North Korean Women's Narratives of Migration

Challenging Hegemonic Discourses of Trafficking and Geopolitics

Bibliographic Data

ID8377254
AuthorsEunyoung Choi (0000-0002-1501-1568, a Independent Scholar , Seoul , South Korea, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume104
Issue2
Pages271-279
Publication date2014-03-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnnals of the Association of American Geographers (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0004-5608 • E-ISSN: 1467-8306
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00045608.2013.862129
OpenAlexW2006353569
LanguageEN
Citations received20
References cited36

This article recovers the subaltern stories of North Korean migrant women living and working underground in China. This work begins to unravel relations of power operating through hegemonic discourses of human trafficking. International human rights agencies and the U.S. government often make totalizing statements that categorize North Korean migrant women in China without authorization as trafficked: powerless victims without agency who need to be rescued with the assistance of international society. Based on in-depth interviews with North Korean migrants and extensive document analysis, however, I argue that the strategic spotlight on North Korean human trafficking has actually worsened the condition of North Koreans in China by leading to more crackdowns by both North Korean and Chinese authorities who consider those international efforts as political intervention and threats to their national security. In addition, current discourses on North Korean human trafficking are grounded in Western liberal discourses of the universality of human rights. As a result, trafficking discourses and policies ignore the complicated nature of global political and economic structures that shape women's basic economic security and their decision to migrate. Through critical examination of contemporary geopolitics, this article shows the urgency of democratic and decolonized ways of understanding the trafficking of North Korean women and of offering them support

Agency (philosophy) · China · Democracy · Economic growth · Geopolitics · Hegemony · Human rights · Human security · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Subaltern · China's Global Influence and Migration · Gender Studies · Korean Peninsula Historical and Political Studies · Law · Sex work and related issues

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