70 10kg of tofu beans once she had decided to have an abortion because her livelihood was at stake: I’m sorry, but when I went to hospital because - after giving birth to two sons - I had no menstruation and my body felt heavy, they told me that I was in my 4th month. When it’s the 4th month, you cannot do the curettage, you know. But I mustn’t have a child. It’s already difficult for me to earn and get food. They told me I should let it grow for another 2 months and then have a mid-term abortion. You let it grow for 6 months, and then they inject a medical fluid below your belly button. After the injection I gave birth within 24 hours just as you normally give birth. It was already dead. But it was a girl, you know. My mother wrapped the baby in a straw mat and buried it. But after 2 months my mother slipped on the ice and fractured [her bone]. A baby’s ghost is terrifying, it’s a short life but it’s a life. I always feel guilty. (Go Yeongsun, 2009, 4-5) The reality is that the use of contraceptive tools, responsibility for pregnancy, childbirth and childcare are all rendered women’s sole responsibility. The statement of one North Korean refugee woman, “I was told not to insert [the contraceptive Gori (Loop)] but I went [to do it] because life was so difficult”, exemplifies how women are filled with fear and live with anxieties about the burden of pregnancy and childcare amid difficulties to survive. Research findings suggest that in North Korea, contraception is entirely left to women, and that there are many women who suffer from pain caused by low quality contraceptives or surgical procedures, infections, etc. This reality indicates that there is an extreme lack of schemes, means, and interest to protect maternity within the state, society, and family.