13
sexual torture and forced abortions in imprisonment camps for political prisoners, and
additional punishment for women who cross the North Korean-Chinese border, etc.
Cho Younga and Jeon Wootaek (2005)13 traced problems arising in the adaptation
process of North Korean refugee women to South Korean society; however, their study,
conducted through the method of in-depths interviews, focused on married women
only. Their research addresses, roughly speaking, three main issues: Firstly, problems
between married partners in terms of conflicts over the roles of man and woman and
changing power relations, problems relating to bigamy or cohabitation, difficulties in
everyday married life with a South Korean man, worries about children’s education
and lack of understanding of the South Korean education system, psychological and
economical concerns about supporting parents and the ‘right’ nurture for infants and
children, etc. Secondly, difficulties with regard to employment training, working life,
etc. are examined. Thirdly, the study dealt with mental shocks or after-effects of
psychological difficulties or distress suffered during the women’s escape from North
Korea, anxieties over family left behind in North Korea, a sense of devaluation in
everyday life in South Korea, etc.
Shim Younghee (2006) 14 attempted to elaborate a concept of ‘women’s rights’.
According to her, the existing human rights concept is defined with a focus on men;
she thus stressed the need to determine and apply a human rights concept for women
and, consequently, to safeguard women’s human rights based on the distinctiveness of
women. To this end, she inquired into the North Korean famines of the 1990s and
women’s right to existence, their right to economic activity, their rights relating to
family, and rights pertaining to the female body and sex. In the findings, for example
on the right to existence, she argued that women are discriminated against by the
distribution system and that their right to health is threatened, thus making women
the greatest victims of famines. With regard to the right to economic activity, she
asserted that, although women were responsible for the livelihood of their families,
13
Cho, Younga; Jeon, Wootaek. 2005. Problems of North Korean Refugee Women regarding their
Adaptation to South Korean Society with a Focus on Married Women. Woman, Vol. 10, No.1. Korean
Society for Woman Psychology.
14
Shim, Younghee. 2006. Human Rights of North Korean Women: Conditions and Main Factors . Asian
Women, Vol. 45, No. 2. Asian Women Research Institute, Sookmyung Women’s University.