DPRK REFUGEES: A JAPANESE NGO'S PERSPECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TOKYO 002172 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 5 YEARS AFTER KOREAN UNIFICATION TAGS: AORC KTIP PHUM PREF CH KN KS JA SUBJECT: DPRK REFUGEES: A JAPANESE NGO'S PERSPECTIVE TOKYO 00002172 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: DCM James P. Zumwalt per 1.4 (b, d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: A Japan-based NGO with twenty years of experience working with DPRK refugees in the DPRK-China border region estimates there are a total of 100,000 DPRK refugees throughout China, cumulative over twenty years since the early 90's. These "refugees" are in various states of assimilation, and few of them perhaps have chosen to leave China, though many express a desire to return home ONE day. According to this NGO, these refugees mostly escape through five known access points and the majority of them are women and are either seeking work or simply seeking food. END SUMMARY. HOW? --- ¶2. (C) In a meeting with Embassy Political Officer, Hiroshi Kato and Kate Nielsen of the NGO "Life Funds for North Korean Refugees" detailed their organization's twenty years of experience running what they described as an "underground railroad" for North Korean refugees in China. Kato and Nielsen described a system of well-established smuggling routes and methods involving five main access points. Regarding these "access points" Kato explained, "For example, people seeking to escape are told to go to a particular village and talk to a particular person in a particular shop." Asked how they get past the border guards, Kato said, "The North Korean border guards are desperately poor, so it is easy to make an arrangement." On the Chinese side, the Chinese don't patrol at night and they are not concerned about what they consider to be smuggling on a small scale, he added. There is a system in place, and it is only when someone gets out of the DPRK without the cooperation of the border guards that the people involved are raided, both on the North Korean and the Chinese side, Kato said. WHY? -------------- ¶3. (C) According to the NGO, approximately ONE third (to 40%) of the refugees come to China only to get food. They are given 40Kg of rice (one sack) by the NGO. They then return to North Korea, and share half of the sack of rice with the border guard to be allowed back in. Another ONE third or so come seeking work. Most of this group are women, because women have an easier time finding work at below average wages in small businesses such as restaurants. Many of the women end up being trafficked into either the sex business or into marriages with Chinese farmers. The sex-ratio imbalance in this region of China is also particularly pronounced. A farmer or trafficker who wants a woman from the DPRK can obtain ONE for about 3,000 to 5,000 RMB (approximately 440 to 730 USD),Kato explained. Some of the women who end up being trafficked are aware of the type of business they probably will become engaged in, he said. ¶4. (C) According to Kato, it is harder for men to find work. If they do so, it is often in places like coal mines. In these cases the mine owners sometime exploit their illegal status and pay the North Koreans little, if anything, creating a labor trafficking situation. Another group of refugees, are not seeking work or food, but rather a way out of China to a third country, usually the ROK. Members of this third group often take up to two or three years to find a way out of China into a third country, such as in Southeast Asia, where they can then claim asylum. HOW MANY -------------- ¶5. (C) Although some estimates run as high as 400,000, Life Funds for North Korean Refugees estimates there are a total of only 100,000 DPRK refugees in China. They base this estimate on observations that there are 3-7 DPRK refugees living in every village in the region. "Furthermore," added Kato, "because of the periodic crackdowns that the Chinese undertook, particularly in 2003, 2004, and 2005 these TOKYO 00002172 002.2 OF 002 refugees have actually spread out from the ethnic Korean regions of China." Kato estimates refugees from North Korea have been crossing the Chinese border at a rate of about 50 a month. He said that his NGO has been responsible for resettling about 350 refugees: approximately 250 to South Korea, and 100 to Japan. Only a very small percentage of North Korean refugees make it to the U.S., a total of only 75 or so over the years, he said. MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS -------------- ¶6. (C) Asked if there appeared to be higher-level DPRK government involvement in the smuggling and trafficking operations, Kato said they appeared to be mostly small scale operators consisting of people in the border areas of China, some contacts in cities, and North Korean businessmen, (by which he meant individuals working in the state management sections). Asked about the effectiveness of the World Food Program in Korea, Kato replied that refugees consistently tell the same story, that the people who receive the food are first the military, second the Korean Workers Party, and third, government workers. "When normal people try to get the food, they are forcibly kept away from the distribution points," he said. Asked if recent arrivals are aware of Kim Jong-Il's HEALTH situation, Kato replied, "Yes, they know, but they don't really care about politics; their only concern is food and survival." ¶7. (C) Nielsen concluded by adding that there is not a functioning school system in the DPRK. She said, "Since 1997, when food stipends to teachers were stopped, the teachers haven't had the time to teach. They write the textbook lesson on the blackboard, and then leave the class to go out and try and find some way of getting food." Both Kato and Nielsen said interviews with refugees showed that commodities are available in the DPRK for a price. ROOS