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NK residents in China moving to renounce citizenship

Posted January. 06, 2011 08:33,   

한국어

A Chinese newspaper has reported that North Korean residents in China are moving to renounce their North Korean nationality.

The Nanjing-based Want Daily said on Nov. 18 last year that Kim Jong Ja, a North Korean woman in her 60s who had lived in China for 53 years, acquired Chinese citizenship. A photo of her smiling with her citizenship certificate was also carried.

Kim was the first expatriate to become a Chinese national in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu province.

Born in 1950 in China, Kim went to the North with her mother and relatives in 1958 after her ethnic Korean father died and acquired North Korean nationality.

She lived in Pyongyang for more than seven years and finished elementary school there. She then returned to China with her family in 1965 at age 15 and married a Chinese man.

Though fluent in Chinese and used to Chinese customs, she said she remained a foreigner in the eyes of Chinese. “I’ve always been branded a foreigner,” she said. “When I traveled, it was difficult to book a room at a hotel or use Chinese banks.”

Though Kim’s story drew little attention, it was posted on more than 70 Chinese Web sites and carried by a newspaper covering China’s northeastern region including Jilin province, which is home to many North Korean residents.

Since then, around 3,000 residents in China with North Korean nationality are moving toward renouncing their nationality. A source in Beijing said North Korean missions in China have been flooded with inquiries from North Korean nationals.

For a foreigner to acquire Chinese citizenship, he or she must undergo police screening and obtain a document from a diplomatic mission of his or her home country to confirm the renouncement of nationality.

North Korean residents in China want to abandon their nationality to gain welfare benefits in China. Most of them are older than 60 and excluded from health care or welfare coverage, such as subsides to meet a minimum cost of living.

A disgruntled Pyongyang is known to have ordered its missions in China not to issue the required documents.

The scramble for Chinese citizenship among North Korean nationals is likely to continue, with some sharing information on faster acquisition of citizenship if they have ties to Chinese police.



mungchii@donga.com