Hello NK News readers, and welcome back to Ask a North Korean, where our North Korean defector writers answer the questions you submit.

Today’s question comes from Antoni in Warsaw, who asks about reports of forced abortions of children who aren’t of pure Korean blood.

Many female defectors are reportedly sold as wives to Chinese men and so may end up becoming pregnant with their children. And it’s said that some pregnant defectors who are caught in China and subsequently repatriated are forced to have an abortion on their return — purportedly because North Korean authorities do not want their pure ethnic gene pool corrupted with foreign blood.

In-hua Kim, a former resident of Hyesan, Ryanggang Province, addresses whether this is true or not through her own personal experiences — and addresses the broader issue of abortion in North Korea.

Got a question for In-hua? Email it to [email protected] with your name and city. We’ll be publishing the best ones.

People couldn’t care less about a woman having an abortion in North Korea. If there is such a thing as freedom in North Korea, it is the freedom for women to abort their pregnancies at will.

No one speaks ill of someone who is having an abortion and doctors do not oppose it. And it’s not rare that non-professionals conduct the operation, with whatever means they have available.

On November 11, 2014, I was arrested for illegal cell phone usage and sent to Hyesan public security station’s detention house.

In cell number 7, to which I was assigned, 20 women were sitting in rows with their heads lowered. The new inmate is seated on the first spot of the first row, the others moved sideways and to the next row each time someone new is brought in.

After around a fortnight, I was pushed to the first spot of the second row. The person who had just arrived was sitting right in front of me, but I couldn’t see what she looked like because we weren’t allowed to lift our heads or change posture. If we were ever caught moving, we were made to kneel with our arms raised-up for 30 minutes.

The new woman brought in an awful smell with her — I could hardly breathe but sat motionless for fear of being punished.

One of the guards, Chol Bong, passed by, noticing the new inmate. “Hey, Koh Yong Soon! You were here three years ago! Did you get in trouble again?! You’re not even a doctor, why do you attempt these abortions when you end up killing people? How many years in a cell will teach you a lesson?”

There were 12 prison guards, but Chol Bong was more senior than the others and relatively good at listening to the prisoners.

“Can I make a request please?” I asked. “What is it?” she retorted. “Ever since this woman came in there’s been this terrible smell,” I said. “Could you please look into the matter?”

Once I said this, others chimed in. “Please, it stinks so bad in here I can hardly breathe.”

Chol Bong came over to the bars, frowning. “What’s going on?”

“A woman in my neighborhood was pregnant and asked me to do an abortion with opium because she had no money for a doctor,” she whimpered. “I agreed eventually. But she started bleeding so much — I tried to stop it and got blood all over me. She ended up passing away, her husband reporting this to the police immediately after, so I was brought here with no time to change clothes.”

“You’ve already killed someone before doing this, and you still haven’t come to your senses? This is your second offense, you should probably just be put down now.”

“This country is on its way to ruin,” I thought to myself as I listened to the conversation.

“It’s not rare that non-professionals conduct the operation, with whatever means they have available”

Yong Soon had previously served two and a half years in prison for accidental homicide when someone she was performing an abortion on died.

It was only after I was put behind bars that I realized many women abort their pregnancies with opium. Many of them die in the process, and those who assist them are charged with murder.

This time round, Yong Soon only received a year-long sentence, thanks to the favorable testimony of the deceased woman’s husband.

On February 1, 2015, while still incarcerated, I had cardiogenic shock and was transported to a prisoners’ ward in a hospital next to the detention house.

In my opinion, the international attention that the outcries of ex-prisoners have received pressured the North Korean government to at least bring them to a hospital when they’re sick.Although no proper medical treatment was offered and the hospital cell was mixed-sex, I was able to rest in a comfortable position and subsequently got better.

On my 12th day in hospital, a 26-year-old convict, hands tied, was brought into our room. The bed beside me was unoccupied, so the guard put her there and untied her hands.

She lay down and began sobbing.

Once the guard was gone I turned to her and asked, “Why are you crying? Where are you hurting?” I tried to comfort her. “How did you end up arrested?”

She was repatriated from China. On her second day at a detention house, she was taken to an obstetrician along with 7 other women for examination, after which she learned that she was pregnant.

The next day, she was taken to a doctor and had an abortion.

Repatriated women are forced to have abortions. Koreans are not supposed to bear the children of foreigners, and this rule is strictly enforced. After the abortion, she was put back into a cell but was brought to the hospital where I was because she was bleeding so much. She had to go through a few more follow-up operations because her surgery was done so poorly.

We were put into cells next to each other after being released from hospital. I could hear her groans, it seemed she was still hurting a lot from the abortion.

She reminded me of my daughters, who were the same age as her at the time. I felt her pain and wept in secret.

She was later formally charged and taken to the Kaechon reformatory.

I often relive my experiences in North Korea in my dreams. I probably won’t have to go through such things again, but I’m concerned for my siblings and nephews.

I look forward to the day when human rights in North Korea improve.

Translated by Jihye Park

Edited by James Fretwell

Featured image: Morsky Studio