Liberty in North Korea
Last year, I studied abroad at a university in China. I was learning Chinese with 30 fellow international students and was only one of two Americans. About a week after classes began, two middle-aged Asian men hurried into class. As they passed my desk to take their seats, I saw them wearing red pins with the Communist sickle and hammer. My immediate thought was that they are North Koreans but almost as quickly as I thought that, I rebuked it as an impossibility. They did not look as tall or as light as my South Korean friends. Furthermore, why would middle-aged men be studying Chinese with the rest of us young students? I led myself to believe that they were just some loyal members of a Mongolian Communist Party.
As the hours slowly went by in class, I heard them speak what was unmistakably the Korean language. Along with the unmistakable image of Kim il Sung on the forefront of their red sickle and hammer, I knew that they were indeed North Koreans. I spent five months in class with them, and soon learned that they were exchange professors: two Chinese professors had gone to North Korean and these two North Koreans had come to China. One was a professor in the medical school, one the other taught computer science. They were very studious but relied heavily on rote memorization. This was especially evident when I was partnered up with one of the North Koreans for speaking activities. His answers were verbatim from the text, even though the prompts called for more individuality and creativeness.
In the beginning, I would debate how to approach them. I had so many questions about their lifestyles and their opinions. But where would we start? I decided that it was best to not act out on my urge to question them about life in North Korea. I wanted to give the best perception of the United States as I could; one that would focus on me as an individual and not a blind subject of my government. This meant, and also for their own safety, that I did not discuss any political topics or even general questions about life in North Korea. During breaks, I would offer them some of my snacks, and we wished each other good luck before a test. We talked about our similarities as foreigners in China. For Christmas, I planned a benefit dinner to heat several orphanages for the winter throughout China. After I announced it to the class and returned to my seat, one of the North Koreans turned to me and asked, “What is Christmas?” I was immediately at a loss for words. Never was this question ever posed to me. I never had to find the words to describe such a natural yearly occurrence to me. Furthermore, Christianity would enter into the conversation if I tried to describe Christmas to him. At a broader level, how could I explain the entire concept of God and religion to him? I ended with an answer in Chinese of which I was not too proud. He asked me whether Christmas was an American holiday, and I told him that it was a global holiday. I will always remember this incident as an example of the isolation of North Korea.
The plight of the North Korean people involves underground shelters, repression, sex trafficking, prison camps, and famine. LiNK, or Liberty in North Korea, is one of the largest organizations that advocates for the North Korean people and educates the rest of the world about this crisis. Although North Korea seems far away, millions of people do actually have the daily reality of living under this repressive regime.
The following is a photo of me, the other American in my class, and the two North Koreans. This is one of the only photos in the world with Americans and North Koreans together in 2009.
About the author
Karina, Emory University (Team 2 Leader)
- I volunteered in orphanages for disabled children in China while in high school. I formed a close friendship with a 5-year-old boy with cerebral palsy in a rural village in Shanxi Province named Tian Li. I still felt helpless after I returned to the United States, so I became the president of a club that funds surgeries for disabled orphans. I was finally able to return to China this past year and twice visited Tian Li and the other orphans with whom I developed close relationships years ago. The ability to have candid dialogue with the orphans and caregivers in Chinese made me feel like I am actually making a difference. There is so much need in the world and we should all do our part to ease the burden of the less fortunate.
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Wow! What an experience. What was the exchange program for? Why did the Chinese professors and North Korean professors switch?
It was definitely one of the highlights of my study abroad!
I’m not exactly sure what their exchange was but it was a faculty-level exchange and they were learning each other’s languages. I presume that after they finished studying the language, they would then continue in the other country learning more about their fields (medicine and computer science)
I think your passion for this is awesome! What are you thinking about the potential war situation with North Korea?
I think it’s all typical brinkmanship and nothing serious will escalate. Hopefully change will come soon to North Korea, though.
you claim that the north koreans speak from a script, but your script sounds very much like many of the other cia agents ” underground shelters, repression, sex trafficking, prison camps, and famine”. where have i heard that before? perhaps in all the other countries that the usa wants to destabilise so they can dominate their economy. cant come up with anything original? whats wrong with not knowing what christmas is? christmas is not necesarily something good, and maybe they want to be sheltered from such idiotic religious gimics. also, i doubt you would know anything about their holidays. in fact, most americans dont know anything about foreign holidays. how many americans know when diwali is, despite being celebrated by 1billion+ people around the world? i guess since they dont know. this must mean they are oppressed. in case you havent been paying attention, there is a movement in the usa to eliminate the celebration of christmas, but i guess your demagogic masters aint feeling that.