North Korean defectors open up online – Part 1

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north-korean-defector-bj-lee-pyung23-year-old Lee Pyung made it to South Korea in 2004, after bribing North Korean border guards, crossing into China, being imprisoned there, hiding in the Mongolian plains and being picked up by the National Intelligence Service at the Korean Embassy in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia — alone at the age of 11. In Seoul, Lee reunited with his parents who had defected when he was 3.

In his videos, Lee answers viewers’ questions about the North. Some clips feature lighthearted anecdotes on catching dragonflies in undeveloped fields as a child and growing up in Chongjin, the country’s third largest city (“It has buildings and everything”), and lessons on North Korean words. Others detail how people are forbidden from wearing contact lenses or miniskirts, and how the North’s educational propaganda depicts South Korea as “a bad place full of refugees and gangsters.”

Some stories relay the more gruesome reality of the world’s most isolated state. As a child, Lee frequently witnessed public executions that took place in his schoolyard — “I’ve seen countless bodies. Seeing people dying, seeing corpses was an everyday thing,” he said.

Since settling in the South, Lee has “fit in extremely well” with his peers, he said. With a keen interest in fashion, he learned hair-styling at a college before becoming a full-time BJ (broadcasting jockey).  Read more

North Korean defectors open up online – Part 2

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north-korean-defector-bj-son-bom-hyangSon Bom-hyang, 29, is a North Korean defector who has been active as a broadcaster for two years. Her turbulent story of how she escaped at the age of 10 — which involves imprisonment in China, a sibling passing away and stealing food from fields to not starve — has over 2 million views on YouTube. Son, too, addresses the audiences’ many curiosities, which range from “Do you really have portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il in every household?” (yes) to “What kind of TV shows do you have there?”

But Son additionally uploads clips of how she’s settled into her life here, often engaging in “meokbang” — where hosts broadcast themselves eating food — with her husband of three years.

“In live streams, we can ask defectors things we’re curious about and get immediate, honest answers,” said Park So-hee, a 25-year-old university student who has seen many of Lee Pyung’s broadcasts. “We’re communicating directly and talking casually, so it feels more real.”

The webcasts have stripped Park of her former prejudices, she said. “I used to think defectors were brainwashed people I had nothing in common with. … I may even have been scared of them being violent or something. But now I understand that they came here because they wanted to. They like the same things I do.”

Hundreds of comments written by viewers online reveal similar responses. One viewer said, “I now want to make an effort to befriend my North Korean defector classmate at school.” Another talked about how interesting it was to peek into everyday life in the North.

Jang Yong-seok, a senior researcher at Seoul National University’s Institute for Peace and Unification Studies, said, “In the long term, I think these activities will contribute to mitigating the tension between the two countries’ peoples, at the very least,” he said.

[Korea Herald]

South Korean President urges preparations for mass North Korean defections

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South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on Tuesday told her government to prepare for large-scale defections from North Korea, just days after direct appealing to its citizens to flee their country.

In an address to mark Armed Forced Day earlier this month, Park had vowed to “keep the road open” for future escapees and urged North Koreans to “come to the bosom of freedom in the South.”

Pyongyang’s response was to call Park a “bare-faced and impudent bitch” in a commentary carried by the ruling party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Park reiterated her defection appeal, and stressed the importance of preparing the ground for any new arrivals. “Defectors are like unification that has arrived early, and a test bed for unification,” Park said. “I hope we can swiftly secure sufficient system and capacity to accommodate North Korean citizens who come seeking freedom,” she added.

The government currently runs two resettlement centers for defectors with a combined capacity of around 1,100 people. South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo reported Saturday that the government was planning a two trillion won (US$1.8 billion) project for building a defector camp that would hold up to 100,000 people. Citing an unnamed government official, the report said closed-down schools and new buildings would be used to accommodate an influx of North Korean refugees that could be triggered by any sudden shift in the dynamics of the North-South border.

[AFP]

Humanitarian mission advocates for release of Otto Warmbier

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An organization known for working to release prisoners and hostages sent a humanitarian mission to North Korea last month, which advocated for the release of university student Otto Warmbier.

Warmbier is entering his 10th month of detainment in North Korea, after he was arrested in January for allegedly attempting to steal a political banner from the Yanggakdo International Hotel in Pyongyang while staying there as a tourist. The North Korean Supreme Court sentenced Warmbier to 15 years of hard labor in March.

The banner which read “Let’s firmly arm ourselves with Kim Jong-il patriotism!” is considered sacrosanct in the DPRK because of its association with the country’s ruling regime. Kim Jong-il was the father of North Korea’s current Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-un.

Warmbier was on a tour with a company called Young Pioneer Tours when the alleged incident occurred.

The Richardson Center for Global Engagement — named after former New Mexico governor and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Bill Richardson — sponsored a humanitarian mission to North Korea from Sept. 24-27. Richardson Center Senior Advisor Mickey Bergman led the group, which met with senior North Korean officials, as well as Swedish Ambassador to the DPRK Torkel Stiernlöf.

[The Cavalier Daily]

Top US diplomat to the UN visits North Korean defector in Seoul

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The top U.S. diplomat to the United Nations, Ambassador Samantha Power, visited with a North Korean defector-activist at his home in Seoul.

On Monday, the ambassador met with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, and later called on defector Jung Gwang-il, who left North Korea in 2004 after his release from Yodok prison camp after serving 3 years there.

Since resettling in South Korea, Jung and his organization No Chain has launched campaigns to infiltrate North Korea with CDs and flash drives containing South Korean television shows, Hollywood films and other information that is banned by the Kim Jong Un regime.

In a message on Twitter, Power called Jung “heroic” for “smuggling” information on democracy into North Korea.

[UPI]

Delay in establishing a North Korean government in exile

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South Korean newspaper DongA Ilbo had reported that heads of defector organizations in South Korea along with defectors formerly of North Korea’s elite class would launch a refugee government early next year in Washington D.C.

Now it seems a group of North Korean defectors has temporarily put on hold plans to establish a DPRK government-in-exile in the United States, a leading figure in the organization told NK News on Friday. North Korean defector Dr. An Chan-il, who was described as a leader of the movement in DongA’s report, confirmed to NK News that the report was true and that plans were in motion, but later said that “the plan has been delayed”.

An, head of the World Institute for North Korean Studies based in Seoul, said his group wanted to provoke regime change by building up an anti-Kim Jong Un government.

“A government-in-exile is what the Kim Jong Un regime is most afraid of. I laid out the plans this April at an event for defectors around the world. My suggestions drew a furious response from Pyongyang,” An said.

An has not given more concrete details of his organization’s membership and an exact timetable for the plans, and despite his claims that his group has provoked a “furious response” from Pyongyang, NK News could find no references to it in North Korean media.

One North Korean observer said the idea of North Korean defectors establishing a government-in-exile in the United States was an attempt to enhance the bargaining power of North Korean defectors.

“The community of North Korean defectors [are] playing a hidden card by building up the government-in-exile,” Jiyeon Ihn, president of Now! Act for North Koreans! (NANK), a group affiliated with the Ministry of Unification, told NK News. “They want to be respected as negotiating partner… It’s a [symbolic] gesture.” Read more

[NK News]

Mixed support from defector groups to plan for a North Korean government-in-exile

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Seo Jae-pyong, executive secretary of Association of the North Korean Defectors, criticized the opaque nature of the process, saying an unknown person had been in contact this spring asking for participation in establishing a government-in-exile. But they left neither a name, details about the organization, or a phone number.

“How can they proceed in secret without introducing themselves [to defectors]?” Seo told NK News.

Jung Gwang-il, head of North Korean human rights organization No Chain, said he had been aware of the project since early this year, but disagreed with the plans.

“I can’t accept the idea of establishing a government-in-exile because it’s nonsense. Do we live in the 1930s (Japanese colonial period)?” Jung, who was imprisoned in a North Korean political prisoner camp, told NK News. “It’s ridiculous that someone who hasn’t put any effort into improving the North Korean human rights situations at international organizations like the UN claims [representation]. This is illogical.”

Henry Song, a North Korea human rights activist based in Washington and the North America Director for No Chain, said the so-called “elite” defectors should cooperate with existing organizations.

“While I welcome this particular defector’s desire to help his homeland by establishing this ‘exile government,’ I seriously doubt how much of an effect this new organization will have,” Song told NK News. “It would be very symbolic, but without much weight or relevance in the overall scheme of things.”

[NK News]

Health issues of North Korea defectors obstacle to employment

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The unemployment rate for North Korean defectors [now living in South Korea] has trended downward in recent years but a significant number of those without jobs struggle due to worsening health.

Shim Jae-kwon, chairman of the [South Korean] National Assembly’s Foreign and Unification Committee, said a recent survey on the economic activities of defectors in 2015 indicate 4 out of 10 unemployed defectors quit their jobs due to health issues.

The South Korean parliamentary budget office said while North Korean defectors receive special health benefits, the patient must pay 70-80 percent of nursing bills and other optional services, a financial disincentive for those who need medical attention.

[UPI]

North Korean defectors to create US-based government in exile

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A group of high-profile defectors are planning to establish a North Korean government in exile in the U.S. early next year, a South Korean newspaper reported Friday, citing one the of the group’s leaders.

The defectors — some of whom are based in South Korea — aim to play a key role in the democratization of North Korea, the DongA Ilbo newspaper said. The move comes amid an increase of high-profile defections and an apparent rise in the number of elite officials in the isolated nation turning against leader Kim Jong Un, the newspaper reported.

According to the report, the government-in-exile would seek to install a democratic political system with a Chinese model for the economy that would attract support from Beijing.

It would be based in the U.S. because South Korea’s constitution includes the North in its territory.

[Bloomberg]

Japan at the center of North Korean defection drama in Beijing?

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Tokyo denied reports that two high-ranking North Korean officials in Beijing have defected and are seeking political asylum in Japan.

One of the defectors is described as a senior representative whose work included procuring medical supplies for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his immediate circle.

JoongAng Ilbo newspaper identified the man only as “A,” saying he headed the North Korean Representative Office in Beijing and was an employee of a department of the Ministry of Public Health. “A,” his wife and their daughter disappeared on Sept. 28 from a residence used by North Korean diplomats in Beijing. Apparently they then contacted Japanese officials to ask for protection. The newspaper added the man has a relative living in Japan.

It identified the second would-be defector as official “B,” also from the Representative Office. He went into hiding with his family around the same time and supposedly also applied for asylum in Japan.

Yonhap said South Korea’s government is working to bring the defectors there, but the nation’s Unification Ministry had little to say on Wednesday.

[Japan Times]