There is one fact, not widely realized by the outside world but nonetheless important when we talk about the steadily growing community of North Korean refugees in the South: Most of them are women. Indeed, over the last decade, women have constituted some 75 percent of all new arrivals in South Korea.

There are many reasons behind this unusual gender imbalance. It partially reflects the role that women now play in North Korea’s market economy, but to a greater extent it is related to the circumstances of their escape. Nearly all refugees nowadays come to South Korea through China – where they usually stay for many years.