Let’s fly on until the day arrives

Kim Seong-min
The author is the director of Free North Korea Radio.

The North Korean daredevils who crossed the border in search of a new life in South Korea are referred to as “refugees, defectors, deserters and new settlers.” They face equally confusing identities in the South. Their past and present lives cannot be compared to their southern compatriots. Most of them cannot sleep well due to the thoughts of relatives and friends they had left behind in the North. They strive to adapt and survive in an entirely different environment, but nevertheless lack in competitiveness against those who were born and grew up in the South. Some have earned master’s and doctoral degrees, and some became successful entrepreneurs. And yet, the overall conditions of the defector community are dreary, with many failing to find jobs or blend into the South Korean society.

Tens of thousands left for Europe as the continent was deemed less discriminative than South Korea. They are amongst the weakest in the South as they are alienated from the highly-connected society and social programs. A new light of hope has arrived for the straddlers lost between the boundary of socialism and capitalism.

At a Cabinet meeting earlier this year, President Yoon Suk Yeol reiterated that North Koreans who came to the South are citizens of South Korea, according to the Constitution. He ordered the Unification Ministry to designate July 14 as North Korean Defectors’ Day. The day was when the North Korean Defectors Protection and Settlement Support Act went into effect in 1997. The first inaugural day fell on Sunday, delivering an exhilarating moment for defectors like me who had crossed the Amnok (Yalu) River to the Chinese side in 1996 after my 20-year service in the North Korean army.

I considered the new life in a free country as a gift. In gratitude for accepting me into society, I had worked hard day and night. Still, the rules of capitalism felt harsh to someone new to the game. I couldn’t afford the luxury of complaining about the side effects of abstaining from the socialist beliefs I had grown up with. I had to wipe out the socialist cells from by body before suppressing my astonishments at the yawning differences between the two systems. I was advised to fill the void with the positive energy of the capitalist market.

Many defectors become homesick and feel discrimination. What they need most is understanding and compassion from local people.

Defectors are grateful to receive various resettlement programs, housing support and exceptional acceptance to universities. But mocking poor English or a North Korean accent — and workplace isolation — persisted due to a lack of understanding and compassion from southern people.

Job opportunities are harder for North Koreans despite having the same diploma from the same university or graduate school. Generally, young North Koreans strive to hide their original identity as much as possible. These features reflect the South’s stubborn bias towards North Korean defectors.

I hope South Korean people listen to defectors’ plea that they had not come to the South merely for better food. Their genuine gratitude toward South Korea for embracing them — and their wishes to offer some sort of service to the country — deserve empathetic understanding from South Korean people.

The owner of a successful cold noodle restaurant using a recipe from Pyongyang, an abalone farmer working on the southern coast with the dream of exporting her produce, a young activist trying to raise awareness on North Korean prison camp conditions and other defectors making and distributing leaflets to enhance North Koreans’ access to knowledge have devoted themselves to objectives beyond their personal interests.

North Korean Defectors’ Day should be a turning point in paying greater attention to the sufferings of the people from North Korea. I pray that every North Korean defector can have their dreams come true in the South.

My devotion to fighting for the rights of defectors was cut short in 2017 after being diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer, but I am still fighting hard. I hope for Defectors’ Day to be my shock therapy to recover my health and my wings to fly back to my homeland after unification. Let’s fly on until the day arrives.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.