North-East Asia

This chapter examines existing data and research on migrant smuggling in North-East Asia, namely China, Japan, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (hereafter referred to as North Korea), the Republic of Korea (hereafter referred to as South Korea), Mongolia, and the eastern part of the Russian Federation. The biggest source countries are China and North Korea, followed by a smaller source from Mongolia and the Russian Federation. The destination countries are South Korea and Japan. Data is severely limited not only because of the clandestine nature of migrant smuggling but also because of the two source countries’ undemocratic and developing status. The destination countries have limited priorities to share information with researchers on monitoring and updating illegal entries of migrants, prosecution of smugglers and referral of smuggled migrants.

Related Subject(s): Drugs Crime and Terrorism