- Kotjebi
Kotjebi or kotchebi (꽃제비) is a Korean term denoting North Korean homeless children. The term literally means "fluttering swallows", given because of the kotjebi's constant search for food and shelter. [cite web|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=cdQ8QZU6H0MC&pg=PT93&lpg=PT93&dq=kotchebi&source=web&ots=qMNU2MUIpU&sig=FKxJPs3I8B0OkFaCnnEyfpyZtjE&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#PPT93,M1|title=Kim Jong Il's North Korea|work=Google Books|language=|accessdate=2008-08-12] The kotjebi are not officially recognized in North Korea, with any mention of the term being prohibited in state publications and documents.cite web|url=http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk01500&num=3659|title=The Old Generation Calls North Korea "the Great Poverty Country"|work=Dailynk.com|language=|accessdate=2008-08-11]
Origins and status
The orphaned kotjebi first appeared "en masse" in the mid-1990s in the wake of the
North Korean famine , which collapsed the food distribution system. In an effort to "stabilize the livelihood of vagrants throughout the country", the North Korean government established special "Children's Detention Camps" in 1995, which were effectively rundown apartments. Because of poor conditions in the detention camps children have died ofmalnutrition . [cite web|url=http://www.awomansvoice.org/nl1-2004-2.html|title=Intervention Agenda Item 13: Rights of Children|work=Awomansvoice.org|language=|accessdate=2008-08-12]Livelihood
The kotjebi are constantly forced to seek food and thus gather in groups to beg and pickpocket. Most of the kotjebi eat only once a day. The diet of the kotjebi, along with the food they obtain from begging, consists mainly of grass soup, wild vegetable porridge, and grass roots. [cite web|url=http://www.niew.gov.my/project/DPR_KOREA.pdf|title=DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA|work=Niew.gov.my|language=|accessdate=2008-08-12]
References
See also
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Human rights in North Korea
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