North Korean refugees tell all

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your post. I have several friends who are Korean and have been traveling throughout the country for the past couple of years putting on seminars and programs depicting the plight of North Koreans, especially the 10's of thousands being brutalized in NK concentration camps. It's a sad reality the way the Chinese government treats the N. Korean refugee's as well. They are often rounded up and returned to their communist neighbor, well knowing that their fate won't be very pretty on return. Many S. Koreans have become strangely silent about the plight of their relatives in the north too. Seems that many S. Koreans today would rather look for a way to appease and reunify with the north rather than face the fact that some serious changes in human rights issues need to be straightened out up north first. If Kim Jung Il could only be brought to the light the whole mess could probably be resolved overnight. Afterall he has total control over his people.

There is a play that was written by a N. Korean refugee who has been in S. Korea for several years and he explained how he has been criticized in the South for rocking the boat because his play depicts the inhumane treatment N. Korean's recieve in their many political prisons. I'm glad to hear that the Times has covered this issue and I hope I can get ahold of the article. I think our students learn alot about the holocaust and other historical episodes of human atrocities but it might be good for them to know that they are living in a world that still tolerates some of the worst of human behavior. [Edit by="jashworth on Jun 2, 2:10:04 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

I was experimenting with "Google Earth" the other day, and my curiosity took me right into North Korea. With my surprise, I was able to go there. I have seen some buildings and bridges over a river. I felt a little bit queasy feeling looking at everywhere from above, like I'm doing something I'm not supposed to do. Let me know if you have the same experience.

[Anonymous]

I recently saw a great documentary by national geograpic and it tells the story of a defector. I had very similar emotions when I saw the film

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

An article in the May 21st edition of the LA Times titled “1st North Korean Defectors Arrive in LA” describes the ordeals faced by six North Koreans while living in their former homeland and as they attempted to seek asylum in China.

As I read the experiences shared by these refugees I felt a mixture of privilege and anger. I felt privileged and thankful that we in the US do not have to endure such hardships but also a lot of anger at the North Korean government for treating their people so inhumanely.

Among some of the more graphic descriptions told by these refugees, one explained that during one period of famine her family was reduced to foraging for grass to boil in attempt to make soup; another told how he was put in jail for trying to escape North Korea and brutally tortured – he stated that they experienced torture practices he never knew existed.

What is just as appalling is how these refugees were taken advantage of once they crossed over to China. One might think that their ordeal was largely over but the article tells the reader that often they simply exchanged one type of abuse for another.

For example, one woman refugee explained how she paid someone to help her escape but once she made it to China that person sold her into slavery, she was sold to a married man who kept her confined to a room where she was repeatedly raped for two years. Another woman refugee told how she was sold to a Chinese man whose family treated her like a slave.

One can only imagine the culture shock they are going to receive coming to the US. In a way it must feel like going to another planet.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunatly in a country where a totalitarian government is in place, there is no tolerance for other opinions. Its been a few years since I read it, but I do remember their stories due to how horrific they were. The emotions do run high when you think about what is actually going on here. It makes me glad to live in the US where we can voice our own opinion, but sad that some parts of the world don't have that freedom.

[Author]

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