by Daniel Tudor
It is commonly said that defectors from the North will be one of the “keys” to reunification. They are the only group of people who can truly understand Korean as it is spoken in both states. (As you will see in this chapter, North Koreans and South Koreans have diverged quite a lot.) The defectors are also the only group of people who have a full understanding of both societies as they are today, and as such, they will be a bridge between the two in the event of a major political change.
That said, defectors do not necessarily have easy lives in the South. Increasingly, Southerners view North Koreans as foreigners, and worse still, poor foreigners—economic migrants, even. North Korean women are sometimes even treated as mail order brides; one can see adverts by marriage agencies offering this, proclaiming namnam-buknyeo, an old pre-division saying to the effect that the best men are from the south of the peninsula, and the best women are from the north.
Lacking a South Korean education, defectors also find it hard to get decent jobs. On a few occasions I have seen North Koreans doing casual work at restaurants, for instance, and then heard customers talking about them behind their back.
How different are the versions of Korean spoken in the North and the South?
DT: In South Korea, I can probably understand about 70–80 percent of what people say, what is written in newspapers, and so on. When I went to North Korea though, I understood less than half. That’s because there are real differences between North Korean and South Korean. Certain words, such as Geonbae (“cheers”), will instantly produce a response like, “That’s what they say in the South!” (In the North, the word is Chukbae). For those used to the South, North Korean generally feels a little old-school—Korean as it used to be spoken, uncorrupted by the myriad loan words that South Koreans use.
Kim Yoo-sung:
North and South Koreans use a common language, Korean, and the same writing system, Hangeul.
However, more than half a century has passed since Korea was divided. Since the two Koreas have been separated for so long, the way South Koreans speak and write greatly differs from the way North Koreans do.
Following the end of the Japanese occupation in 1945, Korea was divided into two countries under different governments and ideologies. While South Koreans can freely travel to other countries, there is one place on earth they aren’t allowed to visit—North Korea. While South Koreans were allowed to consume popular culture from places such as the United States and Western Europe, they weren’t allowed to watch movies, listen to songs or read books from North Korea.
This long separation has resulted in a number of differences. First, North and South Korea have different ways of spelling. For example, the “r” sound can come at the beginning of a word in North Korean. However, the “r” sound can never come at the beginning of a word in South Korean. One notable example is the word ryori/yori, which could be translated as “cooking” in English. Therefore, it’s ryori in North Korean but yori in South Korean. This is just one example. Think of it as being like the difference between American and British ways of spelling.
Second, North Koreans and South Koreans speak with different accents and intonation. Actually, North Koreans and South Koreans already spoke with different accents before the Korean War. In fact, different accents and dialects exist just within South Korea. So, it’s not surprising that North Koreans and South Koreans speak with different accents, right?
Think of it this way: In the United States, northerners speak with a different accent from southerners. Americans, Canadians, British, Australians and New Zealanders speak a common language, English, but they speak with different accents. Koreans living in the northern part of Korea speak with a different accent to Koreans living in the south.
Third, the South Korean language has an abundance of slang and abbreviations that North Koreans can’t understand. The younger generation in South Korea gets these from the Internet and instant messaging. Slang is made up of words that have come into use recently, so it’s no surprise that North Koreans who have newly arrived in South Korea have a hard time understanding South Korean slang.
Lastly, the most striking difference between North Korean and South Korean is the existence of loanwords. South Koreans have borrowed many words from the English language. Also, South Koreans still use words made from Chinese characters, while the North changed those words to pure Korean ones. The North Korean government has continuously made efforts to get rid of words influenced by foreign languages and change them to pure Korean words. When South Koreans read or hear those words, they can’t understand them at all.
There are many English words that have been taken into the South Korean language, such as “shower,” “cafe,” “radio,” “hairdryer” and so on. North Koreans have made extra efforts to “purify” their language and thus haven’t adopted any words from English. However, despite these efforts at purification, there are some North Korean words that sound similar to English ones, but were actually acquired through Russian. For example, “group” is group in South Korean. But, it’s groupa in North Korean. “Tractor” is tractor in South Korean, while it is trak-tor in North Korean.
Such striking differences will be an obstacle to communication between North and South Koreans. There are other things to be taken care of before the unification of Korea, but such differences in the languages of the two Koreas should definitely be given careful consideration.
Is it true that there’s no tteokbokki [the ubiquitious South Korean street snack composed of rice cakes in spicy sauce] in North Korea? What kinds of street food do exist in North Korea?
DT: If you’ve been to South Korea, you’ll be able to appreciate the significance of this question. Street food is a big deal there, and the king of street foods is tteokbokki. It would seem strange to me to walk around a city full of signs written in hangul and not see tteokbokki on sale somewhere.
Kim Yoo-sung:
Tteokbokki does not exist in North Korea. Before I came to South Korea, I had never heard of such a thing. Only after I came to South Korea did I see tteokbokki for the first time.
When I finally tasted it, I couldn’t understand why it was such a popular street food and why people would enjoy eating it. It was very different from the kinds of food I was used to. But as I got used to South Korean food day by day, I grew to like tteokbokki so much. Now I must admit that I’ve become a big fan.
Near my home in South Korea, there is a very famous tteokbokki restaurant. My wife and I go there at least once a week. That’s how much we enjoy eating tteokbokki these days. Our daughter was recently born, and we can’t wait to take her with us on our weekly visit. I’m sure our daughter will grow up to like tteokbokki just as much as me and my wife, when she’s big enough to eat it.
If you haven’t tried tteokbokki yet and just looked at pictures of it, you’d probably wonder if it would be delicious at all. But let me assure you: It is one of the best street foods I have ever had.
The tteok in tteokbokki refers to the rice cake, its main ingredient. Tteok is very sticky and tasty itself, but when chili pepper paste (gochujang) is added, the dish has a richer, spicy and sweet flavor. People who love tteokbokki do so because it’s spicy and sweet at the same time. Tteokbokki is my comfort food: When I eat it, it seems to relieve my stress right away. Do you know what’s even better? If you eat tteokbokki with a bowl of hot soup, it tastes heavenly.
Other kinds of South Korean street food, such as hotteok and odeng, do not exist in North Korea either. I have never seen them there. Instead, there are other kinds of street food in North Korea: Injo gogi bap (artificial meat rice), tofu bap (rice) and soondae (Korean traditional sausages).
The most popular street food in North Korea is injo gogi bap. It is as commonly found in the streets as tteokbokki is on the streets of South Korea. The term injo gogi may sound strange to most South Koreans. But injo gogi would be called soy sausage in South Korea and Western countries. The period from 1995–1999 was the hardest time for all North Ko
reans, as they were affected by economic difficulties. Remember the Great Famine? During this time, North Koreans didn’t let any food go to waste. People used leftover soybeans and turned them into soy sausages. This became popular all over North Korea. At first glance, these soy sausages, called injo gogi, look like odeng in South Korea. People stuff injo gogi with rice and spicy sauce. This became a delicacy and a popular dish in North Korea. I often saw people eating injo gogi, tofu bap and soondae at street kiosks when I was living in North Korea.
After I arrived in South Korea, I saw that street food also exists in the South. But street foods in South Korea are nothing like what I saw in North Korea. Among South Korean street foods, tteokbokki and hotteok are my favorites. I eat both pretty often. But odeng … I don’t enjoy eating it just yet. But who knows? I never thought I would like tteokbokki when I first arrived in South Korea. Now, I love it so much that I eat it every week. Someday, I may like odeng just as much as I love tteokbokki.
When Korea becomes unified, I bet South Korean street foods such as tteokbokki, hotteok and odeng will appeal to North Koreans. And, of course, South Koreans don’t know North Korean street foods such as injo gogi bap and tofu bap. I look forward to the day when Korea becomes one country again and Koreans from both sides of the country can enjoy these street foods with each other.
Do North Koreans listen to K-pop?
DT: South Korean pop music is absolutely huge in China, Thailand, Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia, and many other places. K-pop is slick, its performers having perfected their dance moves and voices through years of training, and their appearances through years of workouts, makeovers, and plastic surgery procedures. North Korean pop singers are also well-trained, but in that boring socialist/militaristic way—they sing about being good citizens, and how wonderful Kim Jong Il or Kim Jong Un are. In a straight match-up between South and North Korean pop music, there’s no way that young North Koreans would choose the latter. And many are finding ways to access K-pop.
Je Son Lee:
I have heard that there has been a growing interest in K-pop idol groups such as Girls’ Generation in North Korea recently. However, there was little interest in such K-pop idol groups prior to 2012. K-pop idol groups look stunningly glamorous and beautiful. They’re often featured in flashy video clips, as well. But I think that North Koreans are very sentimental people, so, they pay more attention to the lyrics and voice of singers. They think lyrics and the voices of singers are far more important than appearance.
Also, North Koreans were born and raised in a very patriarchal society. K-pop idol groups are mainly teenagers clad in skimpy clothes and North Koreans find this socially unacceptable. In North Korea, people who can afford to watch video clips from South Korea and other countries are the ones with money. Hence, it is mostly adults who can afford to consume K-pop culture. Teenagers aren’t likely to have enough money to consume whatever they like, unless their parents are affluent, high-ranking officials.
When watching the South Korean dramas or movies, adults and teenagers react to the same scenes differently. Grownups like scenes such as when the male character donates his corneas to the female lead, or when the two of them get married right before the death of the female lead. If you have watched this particular K-drama, you probably know which scenes I’m talking about.
Teenagers pay more attention to the amusement park (Seoul’s Lotte World) featured in the drama. They are far more interested in the fashion style of the main characters—jeans and short skirts, etc.
When it came to the background music of this K-drama, grownups like “Kal-muri,” sung by the famous trot singer Na Hoon-a. Teenagers like the song “Bogoshipda (I Miss You)” by Kim Bumsoo. It doesn’t mean that teenagers don’t like the trot song “Kalmuri,” but they do prefer the latter.
The grown-ups, though, don’t like “Bogoshipda” at all. They say it sounds like a poem, not a song. Also, they never like the fashions shown in South Korean dramas. Adults often criticize the miniskirts and skimpy clothes worn in them. Still, they are crazy about those South Korean dramas because they like the storylines so much.
North Korean dramas and movies are all about making sacrifices for the leader. Even if the main character dies in the movie, they died for our leader. Yet in South Korean dramas, people make sacrifices for someone they love. This was fresh and shocking to most North Koreans. Likewise, South Korean dramas are more realistic and down-to-earth. This is why grownups love watching them, even though they don’t like the skimpy clothes! Teenagers and children love the storylines, too. But they also love copying the Seoul accent, as spoken in K-dramas.
“Bathroom” is wisaengshil in North Korean but hwajangshil in South Korean. Due to the popularity of South Korean dramas, the younger generation of North Koreans has begun to use the South Korean term. They adopt new words and new culture from South Korea more quickly than adults. It is possible that K-pop idol groups may have gotten more popular in the North by now.
But up until 2012, people didn’t feel comfortable about any of those recent South Korean songs. They preferred old songs to new hits from idol groups. In 2012, the most popular South Korean songs among North Koreans included old K-pop such as “Friend,” “Private’s Letter” and “For Love.” Later on, when the South Korean drama Sweet 18 became popular in the North, South Korean singer Chang Nara, who sang on the soundtrack, attracted much attention from North Korean viewers.
I’m not sure how the K-pop scene has changed since I left North Korea. But I can tell you that those singers and their songs were popular among North Koreans while I was there. In my case, my favorite K-pop song was “Like Being Shot by a Bullet,” by Baek Ji-young. But since my mom didn’t like that song, I couldn’t sing it at home. One thing is for certain: The taste of the young generation in North Korea is very wide and diverse. You never know, North Korea’s teenagers might be dancing to EXID’s “Up & Down” at this very moment.
What did you think about South Koreans when you were in the North?
DT: Every week, the North Korean government conducts kangyeonhwe, or lectures, that disparage the South. Some North Koreans may believe such propaganda wholeheartedly, but most of them take it in one ear and let it out of the other. Where the lectures portray the South as evil and impoverished, some North Koreans see evidence to the contrary in the form of the food, fertilizers and medicines that come from the South. As a result, many North Koreans know that the South is wealthy, and feel envious. Strict North Korean laws keep them from expressing any such knowledge and feelings about the South, however. Lots of information about South Korea has become available and made many North Koreans change their image of the South, so in general, positive feelings about the South outnumber the negative. I also believe that the growing positive image of the South is causing more North Koreans to defect.
Jae Young Kim:
Those who live near the border with China know a lot about South Korea. Information about South Korea flows in along with the Chinese products, video and radios that are smuggled into North Korea. Many South Korean TV programs are also smuggled in video file form, and surprise the North Koreans, who obtain and watch them secretly. However, people in areas far from the border do not know much about South Korea. A North Korean who became a friend of mine during the process of escaping from North Korea told me he only learned about South Korea after arriving in China. People in most inland areas do not have much access to transportation or outside communication, and receive ideological education through state TV, the North Korean government’s propaganda tool. As a result, information about South Korea cannot reach them, even through word of mouth.
I was in high school when I was first exposed to news about South Korea. I went to visit my uncle’s home, where I watched a South Korean TV drama called “The Staircase to Heaven.” It was the first time ever I saw a South Korean drama, and I was very surprised. I could feel for the first time that South Koreans were living much better than us. It was shocking to see
that young South Koreans of about the same age as me were living a completely different lifestyle. The sophisticated atmosphere of the city streets and the actors and actresses shown in the drama were enough to excite me. I was so saddened by the heroine’s death in the drama that I had a mild case of depression for three days, and my heart pounded a bit when I saw the male lead. It was such an unforgettable experience that I searched for that same drama as soon as I arrived in South Korea.
That first experience opened my eyes to South Korea and kindled my curiosity. I began listening to South Korean radio broadcasts. I was able to pick up Chinese and South Korean radio channels where I lived. My parents tried their best to stop me from doing so for fear of getting caught, but I was magnetically drawn to South Korean radio news, even though it all began through simple curiosity. I still remember it so vividly; every night after 10 p.m. I would take out the matchstick that was put into the radio in order to block foreign channels, and listen to them at low volume, all the while looking out to see if my parents were watching me. The hassle of having to put back the matchstick into the radio during the daytime was nowhere near enough to dampen my curiosity.
I had to ensure the security of our home before I listened to the radio. All lights had to be turned out, all the curtains had to be drawn, and the radio volume could not be louder than the whisper of an ant. An occasional barking of a neighbor’s dog would cause my heart to drop to the floor and my eyes to double in size. It was like something from a movie. Radio sounds were clearer on cloudy days. I was so taken by these accents that were so different from ours that I even tried to repeat words in a Seoul accent, all at a very low, barely audible level.
What caught my ears especially in those days was the news. Unlike North Korean news, South Korean news discussed events happening in real time. It also included news about various food and medical supplies that were being sent to North Korea as aid. I was confused for a while when I realized that South Korea and America were sending aid to North Korea; that was so different from what the government was telling us. I began wondering who was telling the truth. Meanwhile, I also enjoyed writing down the lyrics of songs, and singing along. Once, my parents even joined me and sang along.