Working with NK Refugees
UNICEF sent me to the Republic of Korea to work with the program "Liberty in North Korea." The Liberty program understands the danger North Korean defectors face if they are caught and sent back, so they put together teams of volunteers (both from official programs like UNICEF or normal people who want to help) and send these teams to follow escape routes and house these refugees. Once we've established relationships with them, we provide free passage and any supplies or money necessary. Since we've also seen the cruelty of brokers in North Korea, this escape provided by Liberty is completely covered by donations and the work of the volunteers.
While he did not go through this program, I had the chance to meet Shin Dong-hyuk, one of the most famous North Korean escapees of all time. His fame comes from the fact that he escaped a political prison camp that he was born in, something unheard of with the security North Koreans have on their camps/borders. Shin was on his tour of South Korea to discuss his experiences at conferences and interviews, and stopped by the Liberty in North Korea's office to meet us. He told us about his experiences moving into South Korea, which related a lot to one of the refugees I was helping establish a life in SK. Both had crossed the border and forced to work on farms in China for a long time before they were able to escape to South Korea and begin their lives as free people. The other refgee's name is Yoon Ha (for more on her life story, visit her page).
A lot of these refugees and defectors face mental, physical, and social issues. Like Shin, the young children and adults struggle with PTSD and trauma that prevents them from being happy in South Korea. They also show obvious signs of childhood malnutrition and stunted growth. Due to the strict conditions of North Korean society, many of these people struggle with basic trust/communication with other people, even the volunteers that are trying to help them. This is understandable, though, according to Shin because in North Korea, people are taught to be as independent as possible.
Working with these refugees has shown me that people will leave family behind, sacrifice their own lives for their children, or send their children across the border alone, all for the free life offered outside North Korea. I've met a lot of orphans whose parents sent them across the border alone and most likely face a life in the very prison camps Shin escaped, or starved themselves so their children could eat. Meeting these people and hearing their stories showed me what real parental sacrifice was. North Korea is not at all how it is portrayed by the U.S., and its people aren't Kim Jong Un replicas. Just like the refugees I worked with in Sierra Leone and Iran, these are just people that are looking for freedom and a chance at a better life in a better country.
While he did not go through this program, I had the chance to meet Shin Dong-hyuk, one of the most famous North Korean escapees of all time. His fame comes from the fact that he escaped a political prison camp that he was born in, something unheard of with the security North Koreans have on their camps/borders. Shin was on his tour of South Korea to discuss his experiences at conferences and interviews, and stopped by the Liberty in North Korea's office to meet us. He told us about his experiences moving into South Korea, which related a lot to one of the refugees I was helping establish a life in SK. Both had crossed the border and forced to work on farms in China for a long time before they were able to escape to South Korea and begin their lives as free people. The other refgee's name is Yoon Ha (for more on her life story, visit her page).
A lot of these refugees and defectors face mental, physical, and social issues. Like Shin, the young children and adults struggle with PTSD and trauma that prevents them from being happy in South Korea. They also show obvious signs of childhood malnutrition and stunted growth. Due to the strict conditions of North Korean society, many of these people struggle with basic trust/communication with other people, even the volunteers that are trying to help them. This is understandable, though, according to Shin because in North Korea, people are taught to be as independent as possible.
Working with these refugees has shown me that people will leave family behind, sacrifice their own lives for their children, or send their children across the border alone, all for the free life offered outside North Korea. I've met a lot of orphans whose parents sent them across the border alone and most likely face a life in the very prison camps Shin escaped, or starved themselves so their children could eat. Meeting these people and hearing their stories showed me what real parental sacrifice was. North Korea is not at all how it is portrayed by the U.S., and its people aren't Kim Jong Un replicas. Just like the refugees I worked with in Sierra Leone and Iran, these are just people that are looking for freedom and a chance at a better life in a better country.
My 10 day experience in South Korea:
Day 1: This was my first day in South Korea. After getting off the plane and making my way down to the Liberty in North Korea base, I was introduced to my team members. The senior members taught us the different escape routes refugees take, how to address them, and what to do if they don't trust us. Up until now, the situation that these people were leaving hadn't really crossed my mind until the other volunteers informed us that they faced torture/death if they were caught and sent back. We studied the escape route we would be tracking the next day and began to prepare for the trip.
Day 2: We settled on an escape route and camped out for the day. I didn't know this, but the Liberty in North Korea volunteers wait along the routes, and when they meet defectors on the run, they provide them with transportation to a safe house, food, basic toiletries, and communication with family members in South Korea/other countries. This program is run entirely on donations, which is interesting to me (considering the South Korean people view North Koreans as their people, but won't give money to this cause). We haven't met any refugees yet.
Day 3: Early this morning, we met a young woman who is fleeing North Korea. She informed us, after we explained that we were there to help, that she was running because her brother had defected and she was going to be sent to a prison camp. In North Korea, their punishment system is based on the idea that three generations worth of your family must be punished to cleanse the sins of a single family member, so she would have been sent to the prison along with her parents and children (if she had any). She was extremely malnourished and had been running for several days, so we took her into the city right away.
Day 4-5: Transporting the woman through the cities took course over 2 days because, in the Liberty program, the volunteers actually take the refugees through the cities to explore and eat food/sleep in a hotel. This is done to introduce them to larger crowds, feed them, and get to know them. The young woman had not opened up much about her life, and seemed pretty traumatized by her life in North Korea, so relaxing and having fun in the city with a group of people supporting her helped her open up.
Day 6: Finally arrived to the Liberty base. Our refugee was put into her own room with supplies, food, and a phone to call any relatives she needed to contact and get in touch with anyone else. We left her alone for the day so that she had a chance to gather her thoughts before her interview the next day.
Day 7: Once we got back to the base, the young woman was interviewed by the South Korean police. This is done in case she, like Shin, has any information on the NK government or the political prison camps. Since she was a regular citizen, the only information she could give was the basic propaganda taught to all North Korean citizens. Something they don't show in the U.S. when it comes to North Korean citizens is that, not only are many of them suffering under their government, they are also taught about the countries outside NK and how we suffer because we don't have gracious leaders like Kim Jong Il, Kim Il Sung, or Kim Jong Un. That was something I didn't know before this experience, and has shown me the country in a different perspective. Some North Koreans actually pity us "Yankee Bastards" because we do not have the strong, independent government that their country does.
Day 8: After helping her track down a distant family member that was willing to take her in, we decided to celebrate her last night with us by making North Korean dishes (like bibimbap, banchan, etc.) and putting in a mix of South Korean foods to integrate the two different cultures into her meal. This night was spent getting to know more about her, why she defected, and what she planned on doing with her life in South Korea. It was interesting to hear that, despite the terrible things she experienced in NK, the woman still thought of North Korea as her home and missed her family/home a lot. Because I've only heard about the bad things (and the horrible things in Escape from Camp 14), I sometimes forget that these people grew up in that culture, and even though the rest of the world views it differently, that is their home.
Day 9: Free day for the volunteers and defector. We spent the day walking around the city, learning a bit about South Korea (since most of us are international volunteers), and enjoying introducing the woman to things like cameras, cell phones, and foods they've never had. Fun fact: most North Korean's have never had things like yogurt or Chinese style cooking, things we take for granted in other countries. Watching her learn about the rest of the world really exposed me to the small world that North Koreans live in.
Day 10: We drove our new friend down to the house of her relative, where she would be spending her time in South Korea. She plans on relocating to the U.S. in search of a life far away from North Korea. This experience taught me that people are forced to sacrifice a lot, like family and comfort, to find freedom outside their home. North Koreans are not the kind of people they are portrayed to be, and that's something every U.S. citizen should understand.
(This blog is based on several articles on the LiNK website, which can be located here.)