Escape from North Korea: The Untold Story of Asia's Underground
Railroad by Melanie Kirkpatrick is the best book I have read on the subject
of the hidden network of routes, safe havens, brokers and agents who assist
North Koreans in their life-or-death quest to escape their country. Kirkpatrick
has written an account of the new underground railroad by covering all bases in
her interviews. She spoke with the North Korean refugees themselves
and with those who live across the border in PR China who shelter them. She met
with numerous religious and humanitarian organizations who help directly or
raise awareness of the refugee situation. Kirkpatrick even managed clandestine
meetings with brokers who arrange the transport of refugees out of mainland
China. Once the North Koreans have made it to the South, Kirkpatrick interviewed
those in Seoul who work with them, and she even spoke to several high-ranking
officials who had defected from North Korea. Escape was a rapid read
that I could not wait to finish. Kirkpatrick, formerly a writer with the
Wall Street Journal, organized her story intelligently and did not
resort to American jingoism, although that's what I felt when I saw the title of
the penultimate chapter, "Invading North Korea". Instead of a military invasion
by the South, she was referring to an infiltration of the North by technology,
the inevitable opening of the country by smuggled cellphones, DVD's and flash
drives.
Kirkpatrick spoke to escapees of all ages who risked their lives leaving
North Korea. The primary reason for their flight was that of hunger. Those who
fled were mostly from the north of the country, the area that was devastated by
the famine that started twenty years ago. The refugees were overwhelmingly
women, who sometimes fled with their children or sent for them after they had
reached a safe haven. Simply put, it was easier for women to escape, as they
could be more inconspicuous in a society which polices every city limit and bars
anyone from entering without the proper paperwork.
The border with PR China is "wet"; in other words, it is a water frontier.
Two rivers separate the two countries, the Yalu in the northwest and the Tumen
in the northeast. In the winter, these frozen rivers can be crossed on foot,
while at other times during the rest of the year there are certain points along
their course where one can wade across. Kirkpatrick impressed me in that she
also covered the rarely talked-about escape route over the short 17-km wet
border North Korea shares with Soviet Russia.
Once safely across in PR China, refugees meet those whom they would
otherwise consider the enemy. It is these people who end up being their
rescuers:
"And yet many North Koreans who escape to China, although they've been
warned against Christians all their lives, end up turning to Christians for
help. This is particularly striking given that some of the Christians are South
Koreans or Americans, two other groups of people the North Korean regime has
demonized."
While religion may be quietly tolerated in the People's Republic of China,
the government has less tolerance for those whom the religious organizations
shelter. Using the excuse of legally repatriating North Koreans as "economic
refugees", likening what they do with the United States and its refusal to grant
admittance to illegal Mexicans, PR China will not hesitate to send North Koreans
back across the border:
"China's repatriation policy dates back to the early 1960s, when it
concluded a secret agreement governing the border area with North Korea. In
1986, the two countries signed another bilateral agreement. It mandated the
return of North Koreans who crossed into China. Beijing's official position is
that it strictly adheres to this obligation and that there are no
exceptions."
The key to avoid detection, then, is to catch a ride on the underground
railroad shortly after crossing the border. One has to make one's way out
immediately after crossing in. Refugees must navigate carefully among those who
have set up safe shelters, and avoid those whose job it is to lure them into
traps sending them back to North Korea. Often those who proffer assistance are
only interested in preying on the most vulnerable--again, almost all women--to
sell them as brides to Chinese men. Those who spend only a brief time
in mainland China before leaving for South Korea don't have to worry about
blending in with the local population who can tell North Korean escapees from
their appearance alone. Sarah Yun, an American who manages a shelter for North
Korean refugees in an undisclosed southeast Asian city, makes the following
assessment of the coping skills of North Korean refugees:
"Yun notices a difference in attitude between North Koreans who arrive
directly from North Korea after having spent only a few days or weeks in China
and those who have lived in China for extended periods. 'Those who come straight
out are pampered,' she said. It's an odd word to use to describe people who have
just left the world's most repressive state. She puts it another way: Many North
Koreans go through a version of adolescence once they reach a free country, she
says. They are used to having decisions made for them in North Korea. Now, for
the first time in their lives, they are expected to take control of their own
lives. They don't understand how to handle their newfound independence, she
says, and they can be overwhelmed with choices and responsibilities. Life in
North Korea has left them with few problem-solving skills."
Integration into South Korean society is easier said than done. This is the
impression made throughout Escape. Once in South Korea, many North
Koreans cannot grasp the foundations of a capitalist economy and personal
progress:
"The director of Hanawon [1], Youn Mirang, explained: The North Koreans
'don't understand the real meaning of competitiveness or competition,' she said.
Teaching such concepts is difficult. North Korean refugees are good at taking
directions, but they are very passive workers. 'They accept orders, but that's
it,' Youn Mirang said. 'They don't have any initiative.'"
Sixty years of separation since the Korean War armistice has taken its toll
on the people separated by the DMZ. We are definitely not dealing with a
situation like that between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German
Democratic Republic, where although the same people was divided by an Iron
Curtain, those in the east had full access to the west via TV and a little
island called West Berlin. Mail also flowed between the two Germanys, which is
still not possible between North and South Korea:
"Even a low-tech form of information technology--the mail service--is
highly restricted. North Korea is a member of the Universal Postal Union, but it
has direct postal service with a limited number of countries. South Korea is not
among them."
I have to take issue with this statement, as I myself sent numerous
postcards from the DPRK to several countries: among them Switzerland, Australia,
England, Finland, Canada, plus the great imperialist aggressor the USA, and they
all got delivered. What does Kirkpatrick mean by "direct postal service"?
Kirkpatrick in borrowing the metaphor "underground railroad" for a new
context in southeast Asia, used the expression "the new underground railroad" to
excess. I am sure readers would have understood perfectly well what underground
railroad she was referring to if she had left out the adjective "new". The
phrasing, "the new underground railroad" was burdensome for the eyes to trip
over.
One final item puzzled me. Within the photos section was a shot of American
activist Suzanne Scholte addressing the North Korea People's Liberation Front.
This is a Seoul-based organization comprised of more than one hundred former
North Korean soldiers, whose vow is to overthrow the Kim family regime and unify
the Korean peninsula. That's a pretty spectacular mission statement, yet there
was no mention of the North Korean People's Liberation Front anywhere in the
entire book, except within the photos section. Granted, the focus of
Escape is the untold story of Asia's underground railroad, yet I
would have expected anything in the photos section to have some kind of
antecedent in the text.
[1] The Settlement Support Center for North Korean Refugees based in
Seoul.
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