Many North Korean Women Face Forced Marriage in China, or Rape in North Korean Prisons

A North Korean restaurant worker tries to attract customers in the border city of Dandong, Liaoning Province, northern China across the Yalu River from the border city of Sinuiju, North Korea on May 23, 2017 in Dandong, China. Many North Korean women who flee are trafficked into forced marriages in China. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Of all the illegal trade between China and South Korea, China’s import of enslaved North Korean women is among the darkest.

For many women, leaving North Korea is the best way to escape rampant sexual abuse and degradation in Kim Jong Un’s prison state where rape is one of the ways officials use their power and even pedophiles go unpunished.