North Korean Woman Advocate of Women's Rights- May Joo, the Survivor of Human Trafficking and Torture
(May’s written testimony, blurred to protect work product)
Pastor Kim shared in our group Kakao Chatroom (popular messenger app used among Koreans) about H.Res. 736 introduced by Representative Congressman Mike Conaway and Gerry Connolly. H.Res. 736 proposed a resolution calling upon DPRK to dismantle its labor camp.
My NK Friend, May Joo, is on her business trip to give testimony about the status of women in DPRK and China. She wrote 20 pages with filled with unbelievable story of human rights violation that she experienced. I would like to share a short-summarized segment of her story.
May first defected from DPRK to earn money for her son’s surgery. She saved about 8,000 Chinese currency (about $1,300 US dollars). She gave 1,000 Chinese currency to the broker who will help her travel to the DPRK border and she rolled 7,000 Chinese currency and hid it inside her anus. When she was crossing the border, she was caught by the DPRK’s border patrol and imprisoned. When she arrived at the prison, she had to take all her clothes off and stand in front of them naked. They also performed search of her body which included penetration of hand and instruments in her private. She was tortured and terribly beaten. She was put to forced labor. When she was caught hiding money inside her body, they beat her with a wooden stick and slammed her head on the concrete wall.
May’s heart is deeply scarred by these traumatic painful memories. She is still on her chemotherapy pills but she willingly volunteered to travel from Los Angeles to Washington DC to testify about human rights situations in DPRK.
I agree with Congressman Conaway’s statement that “it’s up to us to shed light on these cruelties and take a stand against them.”
(https://conaway.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398363)
Many people ask me what can they do to help. People tend to believe that fighting human rights is a farfetched idea that only human rights experts can help. This is not true. These human rights victims, perhaps the survivors, are in our community today.
Why not reach out to them and congratulate them for achieving their freedom and liberty? Why not reach out to offer your friendship and welcome them into our community?
We need your involvement in helping North Korean human trafficking and tutor survivors in their resettlement process I the US. We need to deliver to them what it means to be an American citizen.
