User:Evelyn4712/sandbox

Writing "Human Trafficking of North Korean Women in China"

II. Why is this article important?

a. Need for Awareness on the Topic

The topic of human trafficking of North Koreans in China is of notable significance due to the fact that these human rights violations lack international attention and judicial repercussions. North Korean refugees trafficked in their neighboring country often don’t have a legal system to protect them, as the DPRK’s leader, Kim Jong Un, views them as criminal “defectors” that must be punished upon return. China, the recipient of Korean refugees, treats them as “economic migrants” that should be deported to their home country. I believe it is important to create awareness about their lack of protection so that we can inspire others to be advocates of North Korean refugees and sex trafficking victims. Because the Wikipedia website receives a lot of attention, it would be a great place to inform individuals about the abuse North Koreans face in China to escape the violence and starvation that plagues their native country.

b. China as the Main Perpetrator

It is essential to single out China as the main perpetrator behind the sex trafficking of Korean women and children due to its proximity to North Korea, its refusal to recognize regime victims as refugees, and, most importantly, its intricate human trafficking system. China’s refusal to acknowledge North Korean migrants as refugees has forced them into taking abusive, underpaid jobs that take advantage of their illegal migrant status, some even willingly submitting to human trafficking. Not to mention, China is currently experiencing a shortage of women, which makes it the perfect market to sell North Korean girls and women into forced marriages. This phenomenon has also created a high demand for sex workers, prompting traffickers to oblige female refugees into working for online adult chatrooms and prostitution parlors.

IV. Rationale for Adding New Article:

a. Important to Focus on One Kind of Trafficking/One Perpertrator

The current parent article, “Human Trafficking in North Korea,” also talks about labor trafficking of North Koreans, which I believe takes away from the importance of the human trafficking of women as a pressing human rights issue. Because both of these topics need to be elaborated on thoroughly to bring them justice, it is only right to give the sex trafficking matter its own spotlight. Moreover, as I have mentioned before, it is also important to identify China as one of the main consumers of human trafficking of North Koreans, so I will not mention other countries like the parent article does.

b. Low Grade Parent Article

The current article does not do justice to the topic, as the information is brief and most of it is cited from a 2019 U.S. Department of State report. Other issues that hurt the article’s standing is the short lead and the limited number of sections that fail to explain the sex trafficking situation holistically.

V. Outline Plan:

Lead

1. History
2. Current Events
3. Legislation
   • North Korea
   • China
   • International Law
4. Types of Human Trafficking
   • Forced Marriage
   • Prostitution
   • Cybersex
5. Literature & Media
   • Autobiographies & Memoirs
   • Films
   • News Stories
6. Organizations Against the Issue
7. See Also
8. References

VI. Planned Work:

a. History: This section will tell about China’s beginnings in smuggling North Korean women out of their country into human trafficking. It will talk about the demand for women in China and how the trafficking networks grew as a result of this. It will also give an approximate estimate of the amount of women that have historically been trafficked into China.

i. Kathleen Davis, "Brides, Bruises and the Border: The Trafficking of North Korean Women into China," SAIS Review of International Affairs 26, no. 1 (Winter-Spring 2006): 131-141.* ii. Lankov, Andrei. “North Korean Refugees in Northeast China.” Asian Survey 44, no. 6 (2004): 856–73. https://doi.org/10.1525/as.2004.44.6.856.*

iii. Ni, Jane. “Selling Bodies and Souls: Human Sex Trafficking in China.” Scholars Archive, December 2015. https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/.*

b. Current events: This section will talk about the current statistics regarding the situation, such as what percentage of North Korean female defectors are trafficked and the amount of money that they are sold for (among other data). It will also include factors in North Korea that contribute to the issue and potential solutions to aid trafficked women.

i. Engstran, Erin, Caitlin Flynn, and Meg Harris. “Gender and Migration from North Korea | Journal of Public and International Affairs.” Journal of Public and International Affairs, May 1, 2020. https://jpia.princeton.edu/news/gender-and-migration-north-korea.*

ii. Lankov, Andrei. “North Korean Refugees in Northeast China.” Asian Survey 44, no. 6 (2004): 856–73. https://doi.org/10.1525/as.2004.44.6.856.*

c. Legislation: This section will talk about the refugees laws in China, their persecution of human traffickers, their ties with North Korea, and possible corruption. Additionally, it will talk about North Korean punishment policies for defectors and their treatment of women who may be pregnant with Chinese babies. Lastly, I will talk about international law and about what the UN is doing to help these women.

i. Choi, Eunyoung. “North Korean Women’s Narratives of Migration: Challenging Hegemonic Discourses of Trafficking and Geopolitics.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 104, no. 2 (2014): 271–79. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24537719.*

ii. LING, BONNY. “Prostitution and Female Trafficking in China: Between Phenomena and Discourse.” China Perspectives, no. 1-2 (113) (2018): 65–74. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26531913.*

iii. Board of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. “Lives - Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.” HRNK, 2009. https://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/Lives_for_Sale.pdf.

d. Types of Human Trafficking: This section will talk about the sale of women into forced marriages, prostitution, and cybersex. It will talk about the kind of work these women are expected to do in these positions and the “pay” they may receive.

i. KOOK, KYUNGHEE. “‘I Want to Be Trafficked so I Can Migrate!’: Cross-Border Movement of North Koreans into China through Brokerage and Smuggling Networks.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 676 (2018): 114–34. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26582302.*

ii. Zheng, Tiantian. "Human trafficking in China." Journal of Historical Archaeology & Anthropological Sciences 3, no. 3 (2018): 171-178.*

e. Literature & Media: This section will list different renown memoirs that detail the experiences of these women and may include quotes from these works that could allow readers to sympathize with victims and take interest in the issue. I will also include films and link news stories that give first-hand accounts of the situation.

i. García, Ana Belén Martínez. “Denouncing Human Trafficking in China: North Korean Women’s Memoirs as Evidence.” State Crime Journal 8, no. 1 (2019): 59–79. https://doi.org/10.13169/statecrime.8.1.0059.*

ii. Cussen, John. Review of On the Call to Dismiss North Korean Defectors’ Memoirs and on Their Dark American Alternative, by Lucia Jang, Susan McClelland, Eunsun Kim, Sébastien Falletti, David Tian, Hyeonseo Lee, David John, Yeonmi Park, Maryanne Vollers, and Adam Johnson. Korean Studies 40 (2016): 140–57. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44508431.*

f. Organizations: This section will include non-profit organizations and faith-based programs (like the work of Christian missionaries) that are interested in bringing awareness to the issue and that help North Korean women escape China. Since this will be more of a list, I will not include peer-reviewed journal articles.

i. Liberty in North Korea. “Refugee Resettlement - Liberty in North Korea.” Refugee Resettlement - Liberty in North Korea, 2023. https://libertyinnorthkorea.org/refugee-resettlement.

ii. Crossing Borders. “Serving Trafficked North Korean Women - Crossing Borders.” Crossing Borders - Helping North Korean Refugees and Orphans, 2023. https://www.crossingbordersnk.org/serving-trafficked-north-korean-women.

Initial Writing for "Human Trafficking of North Korean Women 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 (Davis 2006, 132). The ensuing famine exacerbated by "agricultural disasters" killed 2 million North Koreans (Davis 2006, 132) from 1996 to 1999 (Lankov 2004, 859), 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 (Kook 2018,120). 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 (Enstran et al. 2020).

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 (Enstran et al. 2020). 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% (Enstran et al. 2020). 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) (Davis 2006). 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) (Davis 2006). 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 (Engstran et al. 2020).

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.* (Engstran 2020). 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" (Davis, 2006).

1. Engstran, Erin, Caitlin Flynn, and Meg Harris. “Gender and Migration from North Korea | Journal of Public and International Affairs.” Journal of Public and International Affairs, May 1, 2020. https://jpia.princeton.edu/news/gender-and-migration-north-korea.*
2. Kathleen Davis, "Brides, Bruises and the Border: The Trafficking of North Korean Women into China," SAIS Review of International Affairs 26, no. 1 (Winter-Spring 2006): 131-141.
3. KOOK, KYUNGHEE. “‘I Want to Be Trafficked so I Can Migrate!’: Cross-Border Movement of North Koreans into China through Brokerage and Smuggling Networks.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 676 (2018): 114–34. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26582302.*
4. Lankov, Andrei. “North Korean Refugees in Northeast China.” Asian Survey 44, no. 6 (2004): 856–73. https://doi.org/10.1525/as.2004.44.6.856.*

*Note: As I go into more detail, my article will become more source-diverse.