STRANGERS AT HOME: NORTH KOREANS IN THE SOUTH
Recent report by the International Crisis Group:
STRANGERS AT HOME: NORTH KOREANS IN THE SOUTH
Asia Report N°208 – 14 July 2011
As the number of defectors from North Korea arriving in the South has surged in the past decade, reconfiguring integration programs for them has become crucial.
Strangers at Home: North Koreans in the South, the latest report from the International Crisis Group, draws attention to the difficulties South Korea is facing in absorbing North Korean defectors. The two sides of the Demilitarised Zone have diverged so much in economics, politics, language and social organisation that people are now strangers to each other. The possibility that it one day might have to handle a vast outflow of refugees from a collapsing North looms over the South.
“Some South Koreans believe a rapid unification could come soon, but the economic and social realities suggest such an event would be very costly”, says Crisis Group’s North East Asia Deputy Project Director, Daniel Pinkston. “The difficulties of handling just over 20,000 refugees over a few decades should be a warning to those who wish to encourage the collapse of the North rather than a more gentle integration”.
Download the full report (PDF) here or from the International Crisis Group.
Occasionally we will feature other volunteer organizations that are either helping a specific cause or bringing attention to the crisis in North Korea. It will take a network of passionate organizations to bring an end to the crisis.
FIRST STEPS
First Steps is a Vancouver-based organization whose mission is to provide essential nutrients to young children through their Soymilk Program to combat the severe malnutrition problems in North Korea.
According to the United Nations and World Food Programme:
…between two and three million North Korean children (infants to age five) consistently fail to receive sufficient nutrients vital to their physical and mental development. This has resulted in almost an entire generation of youngsters whose growth has been stunted.
It goes without saying that malnutrition during these important stages of development will lead to long term health consequences including increased susceptibility to infections and other diseases.
First Steps’ food-aid programs are currently providing protein-rich, growth-promoting soymilk to North Korean children (infants to primary school) who have not been receiving the nutrients so vital to their mental and physical development.
We have been focusing on our VitaCow/VitaGoat program because of its great efficiency and effectiveness. One electrically-powered VitaCow machine, purchased and delivered to North Korea for about $7,000, processes soybeans into soymilk, enough to provide a cup each to more than 2,000 children per day. The non-electrical VitaGoat uses any burnable fuel, costs about $4,000 and produces enough soymilk for about 1,000 or more children per day.
First Steps buys some of its soybeans and has them shipped in to supply these machines when our North Korean partners are unable to provide their own. Our partners take responsibility for distribution of the beans to the VitaCow/VitaGoat sites, as well as for soymilk production and delivery.
See pictures of the program in action.
How do we know the program is working? The picture below says it all…
(more “smiley” pictures here)
With your help, First Steps can deliver more soymilk to more children to meet their nutritional requirements. Working together with other in-country organizations, as well as nutritionists and scientists at the Institute of Child Nutrition, we will continue to monitor and report on the measurable outcomes of the assistance you help to provide.
The U.S. Department of State released its 2010 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in early April.
This is what they have to say about North Korea:
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) is a dictatorship under the absolute rule of Kim Jong-il, general secretary of the Korean Workers’ Party (KWP) and chairman of the National Defense Commission (NDC), the “highest office of state.” The country has an estimated population of 23.5 million. Kim’s father, the late Kim Il-sung, remains “eternal president.” National elections held in March 2009 were not free or fair. Security forces did not report to civilian authorities.
Citizens did not have the right to change their government. The government subjected citizens to rigid controls over many aspects of their lives. There continued to be reports of extrajudicial killings, disappearances, arbitrary detention, arrests of political prisoners, harsh and life-threatening prison conditions, and torture. There continued to be reports that pregnant female prisoners underwent forced abortions in some cases, and in other cases babies were killed upon birth in prisons. The judiciary was not independent and did not provide fair trials. Citizens were denied freedom of speech, press, assembly, and association, and the government attempted to control all information. The government restricted freedom of religion, citizens’ movement, and worker rights. There continued to be reports of severe punishment of some repatriated refugees and their family members. There were widespread reports of trafficking in women and girls among refugees and workers crossing the border into China.
The full report is available here (download PDF).
The struggle of “Crows” among the “Pigeons” in S.Korea…
The Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights co-hosted a seminar with the British and Netherlands Embassies to discuss two reports they released recently about the integration of North Korean defectors in South Korea and the violence against women in the North.
“Homecoming Kinsmen or Indigenous Foreigners?” examines the life and struggles of North Korean escapees trying to resettle in South Korea and other countries.
“Primarily educated and raised in a totalitarian country known for its huge digital divide with the rest of the world, North Koreans leave their country unprepared for the challenges of living in a capitalist, democratic, and multicultural societies, thus lacking the necessary skills to cope with the modern world,” said NKHR International Campaign and Cooperation Team head Joanna Hosaniak.
Among the young settlers, she continued, “They call themselves crows (because they are darker). They call South Koreans pigeons (because they look whiter). Those who have successfully integrated into South Korean society were called ‘magpies.’”
The second report, “The Battered Wheel of the Revolution. Report on Violence against Women in North Korea,” looks at the inequalities against women in North Korea.
“All North Koreans, from birth, learn traditional patriarchy, male dominance over women, and stereotyped gender roles,” said Hosaniak. “As a result, various types of cultural practices make women vulnerable to violence.
Read the full news articles in the Korea Times and in the Korea Herald.
A great turnout to support HanVoice!
Congratulations to the organizers for putting on a fantastic fundraiser event!
And Thanks to everyone who came out to support HanVoice.
Please continue to follow HanVoice and look for new events and updates.
A Toronto Night
Join HanVoice this Saturday for “A Toronto Night…”
A Toronto Night (FUNdraiser)
Saturday March 19, 2011, 9pm
The Stealth Lounge
22 Cumberland Street (near Yonge & Bloor)
Celebrate the beginning of spring with drinks, music, and a bachelor auction at our first fundraising event of the year. Regular admission is $15 before 10pm, $20 after 10pm.
Sign up via HanVoice Facebook
Also this Saturday…
Training Session – HV202: Recent Developments in NK-SK Relations and its Implications
Art Exhibit: North Korean Images at Utopia’s Edge
Checkout this exhibit (until March 19, 2011) at the University of Toronto Art Centre (UTAC):
North Korean Images at Utopia’s Edge spans three decades and features 24 wood block prints from the Nicholas Bonner Collection. These prints offer a fascinating picture of North Korean conceptions of daily life and work, family and “Fatherland.” Four subject areas delineate the contours of North Korea’s vision of an earthly paradise: harmonious families, plenteous landscapes, male laborers and women at work.
http://utac.utoronto.ca/current-exhibitions/215-north-korean-images-at-utopias-edge
HanVoice website is under construction
We are improving our website…. but in the meantime, checkout our latest newsletter for updates and events:
http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=7ec02347e3fbec0fce93e6714&id=b61d049ade
HanVoice Blog is back!
Hello Friends of HanVoice!
Keep your eye out for new HanVoice communications on this blog and on Twitter over the next few weeks. We will be rolling out regular updates and information about HanVoice events and other news to keep you informed about North Korea and the NK refugee crisis.
In the meantime, mark your calendar to join us at the upcoming HanVoice Presents: A Toronto Night – Fundraising Social on Saturday, March 19, 2011 at the Stealth Lounge (above The Pilot), Toronto, ON
North Korea in Response to the Crises in Middle East
North Korean authorities blocked all cellphone lines that have been opened for two months and sent personnel to university dormitories to watch out for 24 hours.
A source in the city of Hyesan in the Yanggang province said on Thursday to Radio Free Asia that “the news that the series of popular protests in Africa and Middle East overthrew governments are spreading quickly in this area through personnal connections to citizens who have access to phones.”
He explained “most of the North Koreans who have been sent to Libya as nurses and construction labourers are personally connected to the officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and members of armies under the cabinet. The news of Middle East are sent by those persons [in Libya] and are quickly spreading to these regions.”
The source also spoke of an increase in the number of college security guards from 1 to 4 after Kim Jong Il’s birthday (February 18) and newly installed securities in order to watch over students’ daily behaviours.
A counter-Pyungyang radio Free North Korea Broadcasting quoted a source in the Hamgyung province that “the securities in borders had a meeting recently to discuss the ways to prevent popular disturbance, that included thoroughly blocking the borderlines and closely watching over the families and friends left by defectors.”
The source also informed that “they [the securities] also considered intercepting telephones and paralyzing all communications owned by those who seem suspicious.”
Another source in the city of Hoerung in the Hamgyung province said “there are many security guards in the marketplace but they do not interfere commercial activities.”
The sources predicted that there is “little possibility that the pro-democracy movements in Middle East will have an immediate impact on North Koreans, despite of their increased discomfort due to the halted service in cellphones and home phones except those of high officials.”
On the other hand, there are estimated 200 North Koreans staying in Libya as nurses, doctors and construction workers.
Translated from original article: http://www.nocutnews.co.kr/email/email2009/news_print.asp?idx=1728515&gubun=TOP
HanVoice in Radio Free Asia
For those of you who can read Korean, follow this link to read the May 5th story in Radio Free Asia about the recent activities of Canadian NGOs – including HanVoice – for North Korean human rights. Our May 2nd protest during the North Korea Freedom Week spurred on this story. Stay tuned for more news about our work, for there will be much more!
Hope to see many of you at the Freedom Party tonight!!!
HanVoice Presents: FREEDOM PARTY!
The North Korean famine in the mid-1990s led to the deaths of 1-2 million people. More than 10 years later, severe food shortages still persist. Families and children are still going hungry, severely malnourished and dying.
NGOs have developed “daycare” centers to care for children while their parents are working jobs. These centers ensure that the children are FREE from starvation and get at least one meal a day of soy milk and fresh bread. Many of these children are actually orphans. Help support these organizations at Peridot on Friday, May 8th!
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Be prepared to get your drink and dance on long into the night!
DJ LYON will be spinning sick beats all night long to get your body groovin’!
Advanced Ticket Sales are available at the UT main campus, Robart’s Library on Monday April 27th and Wednesday 29th from 1-5 p.m. Advanced tickets are $10, Members/Guestlist are $15, and tickets at the door are $20.
To pick up tickets please call: 647-668-0441 or 647-261-0643
Advanced tickets are limited so get them ASAP!
For guestlist or event info please contact us at info@hanvoice.org
“Why the U.S. Should Talk to North Korea”
TIME magazine discusses why the U.S. should engage in diplomatic relations with North Korea – and it looks like they just might (have to). North Korea has been engaging in some very threatening behaviour, and though it has certainly been disturbing, it seems to be leading to a diplomatic path. Excerpt from the story:
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il KCNA / Reuters
“On April 5, Pyongyang fired a missile disguised as a satellite directly over Japan and into the Pacific, in direct contravention of a 2006 U.N. resolution forbidding the North’s ballistic missile program. Then […] the U.N. Security Council issued what amounted to a strongly worded letter straight out of Team America: World Police condemning the missile test. The North, in response, called this “an unbearable insult,” and said it would again fire up its reactor at Yongbyon, the source of fissile material for the North’s suspected small arsenal of nuclear weapons.
Finally, yesterday, Pyongyang threw out monitors from the International Atomic Energy Agency and said the so-called six-party talks […] were over. Not only would the North no longer participate, it would no longer abide by anything that it had previously agreed to during the talks, which includes the dismantling of the Yongbyon reactor. (See pictures of North Koreans at the polls.)
They know that even in Pyongyang, North Korean officials have access to the Internet. If they cared to, they could have read yesterday’s New York Times, which reported that the Obama Administration is considering dropping the U.S. demand that Iran cease enriching uranium before any direct Washington-Tehran talks about Iran’s nuclear program. This would explicitly reverse the Bush Administration’s position that talks could start only after the enriching stopped. “If you’re the North Koreans and you read that, you’re naturally going to ask, ‘Why not deal directly with us too?’ ” says an East Asian diplomat seasoned in North Korea diplomacy.
It’s likely the White House shares this view, even though in public it has harped on getting the North Koreans back to the six-party format. This is probably no longer possible, after Pyongyang’s announcement yesterday. So the trick for Obama now is twofold. He must figure out how much time to let pass before trying to re-engage the North […]
Once talks begin, the U.S. ought to be willing to put a range of blandishments on the table — just as it has in the past. Economic aid, security guarantees and, down the road, even diplomatic recognition for North Korea — all that would be available to Pyongyang, so long as it verifiably stands down its nuclear program and curbs its missile exports.
Sun Mu, the North Korean artist, captured in video
Below is the Voice of America video story of the North Korean artist, Sun Mu, who uses his paintings to parody the North Korean propaganda.
We posted a more detailed profile of him in this post, but it’s good to see more of his paintings and to hear him describe his artistic works.
Also, the North Korean pianist Cheol-Woong Kim‘s Carnegie Hall debut is this Friday, April 17th. He will be performing Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky. If you happen to be in New York City this weekend, you might like to check it out!
Radio may be a most effective tool to reach North Koreans
As seen in our recent post (“Radio Can Lead North Korean People to Change their Society”), this story in the LA Times again reports that radio may be one of the most effective ways to reach North Koreans:
The small operations in South Korea aim to be voices of change by airing information to counter Pyongyang's propaganda and by passing messages from friends and relatives to North Koreans.
““News out of Pyongyang violates the basics of journalism,” he said. “We tell the other side of the story.”
Howard’s station is among half a dozen Seoul-based operations that each day dispatch news and opinions into North Korea. Some, like Open Radio [Web site in Korean; watch or read the CNN video interview here], are the work of concerned outsiders. Others are run by defectors, many of whom use pseudonyms because they know vengeful officials could persecute family and friends left behind. […]
Experts are divided on the role the radio stations play in the lives of North Koreans. Some call them tools of change, while others say their operators are frustrated defectors shouting into the wind.
“They might not be able to bring the kind of change that, say, subversive radio played in Eastern Europe in the 1970s, but they have an effect,” said Andrei Lankov, a professor specializing in North Korean history at Seoul’s Kookmin University.
Others dismiss the dispatches as a stream of invective against North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and his minions.
“You have to look at the origin of a lot of these refugee broadcasters,” said Brian Myers, an assistant professor at Dongseo University in Busan and an expert on the North’s propaganda.
“What somebody from the poorest part of North Korea says is not relevant to the elite in Pyongyang,” he said. “It’s like if someone from Appalachia fled the U.S. and began broadcasting their opinions into the U.S. from Canada. I don’t think they do a very sophisticated job.” […]
Defectors who are now radio journalists insist that the medium is the best way to influence events back home.
Kim Dae-sung, station director for Free North Korea Radio [read the CNN coverage of them here] in Seoul, says his life changed in 1996 when, as a young engineer in the North, he bought a radio on the black market.
It was a Sony, small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. He tucked it inside his clothes and hid his earphones under a wool cap. He became addicted to the radio’s connection to the world outside.
“I would see things that were wrong in North Korea, but I couldn’t speak out,” said Kim, who uses a pseudonym. “The radio spoke out.”
His radio also showed him a way out. One report mentioned a South Korean consulate that had just opened in a nearby city in China. He defected there and years later settled in Seoul.
Now, more than half of his 20 radio station employees are fellow defectors.
“Radio changed my life, my philosophy, my ideas,” he said.
Concrete rewards for the radio operators’ efforts are infrequent but inspirational, like the day Howard heard from a North Korean defector in China who said he had been a frequent listener to his station.
“I realized,” Howard said, “that someone out there was hearing us.””
Keep up with more breaking news at twitter.com/HanVoice.
“North Korean Women Sold at $446 in China”
It’s no news, but it certainly is true and rampantly so.
Read this shocking story of female North Korean refugees in The Korea Times:
Photograph from Alberta Rose (http://degenerasian.blogspot.com)
“Female North Koreans who escaped the starving Stalinist country often become a target of human trafficking and are sold to rural China, usually to farmers who cannot find a wife, at prices as low as $446, Dong-A Ilbo reported Saturday.
The practice, at least 10 years old, is usually arranged when a rural farmer places the “order” with a human trafficking organization with “specification” of a woman he wants, including age and appearance.”
A Chinese man who currently lives with a North Korean woman said, “The organization that I contacted for a North Korean woman and the organization another village man contacted for the same purpose were different. So, it seems that there are a number of such organizations involving in the business.”
North Korean women who entered China were often lured by a human-trafficking broker who proposed a “lucrative job.” They were first gathered in the northeastern city Yanji, then were sent to the nearby city of Jilin before being transported to various Chinese cities where the “order” was placed, the newspaper said.
The price for a North Korean woman ranges from $446 to $1,488, the newspaper said, citing Chinese men who live with North Korean female refugees, North Korean women and Chinese officials.
Keep up with more breaking news at twitter.com/HanVoice.
“Cheol-Woong Kim: The Power of Music”
Last Sunday, we had a very special evening with Cheol-Woong Kim, the North Korean pianist whom you read about in our previous post. Read about the evening in this National Post story.
This is also the first mention of HanVoice and its work in the “mainstream” media. Please share it as much as possible through e-mail, facebook, twitter, your own web sites! It is a great story, and the more people read stories like this, the closer we are to affecting real change for the North Korean people.
Cheol-Woong Kim: The Power of Music
Cheol-Woong Kim says he is probably the only working pianist who has calluses on his fingers.
Once, the prodigious musician and North Korean native enjoyed a life of decadence compared to the less fortunate majority in his home country. Kim was born as a loyal – the upper echelon in North Korea’s three-tiered caste system. Below him were the wavering, and below them were the hostile, who today spend much of their time languishing in Gulag-esque prisons.
Kim began studying piano at Pyongyang University at the age of eight …
“US reporters ‘face up to 10 years’ jail’ in NKorea”
The two US journalists detained in North Korean prison are now being tried for “illegal” and “hostile” acts (allegedly crossing the river and entering North Korea). If convicted, they face 10 years of forced labour. North Korea is said to be using the fate of these journalists as a diplomatic bargaining chip. North Korea has in the past freed Americans it has detained but only after diplomatic intervention.
Reporters Without Borders has launched an online petition for the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, which can be signed here.
Keep up with more breaking news at twitter.com/HanVoice.
The HanVoice Blog 