North Korean women who have been sold into prostitution or marriage in China and then forcibly repatriated receive abortions if they are pregnant with non-Korean babies.
[4] According to the United Nations Development Programme's 2014 Socio-Economic Demographic and Health Survey, 11% of married North Korean women had previously had an abortion.
[a] According to Radio Free Asia, a source within North Korea indicated that gynaecologists who performed abortions would be fined, while non-gynaecologists would be imprisoned for up to three years.
[9] North Korean women who are not married undergo birth control procedures and obtain illegal abortions in the homes of doctors or midwives to avoid detection.
[4] According to reports by defectors and non-governmental organisations, women in North Korea have been subject to forced abortions by state security officials.
The report concluded that the policy was "driven by official ideology that emphasizes the importance of maintaining the purity of the Korean race at all costs".
[5] According to a 2022 report by the U.S. State Department, forced abortions are also common for people with disabilities, political prisoners, and pregnancy from rape by government officials.