76 The construction of a barbed-wire fence along the state border by China in 2008 can be seen as an expression of will to strongly curb the influx from North Korea.36 But not only a fence was built to impede peoples’ easy access to China; in various places actions of cutting down weeds to raise the visibility of border crossings were also witnessed. In 2009, scenes such as in the first half of 2008 when around 10 persons per day crossed the border could no longer be observed. This means that only those North Koreans who prepare their flight using professional ‘brokers’ can now approach the border. It is expected that this situation will persist for some time in the future. Secondly, crackdowns on North Korean refugees and forced repatriations of detained North Koreans are resolutely enforced in China, and North Korea punishes repatriated citizens and illegal border-crossers severely. Forced repatriations are carried out according to the “Mutual Agreement on Extraditions of North Korean-Chinese Defectors and Criminals (1966)” and the “Agreement on Joint Management of Border Areas between North Korea and China” (1986) which were followed by the two countries signing the “Agreement on Duties Relating to Border Areas” (1998) once the numbers of North Korean refugees increased; the latter agreement sped up the extradition procedure and expanded the concept of illegal border crossing. In 2003 North Korea also signed the “Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters between the Chinese and North Korean people”, thus laying the ground for cooperation regarding investigations on North Korean defectors and their extradition from China. Repatriations constitute a route through which North Korean refugee women are turned into criminals, and forced returns have severe implications not only for these women themselves but also for their families. These women are thus subjected to a situation in which they would do anything to avoid forced repatriation under any circumstances. Thirdly, North Korean refugee women living in China have not thoroughly thought through and prepared for migration. They have not only made hardly any preparations 36 China provided the funds, North Korea the workforce to erect the wire fence.