Everyday Practices of Bordering and the Threatened Bodies of Undocumented North Korean Border-Crossers

This chapter explores daily practices of bordering that continuously redefine spatial and social boundaries between North Korea and China, and the implications of these practices on the lives of North Koreans who unofficially cross them. What do I mean by bordering? Joseph Nevins (2002) argues that the border is continually constructed through the building of not only walls and fences but also national identities and exclusivities. In other words, continual ‘dividing practices’ over the physical boundary serve to distinguish between those who belong and those who do not, and this process contributes to the construction of subjects and identities (Nevins 2002, 53). Building on Nevins’ concept of the border, I use the term bordering to refer to the daily dividing practices over the physical territory and the people. By using the concept of bordering, I intend to emphasize the historically constituted and on-going nature of the exclusionary practices that affect the lives of undocumented North Korean migrants.