[Feature] False North Korean asylum claimants use bought photographs as supporting evidence

Do pictures never lie?

Photographs taken long ago in North Korea are being sold at high prices among ethnic-Korean Chinese seeking asylum in other countries. The pictures fetch a high price because they provide a physical means of confirming that an applicant for a North Korean asylum claim is actually from North Korea.

In northeast China, we came across several operations where Chinese of Korean descent, who frequently travel to North Korea, buy old photos cheaply and sell them at high prices back home in China.

Their target client is not the genuine North Korean refugee, but ethnic-Korean Chinese who claim to be North Korean asylum seekers in foreign countries, especially in Europe.

The most popular photographs are said to be those that feature young children; even if the picture is not of themselves, the client can insist that they are the one in the picture.

After memorizing knowledge about North Korea for months at special tuition programs, ethnic-Korean Chinese may stand a good chance at passing as a North Korean asylum claimant in a third country.

Even South Koreans, who generally claim they can distinguish among Asian nationalities, find it difficult to tell between ethnic-Korean Chinese and North Korean refugees; and it may be nearly impossible for asylum officials in third countries to distinguish between them.

We confirmed cases of genuine North Korean refugees having had their asylum applications rejected, and also of ethnic-Korean Chinese passing successfully through the system while pretending to be North Korean asylum claimants.

Additionally, we frequently heard reports of ethnic-Korean Chinese reporting North Korean refugees to the authorities, so as to reduce the competition for asylum places.

Lee Ji-hae* is a North Korean refugee. She tells us, “I know an ethnic-Korean Chinese who made a successful asylum claim in a third country. He bought several North Korean photographs for 40,000 won (about 40 USD) per picture. Officials put more faith in a concrete object like a picture, than a claimant repeating a hundred times that they are from North Korea.”

“During the investigative process in third countries, if you go to where asylum applicants are held, ethnic-Korean Chinese and North Korean refugees stick to their own kind, and even report each other as fake refugees,” she testifies.

A bizarre phenomenon unfolds, with real and fake refugees competing with each other as North Korean asylum claimants in foreign countries.