UPI has released an article covering the Jeju Forum, where the focus is on exposing the human rights violations suffered by ethnic minorities in China following the reinforcement of border control and regulations in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The article also sheds light on the difficult circumstances faced by a significant number of North Korean escapees who sought refuge in China and the subsequent human rights abuses they endure there. Director Hanna Song, responsible for International Cooperation at NKDB, provided insightful comments during the Jeju Forum. Please refer to the detailed information below. 

Hanna Song, director of international cooperation and a researcher at the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, said thousands of North Koreans who have escaped their native country and are in hiding China have also been victimized by the Xi regime's surveillance laws that were expanded during the pandemic.

She added that a large concern with North Koreans amid the restrictions put in place by governments is that little information about these victimized people is reaching researchers and advocates in China but also at home.

The reason why, she said, is because so few North Koreans have been able to escape amid the pandemic.

During the height of defectors during the famine of 1994 to 1998, some 2,000 people a year fled the country and reached South Korea, she said. In 2022, only 67 made the perilous journey, which is an increase from about 63 the year before.

"And we don't expect to see much more, even as the whole world opens up their borders," she said.

Organizations like hers rely on North Korean escapees for information on human rights abuses, including those being committed by the Kim Jong Un regime during the pandemic.

"Many experts are calling this the new dark ages," she said. "Just because we hear little about what is happening North Korea, it doesn't mean nothing is happening."

You can read the full article on UPI by clicking HERE