• Source:JND
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North Korea executed two women who had been forcibly repatriated from China for assisting other North Koreans in China to escape to South Korea, according to a report by Radio Free Asia. 

The women, identified as 39-year-old Ri and 43-year-old Kang, were executed on August 31 after a public trial in Chongjin, North Korea. The information was provided by Jang Se-yul, head of the Seoul-based human rights organisation Gyeore’eol Unification Solidarity.

Additionally, nine other women received life sentences on similar charges. All 11 women were part of a group of approximately 500 North Koreans who were forcibly repatriated by China in October 2023.

“These two women were executed because they had sent North Korean escapees from China to their enemy country, South Korea,” Jang told RFA Korean. 

“When they first escaped, they were sold to a Chinese adult entertainment business. When other North Korean women working there said they wanted to go to South Korea, they made arrangements to send them there,” he said. 

Beijing asserts that it is required to enforce these actions based on bilateral agreements with Pyongyang.

According to a report by Asia News, the death sentences were verified by multiple sources, including a resident of the Chinese border town of Hoeryong who was visiting Chongjin, about 70 kilometres away. According to the man, the public trial started at 11 am (7:30 am IST), lasted approximately an hour, and concluded with the Social Security Bureau of North Hamgyong Province deciding to carry out the executions immediately.

In recent years, Seoul's unification ministry has reported an increase in the number of people from elite sectors of North Korean society fleeing to South Korea.

Upon arriving in the South, defectors are granted citizenship, nearly free housing, resettlement funds, and additional benefits.