerable to sexual violence due to their illegal status and fear of repatriation. Trafficked women and girls suffer a plethora of abuses, such as being forced to participate in sex, gang-rape, depraved cybersex performances, and hard labor (when sold to men in rural areas).[12] A source reports that 15% of the women and girls who are trafficked are bought by cybersex brokers, 30% are sold as brides, and 50% are forced into prostitution.[11]

China's legislation violates the United Nation's Refugee Convention by deeming trafficked women economic migrants, prompting the country to deport 6,000 Koreans annually.[11] Upon deportation, North Korean defectors are charged with treason and face time in labor camps, where they are emotionally and sexually abused, tortured, and starved. In these labor camps, repatriated pregnant women are subject to induced abortions and infanticide as a way to keep North Korean lineages pure and rid the government of responsibility from financially supporting "foreign-blooded children".[12]