Thoughts North: South Korea's future leaders reflect personally on the issue of a divided nation: Crossing the Borders of Heaven

Crossing the Borders of Heaven

Imagine a young woman living with a son who was born with a crippled leg. She barely makes a living as a prostitute, enduring all the shamefulness and humiliation. One day, she makes a plan to take a long journey to get out of the horrible environment. She makes up a fake ID card, and uses it to get on the airplane alone, risking her life as well as that of her relatives and acquaintances. When she arrives at her destination, she cries in despair, accepting the gloom reality of discrimination and unfair opportunities rather than hopefulness and better living conditions. Miraculously, she somehow settles down as a new-comer and then brings her child by means of desperate begging, bribery, and all sorts of risky actions. At last, she overcomes the difficulties regarding discrimination and finally lives happily with her son.

Isn’t this a moving and breathtaking story that you would expect to be the plot of a dramatic movie or a book? Well, there could be similar cases in movies or books, but the very story mentioned above is the actual real-life story of a female North Korean defector. I got to know this touching story of the woman by watching a documentary film called Crossing the Boarders of Heaven. Released in 2011, this Rory Peck Award-winning documentary depicts the desperate lives and living environments of the 9 North Korean refugees who were on their way to the South Korea. Most of the defectors in the film were women in poor living environments with socially belittled jobs like prostitutes, baby-sitters or street salespeople, who had at last succeeded in living a happy life with freedom and economic stableness.

However, the defectors who starred in the documentary are minor exceptions: we must keep in mind that there many more defectors who do not make it to the South. Many are caught and sent back to North Korea, where they might be jailed, publically executed, or put into prison camp. When the forced return of a number of North Korean defectors was a big moral issue in Korea about a year ago, I had a chance to have a conversation about the defectors with a Chinese. I was stunned by the fundamental difference of Korea and China in the attitudes toward the issue. She told me that it is absurd for the Korean press to be making a huge fuss. She believed that it was China's obligation for North Korea as allies to send back the illegal defectors. Although I cannot generalize her thoughts to be that of the whole Chinese population, I felt the unlikeliness of convincing China with the values of human rights of the defectors, since they perceive this issue very differently.

North Korean refugee watches her mother being dragged by Chinese policemen
when her family attempted to flee to the Japanese Consulate.

Perceiving the inhumanness and seriousness of this issue, South Korea should take more action to save North Korean defectors from their terrible living conditions. The first solution to this heartbreaking situation is to give informal support to the defectors in China through non-governmental organizations and religious organizations. It is extremely difficult to give formal help to the defectors who are stuck in China due to the Chinese government’s pressure on Korea. Because China is allies with North Korea as well as the South, it is unable to reflect the demands of South Korea only; it also needs to listen to the North, who demands the immediate return of the defectors by force. Other than diplomatic problems, there are problems regarding the huge difference in beliefs of Chinese and Koreans. Just like the woman whom I had a discussion with, a huge part of the Chinese population believes that North Korean defectors are criminals who committed treason against their own nation simply because they did not follow the orders of their country and fled. Thus, it is clear that we cannot provide open support to North Korean defectors. Another way to indirectly help the defectors is to improve the environments of autonomous areas of ethnic Koreans in China (a.k.a. “Chosun-jok"), where a huge population of defectors hide themselves - disguised as “Chosun-jok”s. For instance, we could build small, secret “protect homes” for North Korean defectors in those regions.

In addition, the next solution is the South Korean government giving various institutional supports to the North Korean defectors living in Korea. In many cases, defectors are harshly mistreated even in South Korea as well; they find it almost impossible to assimilate into the culture and very different living environments. Besides, most defectors who are willing to settle down start with almost no money at all. Thus, it is crucial that the South Korean government not only try to help refugees stuck in China, but also help the ones already in South Korea. One way that the government can aid the defectors is to establish lifelong educational institutes and provide decent education on English and other subjects that are necessary in getting stable jobs. Also, the government should make effort to change the attitudes of its citizens when treating North Korean defectors. Most South Koreans still find it difficult to recognize the defectors as South Korean citizens who truly belong to the society; they tend to alienate and discriminate the defectors. Therefore, the government should try to change this social atmosphere by promoting nation-wide campaigns and encouraging friendship-building activities.

In Dante’s Divine Comedy, there is a place that is somewhere in between the concept of heaven and hell: purgatory. Purgatory is a place where the souls of sinners (those who are not ‘sinful’ enough to go to hell) temporarily stay to atone for their sins before finally going to heaven. Today, there are many people -not souls, but human beings -who go through these procedures before arriving at their final destination of what is expected to be a heavenly place. They are not that far away: the suffering North Korean defectors are the ones currently in the state of “purgatory.” There is an old adage, “Heaven helps those who help themselves.” The North Korean defectors have tried every humanly possible way to help themselves to live a humane life. All they want is a happy life with their basic human rights kept. It’s time that we take action and give institutional support to North Korean defectors to show them the “stairway to heaven”.

Sources

"China has repatriated North Korean defectors, South Korean official says."

“China’s envoy deflects calls to help defectors.”

“North Koreans face adjustment problems in South Korea”

“The Problem of North Korean Refugees in China and Possible Solutions.”

“Life in South Hard for North Koreans.”
"North Korea's Underground Railroad to Freedom"