Every day, news about North Korea is broadcast to the world - updates on ballistic missile launches, nuclear threats and spy satellites. While many are intrigued by the country s rampant military threats and mysterious operations, significantly less attention is paid to the people that flee over its borders.
ANSAN, South Korea (AP) For the first time in years, Choi Bok-hwa didn’t get her annual birthday call from her mother in North Korea. Each January, Choi’s mother had climbed a mountain and used a broker s smuggled Chinese cellphone to call South Korea to wish her happy birthday and arrange a badly needed money transfer.
Choi, who hasn t sent money or talked to her 75-year-old mother since May, believes the silence is linked to the pandemic, which led North Korea to shut its borders tighter than ever and impose some of the world’s toughest restrictions on movement.
N Korean defectors struggle to send money home amid pandemic
by Hyung-Jin Kim, The Associated Press
Posted Mar 11, 2021 9:15 pm EDT
Last Updated Mar 11, 2021 at 9:28 pm EDT
North Korean defector Choi Bok-hwa speaks during an interview in Ansan, South Korea, Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021. For the first time in years, Choi didn’t get her annual birthday call from her mother in North Korea. Choi believes the silence is linked to the pandemic, which led North Korea to shut its borders tighter than ever and impose some of the world’s toughest restrictions on movement. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
ANSAN, Korea, Republic Of For the first time in years, Choi Bok-hwa didn’t get her annual birthday call from her mother in North Korea. Each January, Choi’s mother had climbed a mountain and used a broker’s smuggled Chinese cellphone to call South Korea to wish her happy birthday and arrange a badly needed money transfer.
Read more about North Korean defectors struggle to send money home amid Covid pandemic on Business Standard. Defectors in the South have long shared part of their income with parents, children and siblings in North Korea
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