One woman was beaten so bad that is no longer able to recognize her own friends and can do little more than smile blandly and vacantly
By Lee Chae Un
March 11, 2024
"North Korean Defectors" Credits @FFHR.CZ
Some female defectors in China have suffered serious injuries, including cognitive impairment, due to violent treatment by their Chinese boyfriends, Daily NK has learned.
“A defector in her 50s living in China’s Hebei Province suffered brain damage after being beaten by her Chinese boyfriend in January. Her defector friends were shocked by her state of cognitive impairment,” a source in China told Daily NK on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
The woman was frequently beaten by her Chinese boyfriend and fled the house they shared in January to escape the constant violence. But when her boyfriend caught her, he beat her even worse, the source said.
As a result, the woman is no longer able to recognize her own friends and can do little more than smile blandly and vacantly.
Defectors from nearby villages who visited her after hearing the news fought back tears of grief.
One defector was quoted as saying: “I could hardly believe my own eyes when I saw her with a cognitive level little better than five or six years old. We were so close, and she’d always been like a big sister to me. But it made me cry to learn that she doesn’t even recognize me anymore. She sat there in clothes that hadn’t been washed in who knows how long, and when I asked her where she was from, she could only shake her head.”
The defector continued: “I was so angry that I tried to file a complaint at a local police station, but the police told me they couldn’t take a complaint from a person without legal status and advised me to mind my own business. It was devastating to think that someone could get away with beating a North Korean defector to death without being punished.”
Abuse is widespread
This is not the only example of female defectors being beaten by Chinese boyfriends. A defector in her 30s in Jilin Province suffers regular beatings not only from her Chinese boyfriend, but also by his family members.
“The people in this family paid for a North Korean defector bride, and now they treat her worse than a servant. Recently, they’ve been pushing her to get some kind of job that will earn her more than RMB 100 [around 14 dollars] a day,” the source said.
As a result, the woman leaves home early every morning to find something that will pay decent money, even if it means weeding other people’s fields.
After returning home from work, the woman has numerous household chores to complete and can expect the family to pounce on her if she shows the slightest annoyance. She reportedly has little choice but to do what her boyfriend’s family tells her to do.
“There have been defectors who were beaten by their Chinese boyfriends before, but the boyfriends tried to control themselves because they were afraid their girlfriends would run away. But now Chinese men know that it’s hard to get to South Korea and that arrested defectors can be sent back to the North. So they figure the women are stuck with them and aren’t afraid to get violent with them,” the source said.
“Faced with the physical and psychological damage caused by violence perpetrated by Chinese men, female defectors can’t help but feel angry and wish they hadn’t been born in North Korea to suffer this kind of treatment.”
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Source: dailynk.com
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