`Where is Our Mother?`

“I’ve been told that my mom went to visit her hometown. Why hasn’t she come back?”

A five-year-old boy almost cried in an isolated rural area in the Chinese province of Hebei. "Ahn" did not know that his mother was arrested by around 10 Chinese police officers because she was a North Korean.

His elder brother looks frightened when he sees strangers since he still vividly remembered the day their mother was arrested.

When asked how much he missed his mother, Ahn’s brother burst into tears but did not answer the question.

Consolation from his father was not enough to soothe the crying boy. Their North Korean mother had been sold into marriage eight years ago but had lived a happy life in the Chinese rural village.

Their mother was returned to North Korea after her arrest.

Ahn’s father bought the then 21-year-old North Korean bride for 14,000 yuan (2,049 U.S. dollars), an amount nearly two times larger than his annual income. Several of Ahn`s father`s neighbors had married trafficked North Korean women before.

At that time, Ahn’s grandfather went a long way to meet his prospective daughter-in-law. He decided to accept Ahn’s mother shortly after he saw her since she was tall and nice looking.

She told her Chinese husband that she was deceived by a broker while she worked as a waitress in North Korea. Ahn’s father said all family members cried when his wife was arrested since she had been a great mother, wife and daughter-in-law.

The father said he could not understand why one of his neighbors reported her as an illegal alien, noting no violent disputes with his neighbors. He said he has not been able to concentrate at work since his wife`s deportation.

Looking at his wedding and family photos, the father asked The Dong-A Ilbo to help him to get his wife back.

bonhong@donga.com