A young North Korean woman who was forced to work as a "webcam girl" in an apartment in China escapes on Oct. 27, with help from officials at the Durihana Mission, which has been assisting North Korean defectors since the 1990s. Courtesy of Durihana Mission

By Jung Da-min

Many North Koreans who flee their country, especially young women, are trapped by brokers and sold into marriage to Chinese farmers or forced into sex work as cam girls or in brothels, according to the leader of a group that helps defectors.

Pastor Chun Ki-won, of the Durihana Mission in Seoul, said the situation has worsened because of tighter border controls between the two countries and China's internal crackdown.

Pastor Chun Ki-won of the Durihana Mission / Korea Times file

"From the moment North Korean women defectors see the brokers pay North Korean soldiers on the crossing, they are at the mercy of the brokers, as they have to pay the money back," says Chun, who has been helping North Korean defectors since the 1990s.

"Whether they knew it or not, or whether they wanted it or not, they are victims of human trafficking that has become a systemized method to defect from North Korea to China."

Most of the North Korean defectors are women and many are in their 20s or younger, he said.

The interview was held at his mission in southern Seoul on Dec. 17.

Chun rescued two North Korean women recently who had been confined in an apartment in China and forced to work as "cam girls" for a porn site. The two, now 27 and 24, worked there for five and eight years, respectively.

When they left North Korea, they had not dreamt they would end up as sex workers.

The two were deceived by a Chinese man who told them he would free them if they "work hard" for a couple of years, but he did not keep his word.

Pastor Chun Ki-won with the two North Korean women he rescued from an apartment in China where they were forced to work as "webcam girls." Courtesy of Durihana Mission

Chun remembered that when the two were in transit at a Southeast Asian country, the younger one ran out and stood in the middle of the ground with hands lifted skyward when an afternoon squall started.

"She said it was the first time she felt the rain in eight years," Chun said.

The pastor said some of the victims were very young.

"Among those I helped, one was 13 years old when she gave birth in China," he said. "She came to China with her mother at age eight and they were sold to different places when she was 10 years old.

"Whether they had babies from rape, they still want to embrace their babies. But North Korean mothers and their children born in third countries face another hardship in South Korea due to the lack of governmental support policies and cultural differences, with the biggest hurdle being language."

He says the children of North Korean women born in third countries had not been granted the same benefits as those born in North Korea, even though they are also seen as defectors in a broader sense. They also find more it more difficult to learn Korean as they were born and raised outside the Koreas.

As these children enrolled in South Korean schools outnumber young North Korean defectors, the government is expanding support for them, such as making it easy to get academic accreditation for their schooling outside the country.