You are right that the ROK holds DPRK citizens captive (that’s the main thing I meant with “victims of involuntary human trafficking” of “defectors”).
That said, I really don’t think your conjecture is right. I think a bunch of DPRK businesses operate in China, so it’s easy enough to get permission to work there, but there is still border security (see when Laura Ling got owned) and China still captures people fleeing the DPRK and ships them back. It’s not like with the South where they will basically be captured like a Pokemon and enslaved to the propaganda apparatus, a DPRKorean who escapes into China still has a long way to go to get anywhere that won’t ultimately send them back, so it’s not as all-or-nothing as the DMZ.
Edit: To be clear, I’m not saying this to attack the DPRK, I think the DPRK itself would agree to this as roughly the official word.
You are right that the ROK holds DPRK citizens captive (that’s the main thing I meant with “victims of involuntary human trafficking” of “defectors”).
That said, I really don’t think your conjecture is right. I think a bunch of DPRK businesses operate in China, so it’s easy enough to get permission to work there, but there is still border security (see when Laura Ling got owned) and China still captures people fleeing the DPRK and ships them back. It’s not like with the South where they will basically be captured like a Pokemon and enslaved to the propaganda apparatus, a DPRKorean who escapes into China still has a long way to go to get anywhere that won’t ultimately send them back, so it’s not as all-or-nothing as the DMZ.
Edit: To be clear, I’m not saying this to attack the DPRK, I think the DPRK itself would agree to this as roughly the official word.
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That’s fair