The Bowibu is the North Korean secret police, also known as the Ministry of State Security. The Bowibu has little interest in real crime and is only concerned with citizen disloyalty to the state. They have the power to make entire families disappear, and they are a source of constant fear for North Korean citizens. After Hyeonseo escapes to China, Mother and Min-ho’s phone calls are monitored by the Bowibu. The Bowibu has holding camps in China, and North Korean defectors caught in China are released into their care and repatriated back to North Korea. China is crawling with Bowibu spies, and even though Hyeonseo makes it out of North Korea, she still encounters them.
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Bowibu Term Timeline in The Girl with Seven Names
The timeline below shows where the term Bowibu appears in The Girl with Seven Names. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4: The Lady in Black
...there are informers everywhere. Informers report on others to the Ministry of State Security, the Bowibu, or secret police. Citizens freely inform on each other, so there is no need for...
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Chapter 6: The Red Shoes
...family got the money to buy such things. The teacher reported the accusation to the Bowibu, and three generations of the boy’s family were arrested as traitors.
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Chapter 11: “The House is Cursed”
...she can easily receive goods and immediately shuffle them inside, out of sight of the Bowibu. She wastes little time getting to know the neighbors, who tell her that the house...
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...This new area in Hyesan is known to be politically “sensitive,” and as such, the Bowibu watch closely for any signs of disloyalty. In November, just as the snow begins to...
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Chapter 19: A Visit to Mr. Ahn
...checkpoints along the way. Illegal North Koreans found in China are turned over to the Bowibu, he says.
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Chapter 21: The Suitor
...first place. They don’t have a phone, and all public phones are monitored by the Bowibu. She doesn’t sound angry, but begins speaking right away. The day after Hyeonseo left, inspectors...
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...home, and Hyeonseo grows increasingly unhappy and depressed. She begins to have nightmares about the Bowibu chasing her across the Yalu River, and she hears police dogs and whistles before waking...
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Chapter 25: The Men from the South
...and Soo-jin tells her that she was arrested and kept for three months in a Bowibu holding camp. Soo-jin was eventually released, but she knows that China isn’t safe, and she...
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Chapter 31: Career Woman
...all beautiful and selected based on their songbun. Hyeonseo knows the restaurant offers cover for Bowibu spies, but her new ID makes her brave. She becomes friendly with one of the...
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Chapter 40: The Learning Race
...weekend. The incident with the bag of money has gained the negative attention of the Bowibu, and Mother has to keep bribing the officers to avoid being sent into exile in...
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Chapter 42: A Place of Ghosts and Wild Dogs
...almost three o’clock in the morning. She checks into an expensive hotel—one she hopes no Bowibu will ever look for North Korean defectors at—and calls Min-ho to confirm their plans. He...
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