16 China and other countries of temporary stay • • • • • • • • • • Sexual exploitation Wage exploitation Despair over unattainability of goals Risks of exposure Getting married as a means to negotiate security Feeling discriminated as North Korean women Reconstructing the meaning of a life in China Disguising oneself as a Chinese woman Hiding emotions Getting married/postponing pregnancy South Korea • • • • • • • • Problems between married partners Problems relating to bigamy or cohabitation Daily married life with South Korean men Problems regarding children’s education Supporting parents and raising infants and children Problems relating to job training and working life Health and psychological difficulties Anxieties over family left behind in North Korea Firstly, in North Korea, women live in an environment of extreme human rights abuses due to the systems properties of North Korea, the country’s economic difficulties, etc. With ‘systems properties’ we refer to characteristics immanent in the paternalistic socialist system as represented by the North Korean ‘Suryeong’16 system, etc. These properties fundamentally violate the human rights of women in North Korea. Such conditions operate as a ‘force of expulsion’ pushing women to flee the country. Secondly, in China and other countries of sojourn, North Korean refugee women become stateless persons and, thus, enter a human rights void. This position in itself brings about many situations of human rights abuses by forcing women to live hidden lives in covert spaces if they are to avoid the chain of arrest - forced repatriation punishment. In these places, North Korean women are coerced into situations even more atrocious than in North Korea, e.g. prostitution, slave labour, etc. 16 The term ‘Suryeong’ can be traced back to the Koryo and Chosun periods when it referred to a regional official; in North Korea, however, the term means ‘Great Leader’. Kim Ilsung is the only person who has been granted the title of ‘Suryeong’ until now; while Kim Ilsung is commonly referred to as ‘Suryeong Comrade Kim Ilsung’, his son Kim Jongil is merely called ‘Comrade Kim Jongil’ or ‘General Kim Jongil’. Accordingly, the term ‘Suryeong’ denotes the absolute supremacy and power of a single person, namely of Kim Ilsung. In the academic literature, however, the term is often used in a less restrictive sense and generally refers to the highest North Korean leader including Kim Jongil. The ‘Suryeong system’ thus signifies a rigid system in which the ‘Suryeong’ stands above the party and the state, exercising supreme authority.