North Korea subjects women to strip searches at border, sources say

group of students in light blue uniforms walking in the rain carrying bags and umbrellas

North Korean authorities are reportedly forcing women leaving the country to remove all their clothing and, in some cases, submit to intimate searches in an effort to prevent what they consider to be state secrets from being taken abroad.

While North Koreans have no choice but to remain publicly silent, the intrusive inspections have drawn resentment because they go far beyond normal customs procedures and violate women’s dignity.

The claims come amid a significant tightening of inspections of people leaving the country since the beginning of this year, a source inside the country told NK Times earlier this month, speaking on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.

Regardless of their reason for traveling, ordinary travelers are reportedly being subjected to thorough searches of their belongings and bodies. Women, in particular, are being required to remove all their clothing in what amounts to a strip search.

High-ranking officials are reportedly exempt, while the examinations of other women are conducted by female customs officers.

According to the source, women are ordered to remove all their clothing, including their underwear, so officers can check whether they are concealing items on their bodies. When deemed necessary, officers are also conducting intimate searches.

In one case, a Chinese-North Korean woman in her 40s from North Pyongan Province, identified only as A, was subjected to such an inspection at Sinuiju Customs in mid-July while leaving the country for overseas business activities.

A was reportedly ordered by a female customs officer to strip and undergo an internal body search to determine whether she had concealed any items.

Because refusing the inspection would have prevented her from leaving the country, she had no meaningful way to reject the procedure, according to the source.

The authorities are particularly focused on preventing outbound travelers from taking SD cards containing sensitive information, as well as gold, silver and other valuables, out of the country, the source said.

They are reportedly wary of SD cards because they can contain large amounts of data and are small enough to be easily concealed.

The practice also does not appear to be limited to ethnic Chinese women in North Korea. North Korean female workers dispatched to China have also testified that they underwent similar inspections before leaving the country.

“We were strip-searched when we left the country,” a North Korean woman sent to China in April told NK Times by phone. “After the baggage inspection was finished, we had to go into a small room, take off all our clothes and undergo an inspection. We were also required to sign a written pledge saying that we would not tell anyone about it.”

It is also reportedly difficult for women to challenge or refuse the inspections. Even when women are shocked by the sudden strip searches or protest against them, customs inspectors are said to proceed, telling them, “If you do not want to be inspected, then do not go abroad.”

“I felt pathetic for wanting to leave the country badly enough to endure such humiliation,” A said. “I knew the inspection was wrong, but it was utterly outrageous that I had no choice but to submit to it.”

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Kang Jae-jun

Kang is a reporter at NK Times, a Seoul-based media outlet focused on North Korean issues. He was born in 1978 in Chongjin and graduated from Chongjin 1st High School in North Korea. After 10 years of military service in the 4th Army Corps, he attended Chongjin Agricultural University before defecting.