The North Korean residents, especially the political prisoners, are most vulnerable to North Korea’s enforced disappearance. Regardless of their age, sex, and occupation, the victims who have gone missing have been deprived of their liberty against their will through arbitrary arrest or abduction by the North Korean state.
Their fate and whereabouts remain unknown to their loved ones, even when they pass away during their imprisonment.
Consecutive detentions after arrest
Since he was taken in a black Ministry of State Security (MSS) car by the border post, D0000110 has been detained in MSS in Onseong-gun, North Hamgyong for 8 months. His family was not notified of his arrest nor his whereabouts. He was transferred to the province-level MSS in Cheongjin-si, North Hamgyong. After 6 months, he was sent off to a political prison camp and has not returned since.
Since the 1990s, North Korea has systematically executed abductions of the North Korean escapees in China and their subsequent enforced disappearance in North Korea. Former North Korean officials and others who hold sensitive information were the most targeted*.
Other North Korean escapees, however, are also under immense risk of being arrested by the Chinese police on their escape to South Korea. From August to October 2023, approximately 600 North Korean individuals were sent back to North Korea against their will. The victims documented in FOOTPRINTS does not mirror the true scale of the number of victims who disappeared after repatriation.
*UN Human Rights Council. (2014, February 7). Report of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, A/HRC/25/63.
Most common repatriation routes
Majority of North Korean escapees have to go through a third-country – often a series of countries – after their escape from North Korea. Some of these countries include China, Russia, Mongolia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos.
During this time, the North Korean escapees are under constant danger of arrest while their whereabouts remain unknown to their loved ones. Following the arrest, the individuals are often vulnerable to forced repatriation and subsequent disappearance.