82 of having to deny one’s background, they all hint at the fact that North Korean refugee women have to live in China as ‘figures who are not me’. Moreover, they had to be incessantly vigilant against others and thus lived a strained life. Apprehension and nervousness that were continuously sustained in their everyday life eventually led to symptoms such as heart diseases, depression, and anxiety. One of the things North Korean women complained of when they settled in South Korea was their bodies aching ‘without a reason’. Life without a citizenship manifested itself not only in psychological symptoms such as lethargy, anxiety, and impatience, but also in a painful body. As is pointed out by Hyeon Changhui (2009, 2-6), “When you look at North Korean refugees, people getting treated for depression, people getting psychological treatment, at the time when I went for treatment, it was around 70% of people. They are all treated for depression”, such experiences become manifest in an aching body and persist as a trauma. 3) Deprived of the right to work Since North Korean refugee women, in general, go to China to earn money, they look for work wherever they are. The fact that it is mainly women with the capability to work who cross the border is well substantiated by the age group ratio. <Table 5-1> shows the situation regarding entries to South Korea by age group as of January 2009. <Table 5-2> presents the current state of entries to South Korea by age group of those North Korean refugee women who participated in the Hanawon survey conducted on the 4th of August 2009. According to <Table 5-1>, women in their economically active years (between 20 to 40 years old) constitute the biggest group amongst the female population who entered South Korea (7,962 persons, 78.7%). In the Hanawon survey, 225 persons, i.e. 90.7% belonged to this age group. These women worked to return from China to North Korea or to send remittances to their families left behind in North Korea. <Table 5-1> Age groups (as of January 2009) Category 0-9yrs 10-19yrs 20-29yrs 30-39yrs 40-49yrs 50-59yrs Older than Sum