Citizenship Redefined: Chinas Hukou System Reform and the Status of North Korean Refugee Women and Their Children in China

Abstract

This article examines and reviews the impact of Chinas household registration system, hukou, as a legal and administrative basis of the legal and social personhood of North Korean refugee (NKR) women in China and their children born to Chinese fathers. It argues that Chinas stringent nationality policy, along with the hukou system, left not only NKR women but also their intermarriage children with the precarious status of nonexistence. Recent hukou reform efforts are expected to lift legal obstacles for the children of intermarried couples to obtain hukou without penalty. This change, however, does not signal a fundamental shift toward inclusive policy. Rather, it demonstrates the Chinese governments increased control over the bodies of these children for the purpose of mitigating the impact of demographic change.