Report: N. Korean Woman Being Sold Into Chinese Slavery

The Christian science Monitor reports that North Korean women attempting to escape into the relative freedom of China are being sold into slavery by those paid to smuggle them across the border.

The women pay a fee of 2,000 yuan (about $300) for assistance in crossing the Tumen River into China, perhaps never suspecting that they are merely exchanging one hopeless situation for another.

Frequently the North Korean women are sold into involuntary marriage or forced labor. China?s infamous one-child policy has led to a shortage of women, fueling a bustling slave trade with North Korea. Dire economic conditions and political repression in North Korea ensure that the practice will continue.

It?s hard to imagine what would it be like to be stuck in a totalitarian nation with such grim prospects for improving your life. Would you have the courage to try to escape? Is ?courage? even the right word to describe a brave yet incredibly ill-advised escape mission?

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