Life inside Hanawon revealed for 1st time

Women who defected from North Korea walk to their class at Hanawon, a state-run official shelter for North Korean defectors in Anseong, Gyeonggi, yesterday.[AP]

“I cried so much after I left North Korea, leaving behind my son,” said a 37-year-old female North Korean defector who escaped her homeland in December 2005 and arrived in the South last December. “But after crying and crying for years, my tears have dried. I don’t cry anymore. I am now determined to find a way to settle in South Korea. That’s the only way for me to see my son again.”

Wearing a canary-yellow T-shirt and navy pants, the mother, who only identified herself as Lim, did not hide her fear of leaving Hanawon, the South Korean government resettlement facility. In an interview at Hanawon in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, Lim said her life in the North was never affluent, but became worse after the food crisis in the 1990s.

Yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of the birth of Hanawon. A ceremony to celebrate the occasion took place at the facility yesterday morning.

The facility, tightly guarded for the safety of the former North Koreans, was opened to 160 domestic and foreign journalists for the first time.

At the event, South Korea’s senior North Korea policy makers gave speeches and defectors put on performances.

Dozens of newcomers to South Korea’s capitalist, democratic and free society attended. Some quietly sobbed as they listened to the emotional talks.

“As you can see, the defectors have so many worries and they shed endless tears whenever they think about their families still in North Korea,” said Gyeonggi Governor Kim Moon-soo. “It is time for South Korean society to reach out and wipe away those tears.”

Hanawon, when it first opened in July 1999, was large enough to house just about 150 defectors. As the number of North Korean refugees arriving in the South soared, the government expanded the facility, in the rural area of southern Gyeonggi, in 2003 and 2008.

Today, the center, protected with barbed wire and security guards, accommodates up to 750 defectors during a three-month resettlement program. An additional facility, enough to house 250 defectors, is also in operation in Yangju, northern Gyeonggi.

According to the Unification Ministry, the 12-week, 420-hour program is designed to help the defectors settle in the South. At Hanawon, defectors will undergo 50 hours of physical examinations and psychological counseling. Another 135 hours are spent educating the newcomers about South Korean society, the ministry said.

The refugees are also offered 177 hours of vocational training. Through the program, former North Koreans learn baking skills, jewelry-making techniques, automobile repair or heavy equipment operation, all in an effort to eventually find jobs and live lives as South Korean citizens.

Hanawon also helps the defectors to acquire drivers’ licenses and certificates of computer skills.

“The settlement of North Korean defectors in the South is not something that money alone can accomplish,” Representative Park Jin, who heads the National Assembly’s foreign affairs, trade and unification committee, said during the ceremony. “Before talking about the grand unification of the two Koreas, we must achieve a small unification in South Korea. And that can be done by helping the defectors settle. Without small unification, there will be no grand unification.”

“A truly advanced nation is a society that respects humanitarianism and human rights and protects the minority,” said Unification Minister Hyun In-taek during the ceremony. “The issue of North Korean defectors that we face today is more than just supporting their resettlement. It is now a barometer of Korea’s advancement.”

Hyun said the government will build another Hanawon next year to better accommodate those in need. “We also operate Hana Centers around the nation to help defectors live better lives after they graduate from Hanawon,” Hyun said. “The Hana Center program will also be expanded,” he added.

Both Gyeonggi Governor Kim and Representative Park promised support for the government’s efforts to improve the resettlement program.

According to Hanawon, 14,297 defectors have completed the resettlement programs over the decade. As of yesterday, 592 newcomers to the South were enrolled in the program to learn about a bewildering world ranging from automatic teller machines to new views of their homeland’s history.

In addition to the program, Hanawon also operates a clinic, where the defectors can be treated for the physical and mental trauma of leaving their homes.

Dental care is important to the youngsters, according to Jeon Jeong-hee, a nurse at the clinic.

“Because 453 out of the 592 defectors at the facility are women, we also operate an intensive ob-gyn program,” Jeon said. “Over the past decade, 85 babies were born at Hanawon.”

After finishing the program, the defectors will leave Hanawon. Each individual receives 3 million won ($2,352) to start a new life in the South. An additional 3 million won will be provided later in addition to another 13 million won for housing support. Up to another 15 million won is available as an incentive to a defector who successfully finds long-term employment.

Following the official ceremony, journalists had the rare opportunity to tour the facility and talk to the defectors currently there. In addition to the clinic, vocational training rooms, religious facilities, housing units and a child care room were made available to the press.

Four Hanawon students, including Lim, spoke with the press in the afternoon. Ten successfully settled defectors who had finished the Hanawon program were also invited to share their experiences.

Among the 10 were Kim Chol-woong, a 35-year-old pianist who currently teaches music at Paekche Institute of the Arts, and Kim Yong-mi, 34, who had completed medical school in Hamheung, North Korea, and is now a vocational teacher at the Hyundae Occupational Training Institute of Hotels and Tourism after obtaining certificates for her baking and cake-decorating skills.

Kim Chol-yong, 35, had graduated from a teachers’ college in Sariwon, North Korea, but he is now a movie director in the South.

Lim, who will leave the Hanawon program in 20 days, said she is worried about the uncertainty of life in the South, but she is determined to succeed. “I married in 1996 and quickly had a son. But soon my husband died of an illness,” Lim said. “I used to be a factory worker, but since I had a child, I quit the job and tried to make ends meet by selling produce at a market.”

Her life turned grim after the North Korean government learned she had watched a smuggled South Korean movie on videotape in 2003.

“I did not know what it was at the time. It turned out to be a popular movie, ‘The Promise,’” she said. “After I saw it, I felt South Korea was great. Then, the authorities learned that I had seen the movie. I managed to pay bribes to avoid a prison term, but life became an ordeal.”

Lim managed to escape to China in 2005 and after years of struggle, she arrived in the South in February 2009 via a Southeast Asian nation.

“I am extremely satisfied with the Hanawon program,” Lim said. “I will be leaving the facility on July 29, and of course I am concerned about what will unfold once I join South Korean society. But I’ll do my best. First, I’ll find a part-time job, as my predecessors have advised, and study more to find a real job. I was told that South Korea is a country where you have to study a lot to survive.”

Lim said her biggest concern in settling down in the South is her North Korean accent. “I have to admit that I’m scared. But I know I can do it, because I’ll give it my all,” she said.

By Ser Myo-ja [myoja@joongang.co.kr]