A burgeoning sex trade in North Korean women has surfaced along the North Korean – Chinese border over the past decade.
So routine has the practice become that Chinese farmers who cannot find wives simply place orders with one of several human trafficking groups. Once the farmer specifies the desired physical appearance and age, traffickers look to fulfill the order.
North Korean women, who are eager to flee their politically oppressive and highly impoverished country, are easily convinced to undertake the risky border crossing by the traffickers who target them.
Often relatively urbane and highly educated, the women are lured by the promises of lucrative jobs in the growing Chinese economy.
Once across the border, the women are usually first gathered in the border city of Yanji and then sent to the northern city of Jilin. From there, the women are dispatched to rural villages via “brokers” to serve as the “wife” of the Chinese farmer who ordered them.
A source familiar with the practice said that “after arriving at the Chinese farmer’s house, the North Korean woman realizes that she is the victim of human trafficking, but won’t dare to escape for fear of being caught in a remote and isolated rural village where the language is different.”
The risk of deportation to North Korea, where they face probable execution, doubtless also is a factor.
The going price for a North Korean woman ranges from $446 to $1,488 according Chinese men who had purchased North Korean women, North Korean escapees and officials of the Chinese government.
In recent years, the sex trade has not just been limited to along the North Korean border, but has expanded to the inner provinces of Hebei, Anhui and Jiangsu
