North Korea: Human Trafficking

(asked on 21st May 2019) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if the Government will take steps to respond to the atrocities detailed in the report of 20 May 2019 presented to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for North Korea by the Korea Future Initiative entitled Sex Slaves, The Prostitution, Cybersex and Forced Marriage of North Korean Women and Girls in China.


Answered by
 Portrait
Mark Field
This question was answered on 4th June 2019

We are grateful to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for North Korea for its ongoing work to highlight the grave human rights situation in North Korea. The Korea Future Initiative’s new report presents a stark and worsening picture of the plight of North Korean women and girls in China. We are deeply concerned at its accounts of women and girls being trafficked from North Korea to China for prostitution and forced marriage, and the misery and suffering they endure.

We will continue to raise with China our concerns over the repatriation of North Korean refugees, which we believe puts them at serious risk of exploitation. We continue to emphasise to China that those fleeing North Korea should be treated as legitimate asylum claimants. The UK is at the forefront of raising global awareness of modern slavery and sexual violence. As such, we will consider the best way to address the issues in the report including raising these with the appropriate Chinese and North Korean authorities.

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