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| Courtesy of Casey Lartigue, Jr. |
Four North Korean refugees in Freedom Speakers International (FSI) participated in a forum in Seoul, Thursday, with 25 students and staff visiting from the United States. There were three key similarities about the speakers. One: all four of them escaped from North Korea in 2011. Two: all four of them were rescued by a parent. Three: they have all lived abroad.
Despite those similarities, their stories and experiences were very different.
1) All four of them escaped from North Korea in 2011.
Overall, according to South Korea's Ministry of Unification, almost 34,000 North Koreans have escaped to South Korea since the late 1990s. The four speakers all escaped before Kim Jong-un became the dictator of the country. In 2011, a total of 2,706 North Korean refugees escaped to South Korea. The following year, the number dropped to 1,502.
Although some analysts have talked about North Korean refugees being pushed or pressured to write books and give speeches, the reality is that only a handful have done so. Those who have done so typically take about a decade to write a book.
Very often I have media and researchers asking me to introduce them to North Korean refugees who have recently escaped. Recent escapees are some of the most boring people I have met. Imagine what it would be like to get directions from Seoul to Busan by a person telling you about every left and right turn along the way. North Korean refugees who have recently escaped lack perspective and usually can only discuss what they experienced in their hometowns because they couldn't easily travel within the country.
In freedom, some go from being North Korean refugees hiding in the shadows to North Korean defectors speaking out. After they have been out of North Korea for a while, had a chance to live in South Korea, learn about the world, use the Internet and read multiple books and different sources and to engage with people from around the world, they begin to have some perspective on what happened to them in North Korea.
There have been cases of refugees talking about some shocking things that they considered to be norms. It wasn't until they lived in freedom that they began to understand concepts such as human rights, women's rights, individual freedom (as a good or neutral right), and the right of locomotion, etc.
At Thursday's forum, we were able to hear those perspectives and reflections, rather than left-turn, right-turn playback.
2) All four were rescued by a parent.
I recently had a mild argument with a foreign diplomat who blamed North Korean refugees for leaving their children behind. I have also heard over the years from South Koreans who blamed North Koreans for leaving their children behind. I have talked with Americans who were appalled when they read or hear about about North Koreans leaving their children behind.
Such people who say such things have little or no understanding about the reality of North Korea. Far too many people, when they listen to North Korean refugee speakers or read books and articles, will analyze North Korea like it is North Carolina or that North Koreans are living lives just like themselves in freedom.
One of the speakers said that her mother left her behind because she was terrified of what could happen if they got caught together in China. They could have been separated with both being sent out to the remote countryside in China and unsure how to contact each other. There have been numerous cases of that happening to North Koreans escaping together, with the families being separated and struggling to find each other later.
By leaving her daughter behind with relatives, she would know where she could find them (there is no Internet to look people up and as escapees they can't return to North Korea to look for family members).
3) All of them have lived abroad after escaping to freedom
Two of the speakers lived in Canada, one speaker lived in the UK, and another lived in the USA. They had different levels of knowledge about the outside world when they were in North Korea. Two of the speakers said they attended elementary school for only a short time. They didn't know about the Internet before they escaped North Korea, but one speaker had seen numerous dramas from South Korea and even heard Voice of America and Radio Free Asia reports before she escaped.
Once in freedom, they were all eager for the opportunity to see the world. It comes as a surprise to some South Koreans that North Korean refugees allegedly aren't "satisfied" with living in South Korea.
Their surprise used to come as a surprise to me, considering that from what I have heard, many South Koreans aren't satisfied with life in South Korea. Anyway, after North Koreans have been blocked from experiencing or even knowing about the outside world when they were in North Korea, why should it be surprising that they would want to see the world once they are living in freedom? There are almost 200 countries in the world, South Korea should not be the end of the line for North Koreans once they are living in freedom.
P.S: Despite those three similarities, their stories were all different.
I also hear from some people (especially intellectuals, editors and commentators) who superficially talk about the "North Korean narrative" and see their stories in a broad brush. Although North Korea is a conformist country, there is still diversity among North Koreans, they have a range of reasons why they escape, and their method of escape and costs also vary. Even those four North Korean refugees who escaped the same year had very different lives, escape stories, and different amounts that were paid for their escapes.
Sharon, Songmi, Bumjin and Chanyang told their stories in English. Each of them had something special about their presentations that moved the audience and the moderators.
Sharon's speech was emotional, both for her and the audience. This was her first speech in more than a year, she recently returned from a year living abroad. Sharon has been a student and speaker with FSI since 2015, and she also worked in our office during 2018-22. My special memory with Sharon is that she contacted me on her birthday in 2015 asking if she could study with us. She often says that FSI is her family. She is now working on a book with FSI co-founder Lee Eun-koo.
Songmi's speech was polished. She was the winner of our 16th English speech contest and has developed her speaking ability since starting last year. I am the co-author of her memoir, Greenlight to Freedom. My special memory with her, among many, is that I postponed other projects when she insisted at the beginning of 2021 that I was the only person she trusted to write her memoir.
Bumjin's speech was thoughtful. This was his first speech in English outside of an FSI-only event. What strikes me is that he is more of a listener than a speaker. That could change as he gives more speeches, but what I noticed about him is that he sought to get to the deeper questions that people were asking rather than what might be at the surface of the question. I was Bumjin's mentor for a speech he gave in Korean at an international event last year and he joined FSI shortly after that. He welcomed my critique and advice last year and he enjoys getting feedback. During his mentoring sessions with me and a volunteer, he sought to understand deeply and would think before responding. He said after this first real experience that he can already see ways that he can update his speech, based on the kinds of questions received. We are delighted when speakers update their speeches based on their experiences.
Chanyang's talk felt like an interactive lecture at a university. If she were a lecturer, she would be teaching the Socratic Method. But instead of challenging students, she would have them engaging with her together rather than in a semi-confrontational way. It felt like we had joined Chanyang on her journey to freedom. Chanyang first joined Freedom Speakers International in 2013 a few months after we began connecting North Korean refugees with volunteers. She has been giving public speeches for almost a decade and her comfort level was clear. With no notes, she led a discussion mixing in her story along the way. She added the speakers, co-founders and audience members to her lecture/discussion so that everyone felt included and informed.
Chanyang moved my heart during the forum when she said that I am one of the "top" people in her life and said some nice things about me. Back in 2014, she gave a beautiful testimonial about me, which she titled "Pretty Flower Man" I watch that whenever I get criticism from people (which means I watch it at least once a week and sometimes daily).
After questions, FSI co-founder Lee and I met with all four speakers to get their feedback and reflections on the session. We want to make sure the speakers understand how much we appreciate that they have joined our organization and are willing to share their stories. When we detect that they feel uncomfortable or that something else is troubling them then we do our best to find how we can cooperate better.
During reflection and feedback time, Bumjin said he was inspired by giving a speech in English and wants to study English more intensively so he can be a better communicator (he is more interested in making films than being a public speaker himself). Sharon didn't expect that she would be so emotional during her speech, but it is another year of her not being able to see her brother. Songmi and Chanyang said they enjoyed that there were four speakers because they could hear a variety of experiences from others. That last point might be surprising to those people who see a North Korean narrative of every story allegedly being the same.
After I pointed out that the four speakers had all escaped the same year, they said they felt a deep bond. They can all recall the scary time they went through as they contemplated when and how they would escape from North Korea.
Of course, in a 90-minute forum, not even one person can fully explain themselves in detail and we can't always be sure how much attendees truly understand. Still, such sessions give North Korean refugees opportunities to practice public speaking in English and to share their stories and thoughts with people from around the world. When they were in North Korea, they could not speak publicly unless they were repeating something they had been force-fed by the regime. In freedom, they can share their thoughts and experiences.
The speakers' stories are powerful reminders of the human cost of the North Korean regime's controls. All four speakers escaped to freedom in 2011, after enduring hardship and risking their lives, to join family members in freedom. If they had waited another year or two, they might have gotten caught or today they could be blocked from leaving the country because North Korea has sealed the border.
Casey Lartigue (CJL@alumni.harvard.edu) is co-founder with Lee Eun-koo of Freedom Speakers International (FSI) and co-author with Han Song-mi of the book Greenlight to Freedom.
