WeChat surveillance ensnares two N. Korean women planning to reach South Korea

Two North Korean defector women who exchanged WeChat messages about reaching South Korea were arrested by Chinese police in early February and remain in detention, Daily NK has learned.

A source with knowledge of North Korea told Daily NK yesterday that the two women were apprehended after sending messages related to their plan to go to South Korea. The arrests have become widely known among North Korean defectors living in China, causing significant anxiety throughout the community.

According to the source, the two women, who lived in Hebei province and had spent more than a decade in China, had decided together to wrap up their lives there and make their way to South Korea. They used WeChat to share the specifics of their preparations, and it was those messages that led to their arrest.

The women had long dreamed of reaching South Korea, driven by deep despair over living in China without any legal identity. However, an incident five years earlier had given them pause: a fellow North Korean woman they knew well had attempted the same journey and been caught by police. That experience had prevented them from committing to the plan until now.

The two had been meeting frequently this year, and in the course of talking through their futures, they discussed at length how they might actually get to South Korea.

Plan falls apart three days after broker contact

At some point, they learned of a broker through a mutual acquaintance in the defector community who could help them make the journey. In early February, they made the decision to move forward and began exchanging related messages on WeChat. Three days later, police raided each of their homes separately and arrested them on the spot.

What has alarmed the defector community most is that the women had not told anyone about their plans, yet police appeared at their doors within days.

“Since the start of this year, police surveillance of defectors’ phone calls, text messages and messenger apps has been intensifying, and there is even location tracking,” the source said. “If there is any sign that someone is attempting to reach South Korea or even considering it, arrest follows immediately. North Korean defectors are living in fear.”

Chinese police are known to maintain detailed personal information on most North Korean defectors living with Chinese partners, updating those files regularly and keeping close tabs on the community. In principle, defectors are treated as illegal immigrants subject to repatriation. In practice, because many have formed families with Chinese nationals and had children in China, authorities tend to keep them under ongoing surveillance rather than sending them back immediately.

The files police maintain include the phone numbers defectors use, and as a result many in the community have become reluctant to use their phones at all, wary of giving police any reason to send them back to North Korea.

Hope of reaching South Korea fades

“Most North Korean defectors in China want to reach South Korea,” the source said. “But the situation is now such that even sending a private message about it can get you arrested, so people are giving up hope of ever getting there.”

The two women remain in detention and under investigation. According to their Chinese husbands, there is a possibility they will be repatriated to North Korea three to six months after police complete their inquiry.

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