Tens of thousands of North Korean women and girls are trafficked and sold into the sex trade in China where they are forced to endure systemic rape , sexual slavery and cybersex trafficking, according to a new report. It found women are also being subject to sex trafficking, sexual abuse, prostitution and forced marriage there. Many are sold more than once and are forced into at least one form of sexual slavery within a year of leaving their homeland.
Girls aged as young as nine are forced to perform graphic sex acts and are sexually assaulted in front of webcams, she added, which are live-streamed to a paying global audience. Urgent and immediate action, which will run contrary to the prevailing politics of inter-Korean dialogue, is needed to save the lives of countless female North Korean refugees in China.
The report argues that the fact the Korea Future Initiative - a small non-governmental organisation which gets no funding or support from governments, human rights institutions, or grant-giving bodies - was able to uncover abuses chiefly ignored by the international community should serve as an incentive to others. The Korea Future Initiative is a London-based not-for-profit that helps North Koreans in danger and publishes reports on human rights abuses to support redress for exiles.
A damning report by Human Rights Watch from November last year found North Korean officials sexually assault women with near total impunity and sexual abuse is so prevalent it has been normalised.
The report said women in the country are routinely forced to endure sexual violence by government officials, police, prison guards, interrogators and soldiers. The profoundly patriarchal society means many women are ashamed of the abuse they experience and feel unable to demand accountability β deciding not to speak out because of feeble law enforcement and support services.
