Recently, the Netflix original movie “Finding Hope” starring Song Joong Ki was released globally.
The film tells the story of a North Korean defector named Lu Jiwan, who hides in China and sets out for Belgium with the last hope of his life. There, he meets and falls in love with Mary, a woman who has lost all hope and is emotionally depressed.
After watching the movie, strangely, what lingered in my mind wasn’t the story of the film but the scar on Lu Jiwan’s left wrist. In the movie, Lu Jiwan says, “When I was hiding in China, I always had a blade hidden in my sleeve, in case the Chinese police caught me and I would rather cut my wrist and commit suicide than go back to North Korea.”
Lu Jiwan expressed that he would rather end his own life than be forcibly deported back to North Korea. In fact, Lu Jiwan’s story is not just a movie, but a reflection of the harsh reality faced by North Korean defectors. Hearing about the experiences of defectors being forcibly sent back to North Korea is truly chilling.
The conditions of the defectors’ captivity are extremely harsh; they have no food and have to catch snakes, rats, and other animals to stave off hunger. Faced with the threat of starvation, they even pick maggots from piles of corpses to grill and eat for survival. In situations of malnutrition, incidents of forced labor leading to death are also widespread.
The plight of female defectors is even more tragic. Chinese prison guards use the promise of reducing punishment as bait to lure female defectors and subject them to rape. Pregnant women who become pregnant in China and are forcibly deported back to North Korea are forced to have abortions. One defector testified that after being forcibly repatriated from China, she was forced to have an abortion. At that time, North Korean prison guards said, “We absolutely cannot accept the seeds of Chinese dogs. They must be killed.” After saying this, they inserted a long, thick needle into her abdomen, injected poisonous substances, and caused the fetus in her womb to be aborted.
We should approach the issue of North Korean defectors being forcibly sent back to North Korea from a human rights perspective. The Chinese authorities must address the human rights issues of defectors based on universal human values.
Firstly, China must respect the human rights of defectors and safeguard their UN refugee status.
Secondly, China must immediately stop the practice of forcibly repatriating North Korean defectors based on the principle of non-refoulement.
Lastly, the Chinese authorities must exert influence on the North Korean regime to improve the human rights situation of the North Korean residents. Perhaps, at this moment, another “Lu Jiwan” is somewhere in China living in constant fear of being captured and deported to North Korea, leading a precarious existence. I urge the Chinese government to make wise decisions and not cause further sacrifices of innocent lives.
(Author is a writer associated with North Korean Writes in Exile PEN Literature)