The Silent Suffering of Repatriated North Korean Women : Forced Abortions and Inhumane Abuse
Huh Su-kyung, Former Professor at Chongjin Teachers' College(North Korean defector)
One of the gravest human rights violations taking place in North Korea is the practice of forced abortions. North Korean women, in search of a better life, cross the border into China. However, if caught and repatriated, they face a brutal and heartless fate. Among the most horrifying aspects of this fate is the treatment of pregnant women—something that reveals the depths of human cruelty.
The Nightmare That Awaits After Repatriation
Defectors who are forcibly returned to North Korea are typically detained in facilities operated by the State Security Department or the Ministry of Public Security. There, they are forced to spend most of their day hunched on cold floors. Meals are limited to a handful of corn kernels and a bowl of saltwater soup per day. While all repatriated defectors endure these inhumane conditions, women face even more harrowing abuse—especially those who are pregnant.
Branded as Traitors: The Start of Forced Abortions
Pregnant defectors are labeled by North Korean authorities as "traitors carrying the seed of foreigners." The regime considers children conceived with foreign men, especially Chinese, as "hybrids" and an insult to the purity of the system. During detention, women are subjected to coercive interrogations about their pregnancy. Beatings and invasive physical examinations are common, carried out with no regard for their dignity or humanity.
If a woman is found to be pregnant by a Chinese man, she is forcibly taken to a hospital. The procedure that follows is more violent than medical. In unhygienic conditions, with no professional care, a long and thick needle is used to stab the uterus and kill the fetus. Bleeding and broken, the woman is immediately sent back to the detention center.
A Systematic Crime: More Testimonies of Forced Abortions
Numerous testimonies reveal just how widespread and systematic this crime is in North Korea.
One defector recounted being four months pregnant when repatriated. Without explanation, she was placed on a hospital bed and injected in the stomach. The pain from the expulsion of the fetus was indescribable, but what haunted her most was the staff's cold indifference. After the abortion, she was left covered in blood, unattended, and later dragged back to the detention cell. 'The feeling of being worse than dead still haunts me in my nightmares,' she sobbed.
Another woman, repatriated in her seventh month of pregnancy, was visibly near full term. Yet, authorities proceeded with a forced abortion as soon as she arrived at the hospital. Because the fetus was so developed, the procedure was especially dangerous. She eventually died from excessive bleeding. To North Korean authorities, her death was insignificant. Neither her life nor her unborn child's was acknowledged, and no one was held accountable.
The Suffering Doesn't End with the Abortion
Forced abortions leave lasting physical and psychological scars. The women are returned to their cells immediately, with no time to recover. They sit all day on cold floors with little food, in unhygienic conditions that often lead to infection. Medical treatment is nonexistent, even for serious complications. These women, especially those who were pregnant, are treated as the worst kind of criminals and receive harsher punishments than others.
Many faint or die from the ordeal, but their deaths receive no sympathy or mourning. Other women remain in detention, silenced by fear and resigned to the same fate.
Lives That Were Never Born
The fetuses that are killed through forced abortions are also victims of grave injustice. These are not just crimes against women—they are crimes against unborn lives. These children never had the chance to see the world. No one records their existence. No one remembers them.
One defector reflected on her experience: "Every time my baby moved inside me, I imagined talking to them. I still dream of the day they would smile as they were born. But since that day, even in my dreams, my child turns away from me. Was I never meant to be a mother?"
A Reality of Endless Suffering
For North Korean women, forced abortion is a life-shattering violation. The pain of the procedure, the trauma etched into their bodies and minds, lingers for a lifetime. Many survivors struggle to move forward, but the scars of this brutal crime continue to inflict deep emotional suffering.
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