The image shows an example of execution in North Korea, where people have liquid iron poured over them.
Those who make it across the border without being detected or shot by border guards are in great danger of falling into the hands of human traffickers. And many of these women are married off to a local poor farmer who cannot find a wife of his own.
Henrik Due Jensen from the Danish European Mission tells the story of the boy Peng, who we cannot show pictures of for security reasons:
Henrik begins: Peng has lost his mother. Before Peng was born, his mother fled across the border from North Korea to China. Here she became pregnant by a Chinese man. Perhaps she was sold to this man by human traffickers, as so often happens to many North Korean women. It is not known for sure.
Then one day, Peng was born. You can imagine how she held Peng in her arms, hoping she wouldn't lose him.
Unfortunately, Peng's mother was discovered by the Chinese authorities. They brutally sent her back to North Korea. And so she had to leave Peng in a foreign country.
When a woman like Peng's mother is sent back, there is great fear. In North Korea, she can expect to be interrogated by unscrupulous guards.
These executioners are known to be particularly harsh if she is found to have been in contact with Christians in China.
Peng does not know if his mother is alive
Today, Peng doesn't know if his mother is dead. He hasn't seen her for the past eight years. This is the fate of many children of North Korean mothers.
These are the children the Danish European Mission helps. Our donors ensure that girls and boys like Peng feel that they are not alone in a cold world. But that they are loved and have great value.
Henrik Due Jensen continues: "This is how we communicate God's love. Help goes through the Christian workers in these dangerous areas in China.
Because of this support, Christian missionaries in China are able to provide children like Peng with nutritious food, clothing and school supplies. This creates a good future for girls and boys who have been separated from their mother. Unfortunately, Peng's father is serving a long prison sentence. Peng has to live with her poor grandmother in a hut in the countryside.
Abandoned children who, like Peng, don't have a grandmother or other family member to stay with, are given the opportunity to live in a shelter where they receive food, clothing and school supplies.
It is believed that 70-90 % of all female refugees from North Korea are caught in the web of human traffickers. The fleeing women are tricked by these traffickers. They are sold cheaply and in some cases treated like animals in forced marriages.
In northeastern China, they are married off to men who have often been unable to find a wife. There are far too few women compared to the number of men in this area. This means that there is a high demand for North Korean women. They get pregnant by the men, and the children typically grow up stateless.
Mothers fear repatriation to North Korea
The women are in constant danger of being separated from their children. At any moment, the Chinese police could knock on the door and mercilessly send them back to North Korea.
Here they risk severe punishment for their escape, which is considered treason. Imprisonment, torture, and in the worst case, execution.
It is said that some women are so afraid of being sent back to North Korea that they carry a razor blade or arsenic in their bags. They would rather die than be tortured and humiliated in North Korea.
Some women are also separated from their children because they feel compelled to flee China without their child.
Henrik Due Jensen concludes: "That's why I'm asking for your support so that a child like Peng, who has been left behind, can get the best possible care.
It's so crucial that children feel loved, especially when their mother is away. That's why your support is so important. It helps children of North Korean mothers with things like shelter and Christian care.
Unfortunately, Chinese men are often not interested in a child if the woman is sent back to North Korea. It is extremely unfortunate for a child when both mother and father are gone.
Help the children left behind now: Support
