The Life of a North Korean Escapee

As Mr. Kim takes time out of his job at an organization, he walks toward the table where I am seated at. Mr. Kim, a man who is about fifty years old, currently leads an organization that tries to help escapees like him to make a living at America. He had recently escaped the horrid life at North Korea in 2004. He has no family but only a friend here at America. He goes around giving speeches to churches and other places about his life at the communistic country. This is the story of the man who escaped North Korea.

I lived in Pyongyang –the capital of North Korea. The city is a restricted place where only special people with a pass can enter. However, if you went into Pyongyang without a pass, you were forced to 6 months of labor.

My wife was a military officer of a high rank. After she was dismissed from the military, she got a job as a secretary of the Chamber of Commerce because she was acknowledged for her loyalty. All the people living in Pyongyang were devoted to Kim Jung Il. The people living in Pyongyang get the same amount of things like food, but the special people take advantage of their position to get stuff from lower class people.

(Sigh) I was a commander in the army and was being promoted to colonel. In order for me to become a colonel, the government had to check my records again. I thought my parents were killed by American soldier when I was three. But according to the records, my dad worked for the CIA during the Korean Civil War and was executed in Kaesung – a town in N.K.-. I was sent to jail as a political criminal.

In 1993, I was convicted as a son of a CIA agent for infiltrating the national secret agency. They arrested all my family members and we were kept separated. I worked in a coal mine and only slept about an hour daily. Once you in jail, you can’t come out even if you’re dead. When I escaped from this jail, I ran away to China by myself on foot. In China, a missionary helped me and stayed for six months with his aid. After, I went to South Korea.

The elementary schools brainwash and teach only communist morals and the government system. They also teach to idolize Kim Il Sung and Kim Jung Il everyday. Yea…, they do have PE, math, and other subjects. One teacher is assigned per class. In order to graduate from elementary, all students in North Korea have to walk the “Learning Road’, which is about 400 kilometers. Kim Il Sung walked this road from Ohnsung, near the border of China, to Pyongyang when he was twelve years old to see his teacher. Every student has to walk this road which takes about a month. After school, kids fourth grade and older have to plant rice and work in the farm. Yea…they have work and homework, but the homework isn’t to help students to learn but it’s a part of work. If they don’t do their homework, they get punished severely.

When I was young, I read books about independence, responsibility, and loyalty. Also, I read the biography of Kim Il Sung. These were the only types of book the libraries had. Travelers brought books written in democratic countries. Most of the books don’t talk about the truth of democratic countries. There was about one or two newspapers in North Korea. However, they talked about positive things about Kim Jung Il. The information that the leader didn’t want was erased off. If you could get a T.V., there were only channels that the leader allowed to be shown. North Korea is a communist country. Of course we were not allowed to vote! If people could vote, King Jung Il would not be in power. Also, people against him would get hunted and killed. He would have the power to make sure he stays as the leader.

For religion, the only gods in North Korea are Kim Jung Il and Kim Il Sung. Kim Il Sung took away land from landowners and gave them to poor people to win their hearts. Those who disagreed with Kim Il Sung’s idea were Christians, so three generations of all Christians were persecuted. There is no church. Who would want to sacrifice their children for their beliefs?

There is a bunch of illegal markets- black market- in North Korea. They get the stuff to sell from family members or friends in South Korea. Then, they sell that stuff for whatever they need. Also, factory workers would steal things like machine parts and also sell that for food or other needs. Yes, if you get caught selling stuff, you could go to jail. However, the guards –police- always take bribes and “forget” the whole thing.

                                                                                                                                                                                     Interviewed by Young Choi