by Daniel Tudor
North Korea doesn’t have a proper banking system, so most people keep cash with them at all times. But due to delays, people often run out of money before they reach their destination. So people bring lunchboxes. In winter, they bring as many lunchboxes as they can, but in summer, food goes bad pretty quickly. So, people get out at stops and stock up. Restaurants and kiosks near the stations always overcharge people, so it is easy to run out of money.
If someone skips a meal one day, he’ll pretend he isn’t hungry. But if he starves himself for two or more days in a row, he’ll begin to stare at you while you’re eating. You would feel inclined to share some of your food with him. Plus, after staying on the train for days without a shower, he’ll begin to look like a vagrant. After four or five days on the train, you cannot tell a passenger from a kotjebi (homeless child).
At the beginning of the journey the train is loaded with water. But it runs out of water on the way to the final destination, so people can wash their faces only when the train briefly stops at a station. It is a great relief if the station has a washbasin. If it doesn’t, you have to buy a bottle of water. When people run out of money, they sell some of their belongings to other passengers onboard (but in this case, they get only one fifth of the original price). Or sometimes they borrow money from another passenger. But you never know whether they will pay back the money later. Of course, there are some bad people who don’t pay back. But some people feel so grateful that they return the favor for a bigger amount later. When you build a friendship that way, it usually lasts a long time.
PART 5
The Outside World
[Introduction]
At the heart of the DPRK myth lies the idea that the world outside Korea is a scary, barbaric, untrustworthy place. The essential social contract between Kim Il Sung and the people was that in return for absolute loyalty, he would guarantee both food on the table and protection from all those scary foreigners—particularly Japanese and American ones.
This is a product of Korea’s history—one of division by the Soviet Union and the U.S., colonization by Japan, and vassalization by China. Of course, Korea isn’t the only small country to have been bullied by bigger ones. But in both North and South Korea, governments have found it highly expedient to play up this narrative.
Even when Korea was still a monarchy, the country had a reputation as “the Hermit Kingdom.” While Japan was busy modernizing and trading in the late 19th Century, Korea attempted to retreat into itself. This did not help prevent Korea from losing its sovereignty to Japan in 1910, as the country was militarily very weak and internally divided as well. The spirit of isolationism remains though, and North Korea’s leaders seem to think that isolationism plus strictly enforced unity—and nuclear weapons—will preserve their nation as an island of pure Koreanness.
Today, it is only possible to leave North Korea if one has permission. Permission is only given to elites, or those with enough money to bribe their way out. The regime treats those who leave and don’t come back as traitors, and severely punishes the family members they leave behind.
Those who are denied something become more curious, though. Judging by the uncontrollable level of demand for foreign TV, music, and movies, North Koreans are extremely interested in what is going on beyond their borders.
What do North Koreans think when they see foreigners in their country?
DT: From my own experience, people in the main areas of Pyongyang aren’t that surprised when they see foreigners. There aren’t many tourists by Seoul’s standards, but relative to 10 years ago, it is pretty easy to see a non-Korean face in Pyongyang these days. That said, when a group of five of us were allowed to take a jog around the city without guides, there were plenty of people who did a double-take at the sight of us!
Elsewhere, people will definitely stare. But that doesn’t mean they dislike you. It’s more a matter of curiosity.
Jae Young Kim:
It is easy to forget how big a country North Korea is. People’s perception of foreigners differs dramatically, depending on which part of the country they are from. In the past, propaganda efforts were extremely successful at brainwashing most North Koreans, creating mistrust and suspicion towards foreign visitors. We were led to believe that foreigners were a real threat to national security, and that most of us would never see a foreigner in our lives.
The lack of foreigners would seem like proof of the government’s ongoing protection of its people—the idea of meeting a foreigner would fill some people with fear! But growing up near the Chinese border, it didn’t take long for me to realize that all this information was wrong. Chinese people often came into North Korea for business or other reasons, and I remember when I was little, meeting Chinese visitors amazed me. I would brag about it at school and my friends wouldn’t know what to say.
But in the inland areas it is a different story. One of my North Korean friends living in South Korea still feels awkward meeting foreigners and often perceives them to be a threat, because people from his region were isolated for so long. This way of thinking remains intact among some North Koreans, due to the combined effect of intensive propaganda and a complete lack of contact with foreigners while growing up. Things like this go to show the brainwashing effect of the North Korean education system.
Our ideological schooling tells us from a young age that foreign countries—especially the United States—are the reason North Korea is so poor, due to sanctions. As such, North Koreans who only had this kind of education feel a stronger revulsion towards foreigners than those of us from the border areas.
An additional question: How do you feel about the small but steadily-increasing international tourism industry in the DPRK?
DT: I personally believe that increasing tourism in the DPRK would be a very positive move. Frequent visits by foreigners will help improve the perception of North Korean people toward foreigners whilst promoting an opening and vitalization of the economy. North Koreans fully understand that their country is poor. They also know that foreigners are richer than them. So they hope to have a better life by interacting with the outside world—and tourism is one way they can do it.
Many North Koreans know well that areas that have a lot of foreign visitors, such as Mount Kumgang [though tourism from South Korea stopped in 2008], and more recently Rason, have a higher standard of living. Despite the effects of the propaganda, the average North Korean today isn’t going to harass foreign visitors, despite the rumors some foreigners hear. If I were still in North Korea, I would not think in that way. Rather, I would believe that increased tourism will help make my life better. Of course, tourism will not affect the general public directly, but it will affect them indirectly by increasing job opportunities and raising the total income of the country.
So you see, international tourism helps many North Koreans and promotes the opening of the country. I believe North Koreans would agree with me on that. My personal opinion is that the expansion of the tourism industry will make the hard life of the North Korean people easier.
What rumors were there about the outside world when you lived in North Korea?
DT: Government propaganda famously used to tell North Koreans they had “nothing to envy,” but these days, citizens are well aware that their country is very poor. Information about the wealth of China and South Korea does flow into the DPRK, but not in a complete and verifiable fashion. As a result then, it cannot be surprising that there are plenty of rumors about how neighboring countries are lands of milk and honey.
Jae Young Kim:
There were lots of rumors about the outside world when I lived in North Korea, usually focused on how much richer the rest of the world was compared to us. Nobody knew where these rumors started, but they always left us curious and wanting to find out more.
With China being the closest neighbor, most of the rumors I heard about the outside world revolved around how much better life was there. It was common to hear things like, “China is so rich that yo
u can’t even compare it with North Korea,” or “Chinese people own two cars per household and all live in two-story houses.” Obviously it’s not common to own a car in the DPRK, so it was intriguing to hear these kinds of things.
We also knew that Chinese people had food and clothes that would have been unimaginable for most North Koreans. There was one rumor which was especially crazy, that, “Chinese dogs sometimes refuse to eat because they are so full.” But these stories weren’t just based on rumor, because many of us knew people who had gone to work in China for a few months and come back with enough money to live like a king in North Korea for years.
Not everything we heard was good, though. We heard some pretty scary rumors about China, too. One was about a town called In-Dwejii (인돼지/Human Pig), where the Chinese were rumored to be growing human beings in a pigpen—just like animals. People said you’d be sent to that town if you accidentally crossed the border, and that if you went there you’d never come back. I’m not sure where these stories came from but I guess they weren’t enough to stop a lot of people from crossing the border to China regardless.
Of course, rumors also swirled about prosperity in South Korea, too. There was a saying that South Korea was much, much cleaner than China. People would say, “When you travel three days on the Chinese train, your socks get so dirty. But even after spending a week on a South Korean train, your socks stay really clean.”
These rumors about the outside world weren’t things you could gossip about freely with friends. That’s because if you said something “wrong” about the outside world, there was a chance you could be punished for promoting non-socialist influences. As a result, these rumors were only shared between close friends or family—people you could trust. And this being the case, it always blew me away that there were so many rumors to be heard about the outside world.
With all the stories I’d heard, it was easy to think that life would be full of luxurious comfort as soon as I left North Korea. But after crossing the border for the first time, the reality of China became apparent and things appeared very different to what I’d imagined. However, it was safe to say that the Chinese did have a richer life than we did.
The most impressive part about arriving in China for me was how bright the city was at night and how people could watch TV 24 hours a day. In North Korea, we had a serious lack of electricity and I could only watch TV on weekends or holidays. So words can’t describe how amazed I was by the fact that you could use electricity all day and all night. And at the start, every day in China felt like a holiday because I was able to watch TV all of the time!
Another thing that really surprised me in leaving North Korea was that in all of the countries I went to, you could say whatever you wanted. In contrast, back home we always had to use proper terms for talking about the government and our leader. Naturally, it would also be impossible to even think about criticizing them in public.
When I finally got to South Korea, I was really shocked by the fact that you could talk about the president without using his formal title—and even talk badly of him openly! This was all very new to me. You see, when I arrived in China I actually had an argument with a local friend who was talking about Kim Jong Il without using his formal title. For me this was so shocking that I insisted he must always use Kim Jong Il’s official title when talking about our “Dear Leader.” He just laughed at me!
There were many differences between the rumors I heard in North Korea and the reality of life outside. Of course, there are also many poor people in South Korea and China, so it was incorrect to think that everybody would be enjoying a luxurious life in those places.
Sometimes I miss North Korea. Thoughts of my hometown and family trouble me a lot. The first thing on my mind is always my parents and my lovely home. Especially during holidays or birthdays, I feel a part of my heart is empty from missing my family as much as I do. I guess people call this homesickness. I just wish I could come home after a good day and share my news with my family.
When I see my friends in South Korea, I miss my friends back in North Korea and the great memories we have together. I do my best to keep the memories of my hometown fresh in my mind, so that I can be satisfied with my current life in South Korea.
What do people who live near the border think about China when they look across at the bright lights?
DT: There are places along the Korean side of the DPRK–China border that are close enough to literally throw a stone and hit a Chinese person on the other side. People even trade with Chinese by floating baskets of goods back and forth across the Tumen River, which is extremely narrow at some sections.
It is impossible for those living in border towns like Hyesan or Sinuiju not to notice that those looking back at them are much richer than they are. They also notice the 24-hour electricity and cannot help but wish that North Korea was more like China.
Je Son Lee:
Issues such as human rights or political systems are considered unimportant by most North Koreans. As a result, while those of us living along the border did envy the Chinese, it was usually for material reasons: jealousy of the bright lights and products we knew to exist there. Because access to electricity outside Pyongyang is not the best, most of us in the country are used to lighting up lamps with paraffin and gasoline to see in the dark, suffering from the heat of flames, unbearable smoke and nasty odors every single night. As such, the bright lights in nearby China made the country look like a paradise.
Of course, those living along the border are but a small percentage of all North Koreans, meaning that even the thought of seeing Chinese lights at a distance is inconceivable for the vast majority of people living in the DPRK.
Once, when my 10-year-old cousin came to visit my house from a small town far from the border, I took her out for street food at a kiosk in a night market. As it was at dusk, the entire town was getting darker and darker, but thanks to light from nearby China we could see where we were going. Suddenly, my cousin clapped her hands together and yelled excitedly, “Wow, that looks amazing! Je-son, what is that place? Can you please take me there and show me around?”
I was so shocked by her reaction to the lights that I started sweating! Because she responded to them in such an excited, high-pitched voice, she immediately grabbed everyone’s attention. I felt so embarrassed that I grabbed her wrist and dragged her into an alley so no one would stare at us, but she looked up at me, wondering why I was so embarrassed and nervous.
“Eun-joo, that is China, not our country. You can be arrested by security guards [police] for saying things like that. Do not ever talk about that place. Do not ever stare at that place. Do you understand?”
But she snapped back at me, unable to understand why we weren’t allowed to talk about it. “Je-son! Why is that that town is full of flashing lights when we don’t have any here? Why are we not allowed to look at that town?”
I didn’t know what to say to her. I didn’t know how to explain to her that it can be a crime to be curious about cultures in other countries. So, I gave up and decided to bring her home for the night.
Later on, seeming to be lost in deep thought, she suddenly asked: “Je-son, have you ever been to that place?”
I told her I hadn’t.
“Je-son, when I grow up, I will make sure I go to that place [China] for sure, even if it’s just once. Will you come with me?”
I explained to her that China is not just a place where people can freely move in and out, and that if we were to go there we would be committing treason for having defected from our country.
After that night, my cousin would not see China again for another seven years. It probably was fortunate for her, because if she ever got caught trying to sneak over to China out of sheer curiosity, she may have been subjected to much greater suffering and pain than the conditions she was already living in.
As my story might suggest to you, China is often a place of wonder for North Koreans who don’t know much about South Korea.
And like my cousin, many North Koreans simply envy the fact the Chinese seem wealthier than them. They care much less about politics or human rights than you might think. Yet strange as it may sound, North Koreans become most envious of China when they are told extravagant stories by those defectors who are sent back after being caught illegally crossing the border. I’m talking about the kind of tales that describe Chinese people as skipping meals when they don’t like what’s on offer, and having electricity 24/7.
Can North Koreans study abroad?
DT: South Korea is the biggest exporter of students to the United States after China and India. Overseas study in a Western country is something that probably a majority of the South’s social elite, and substantial numbers of ordinary people, undertake. This is a result of Korean society’s huge focus on education. North Koreans prize education too, but overseas study is an activity barely even open to the “one percent.” It may be something more like the 0.01 percent. Kim Jong Un was of course one of them, attending school in Switzerland. Those who do go abroad have their eyes thoroughly opened by the experience, but that does not mean that they can stay behind after graduation…
Kim Yoo-sung:
For most people the answer is a short one: No.
North Koreans cannot go to other countries to study just because they want to. Ordinary people in North Korea don’t even know that people in other countries can go abroad for their studies. They wouldn’t even know the expression yuhak (“overseas study”).
There are, however, some people in North Korea who can study abroad—the chosen people. These are, as you may imagine, the children of elites in North Korean society. But even if those chosen children go to another country to study, the North Korean government makes sure to hold their parents hostage while they study abroad. This is to prevent their children from defecting to a third country and refusing to return.