Caught Between Conflicts: Missionaries and Refugees

The work of Crossing Borders is fraught with risk. Though our efforts have continued uninterrupted for 16 years, we’ve operated with the knowledge that at any moment, the Chinese government could effectively halt our operations. But despite the inherent pressures of our mission field, we find ourselves full of hope.

On January 4th, closely following the 40th anniversary of bilateral Chinese-American relations, the US State Department issued an advisory placing China on status of “increased caution” for travelling Americans. The advisory warned US citizens that Chinese officials may arrest or detain any Americans visiting China in the country without being charged with a crime. China is using these arrests “to compel U.S. citizens to participate in Chinese government investigations, to lure individuals back to China from abroad, and to aid Chinese authorities in resolving civil disputes in favor of Chinese parties.”

The release of the advisory is the result of the ongoing tensions between the Chinese and American governments. The government travel advisory for the 2.3 million Americans who visit China each year is likely driven by ongoing trade negotiations with China, as well as the recent detention of three Canadian nationals. It is both a politically and economically motivated warning issued by a American officials closely watching Chinese diplomacy. The two nations’ combative rhetoric has been expanding steadily.

Caught in the crossfire are Crossing Borders’ American missionaries who travel into China to serve North Korean refugees and their children. If arrested or detained, they would be casualties of a much larger conflict that has little to do with Crossing Borders’ work. But Crossing Borders has long been aware of the difficulties of working in China, especially as an American organization. Both of our founding members have experienced danger to their lives. Members of our Chinese field staff have reported being under the watchful eye of authorities, sitting through accusatory interrogations or receiving threats of arrest. As the American and Chinese governments take turns placing a greater strain upon their relationship overseas, US missionaries grow concerned.

Christianity, has been strongly rejected and harshly enforced by Chinese authorities for the past year. Our missionaries have recently reported that religious holidays such as Christmas have been banned in certain major cities. Heightened frustration between the American and Chinese governments have only given our staff more reason to worry about arrest, detainment or expulsion in China. With right cause, we feel powerless and caught in the middle of a much bigger conflict.

Over 200,000 North Korean refugees who are in hiding throughout China experience much greater pressures. Many refugees - who have experienced terror and abuse at the hands of authorities - are aware of how little control they have over their circumstances. Hungry and impoverished, they could never control the scale of historic and international tensions that have driven them into desperate circumstances. Many live in fear.

But Crossing Borders’ message for both the field staff we employ and the North Korean people in our care is one of hope. We do not share our hopes despite being at the mercy of greater powers, but because of such mercies. We do not believe our difficult circumstances are signs of despair. We trust in that we have been given a mission to share kindness, love, and peace despite the tribulation or persecution we may experience. Our calling proves truer and stronger in trials and is our anchor in all circumstances.

In safety and danger please stand with us in prayer. Whatever trials lay ahead in the coming year, Crossing Borders hopes to forge onward holding to our testimonies of deep compassion and great endurance.

Hot and Cold: North Korea’s Shifting Diplomatic Tone in 2018

A presentation at North Korea’s Mass Games in Pyongyang.

North Korea acted like a completely different country in 2017. Gone are the hyperbolic threats and missile launches were rapidly replaced by handshakes, hugs and overtures for peace. But this is what is happening on the surface. When you dig deeper, the nation has not changed very much. Let’s examine the recent news surrounding North Korea may reveal more tension and conflict buried beneath the nation’s seeming diplomatic and peaceful transformation.

Mixed Signals

On the campaign trail this year, President Trump stated that he and Chairman Kim the two “fell in love” during their meeting in June.

Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un have kept a friendly public dialogue despite considerable tensions as their countries continue to negotiate nuclear and peace deals. At the latest meeting between President Trump and South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, President Trump reportedly asked Moon to pass along a friendly message to Kim.

“The message was that President Trump has a very friendly view of Chairman Kim and that he likes him, and so he wishes Chairman Kim would implement the rest of their agreement and that he would make what Chairman Kim wants come true," Moon said Saturday, according to USA Today.

These overtures are in contrast to the widening gap in negotiations between the United States and North Korea.

The North Korean government’s promises to dismantle its Yongbyon nuclear complex came with strict conditions. If Washington would first ease its sanctions and sign a peace agreement, deconstruction would begin. North Korea has also expressed frustration toward South Korea’s ongoing small-scale military drills.

The Trump administration has, in response, demanded for North Korea to take the first step of opening up all of its nuclear facilities to weapons inspectors prior to releasing sanctions and signing for peace. Both nations are unwilling to yield to one another’s conditions.

"I think right now, we are absolutely stuck," said Sue Mi Terry, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in an interview with NPR.

It appears as if Trump will indeed meet with Kim again early in 2019, according to comments made by national security adviser John R. Bolton on December 4. On the contrary, according to the commentary of Robert Carlin, a nonresident fellow at the Stimson Center, North Korea has expressed an unwillingness to participate in a summit “if the US does not take ‘credible measures’ to address North Korean ‘concerns’ in high level talks” with priority and agility.

Weapons Program Continues

North Korea imposed a voluntary moratorium on long-range ballistic missile tests this year as an act of goodwill leading up to the Trump-Kim summit in June. This was a much-welcomed concession as North Korea was active in testing missiles and nuclear weapons in 2017.

But there are indications the country is still moving forward with their nuclear program. Although development at its main test site has halted, the North Korean government has developed more than a dozen other sites. According to commercial satellite images released in November, North Korea has continued and significantly bolstered its ability to launch a nuclear attack. Though this does not technically breach North Korea’s promises, it violates its spirit of its steps towards peace.

Last week, North Korea’s state news agency (KCNA) stated that Kim Jong Un “supervised a newly developed ultramodern tactical weapon test.” The KCNA further noted the Supreme Leader’s excitement in “seeing the power of the tactical weapon” and its ability to “increase the defense capability” of North Korea.

On Monday, December 4, the Daily NK reported that North Korea has directed its navy to take a “Battle Readiness Posture,” which described as a mid-level state of alert for its military forces.

A South Korean Train and North Korean Soldier Cross the Border

Last week, a South Korean train crossed into North Korea for the first time in 10 years. While being a symbolic sign of progress and peace, the train’s mission is also to assess what it would take for North Korea’s rail system to modernize.

In their meeting in April, Kim Jong Un asked President Moon Jae-in for help rebuilding their decrepit rail system, which is in “embarrassing” shape. Moon agreed.

But this is not the first time the South has done an assessment of North Korea’s rail system. In 2007, South Korea studied the North’s rail system in limited scope as a train ran between the countries five times per week. This process continued until relations chilled between the two countries in 2008 and the line was eventually shut down.

As in 2008, talks between the North and South can easily stall and progress could halt. The continuation of such a project hinges on the ongoing nuclear negotiations between North Korea and the United States.

As the South Korean train made its way into North Korea last week, another North Korean soldier defected through the DMZ to South Korea. Unlike last year’s dramatic escape, no shots were fired at this solder and little is publicly known about him.

This soldier is just one of the tens of millions of North Koreans still silently suffering under the regime’s cruel rule. The food situation in the country has not improved markedly. As these international tensions, conflicts, agreements continue to swing between war and peace, Crossing Borders will continue to help those who flee into China and send our prayers into this dark nation. We might not be able to change the circumstances of the authorities or principalities who delegate and represent nations, but Crossing Borders will continue to serve and work those we can reach. Please pray for us to be in safety, hope and strength.

Brothers for Life

Our first pictures of Sungsik and Jongtae are outside of an old, dilapidated brick building. Both brothers are wearing their orphanage’s uniforms - a light blue and white polo with each silver, plastic button snapped in place. Their clothes, however, once new, are smudged and smeared with wear and tear. Black and brown stains are scattered across their bellies and sleeves.

The two boys stand differently. Sungsik, twelve-years-old in the photo and the elder of the two, stands hunched over, his shoulders shrugged as if he’s standing for the picture in the cold. He looks as if he is about to be struck, scolded, yelled at. His face is unsure, uncertain. Sungsik is uncomfortable.

Jongtae, though a year younger than his older brother, stands in stark contrast. His expression is sternly nonchalant, almost angry. His back is straight and his shoulders stiff. His arms are snapped to his sides like a soldier at roll call. Jongtae’s gaze is distant, beyond the camera. It seems that he could care no less about his picture being taken.

In these photos, Sungsik and Jongtae are about to be adopted into Crossing Borders’ group home.

Sungsik and Jongtae at our first meeting.

We don’t know Sungsik or Jongtae’s real birthdays. Their parents never bothered to register their information with us or the government. Our best estimates have been sometime in January of 2003 and 2004. The boys are not sure either. According to the boys, they were raised by an uncle when infants and left to a caring but poor orphanage by the time our missionaries came to find them. No relatives or family have ever come looking for either Sungsik or Jongtae.

Neither of the boys remember their father’s face. He was a Chinese man arrested for illegally selling opioids. He is currently still serving his sentence and has not been heard from. Sungsik and Jongtae’s mother, a North Korean refugee who was sold to their father, was also arrested. The consequence of her crime was more severe. She was sent back to North Korea, where it is impossible to learn of her whereabouts or condition. It is possible that neither Sungsik or Jongtae will ever even know if their mother was allowed to live when she returned to her country.

Through the years, our staff have learned a great deal about Sungsik and Jongtae.

Sungsik is quiet, shy, but intelligent and attentive. He is smaller than his younger brother but fiercely caring and loving. He is patient, but often lacks the boldness to reprimand or correct his sibling. He is pale and thin, loves to play volleyball and competes in his middle school’s intramural competitions.

We discovered that Jongtae had a urinary tract infection when he first arrived at our group home. It must have been an incredibly painful experience for him, as our staff only learned of this sickness when he urinated blood. Thanks to a volunteer doctor sent from the United States by Crossing Borders and several visits to local medical facilities, Jongtae was healed and is now very healthy.

Jongtae, much darker than his older brother, is the stronger and louder of the two. He can often be moody and is easily upset. When asked about his life or likes and dislikes, his answer is most often a scornful but playful “Wǒ bù zhīdào!” or “I don’t know!” Jongtae can be bright and silly, but abrasive. He, too, enjoys playing sports with his brother and listening to music.

Sungsik is now 16-years-old, his brother Jongtae is 15. The two of them are taller, healthy and still growing. In their group home, they are fed, attend school, and spend time with other boys their age. The boys bicker often, poke and prod at one another and argue. But together, they know that the only family they have is one another.

We want to continue to provide Sungsik and Jongtae a home. Our organization exists to serve children like them as they fight to become educated, mature young men. With compassion and care, we want to help Sungsik and Jongtae sustain their family.

Crossing Borders works to support many children like Sungsik and Jongtae. Many half-North Korean children are still lost and alone, without anyone to help them. Please help us to reach more.

Sungsik and Jongtae at our retreat for North Korean children.

By the Numbers

North Korean women gathering for a seminar at our annual retreat for refugees.

The Crossing Borders team at our 2018 retreat for refugee women was overwhelmed as they registered our attendees. Each North Korean woman and child who arrived had to be given a name tag, a pen, a notebook and assigned to a room. But rooms at the small motel in the countryside were filling rapidly, and the name tags, pens and notebooks were running low.

Amidst the talking, singing, laughing voices, the team members hurried to and fro in the bustling motel lobby and its rooms. Every once in a while, one of them would look around at the sheer number of the women and children pouring in through the entrance, astounded.

In 2016, Crossing Borders began an annual retreat for North Korean refugee women and their children in China. Its goal to build a community that the North Korean women in hiding could call their own.

The project began very small but our hopes were high. The retreat was to be held every year in a quiet, isolated motel in rural China. The staff was minimal. Twelve women and 10 children attended the retreat in 2016. In 2017, 16 women and 13 children came to join the team in sharing, praying, and counseling.

All of the women in attendance, at one time in their lives, had fled into this foreign country. Almost every one of them were sold on the black market. Several had been physically and psychologically tortured in North Korea’s infamous prison camps. They shared about their traumatic memories, their ongoing hurts, sorrows that seemed to have no end in a world that persecuted them, hated them.

But in this small community, many of the women found a small but significant solace. They could share the unseen scars of their experiences. They could offer encouragement and strength for one another. They could pray desperately together.

Each year, as the annual retreat ended, the Crossing Borders team was thankful that they had the opportunity to provide a small, safe place to share and to pray. But what we did not realize was that we had begun the roots of something much greater than a yearly gathering. We had planted a community.

It is true that the group of 22 refugee women and children following our retreats in 2016 and 2017 was small. But it was also one that remained faithful - even after the retreat had ended.

Women in this community began to share with each other and with their neighbors, not out of necessity but with open and willing hearts. Women like Lois, who we wrote about in our 2017 Annual Report, began to understand that a place of safety did not only provide her comfort, but the strength and motivation to share the compassion she received. The little graces they had received were paid forward and multiplied. Even the North Korean children taught their friends how to sing and dance to the songs they had learned at our retreats.

The community grew.

When our team arrived in China this year for our annual retreat, they were greeted by 36 North Korean refugee women and 40 of their children. Their audience had grown threefold. Friends of friends, neighbors, every North Korean refugee within reach had been shared to. Together, our team and the women and children did not only endure the hardship and persecution they faced. Instead, they thrived.

Michelle's Time for Healing

Michelle (left) after meeting with a Crossing Borders volunteer in China.

“Michelle’s” face lit up when we asked about her hometown, Musan, North Korea. She described the fresh air, the pink azalea flowers that grew along the mountainside. Everything else about her past that she described to us was misery. We are hoping that, as a new part of our network, things can turn around for her.

Michelle was one of the hundreds of thousands of North Korean refugees to flee her country because of the famine that killed an estimated 3 million people in the mid 1990s. She fled north into China with her mother in 1998 but awaiting her and so many others was a different form of misery.

North Korean women were trafficked en masse when they flooded into China in the wake of the famine. They were given no human rights and if caught, they were immediately sent back to a North Korean gulag. So they couldn’t call the police and tell them they were being trafficked. They were stuck.

Michelle and her mother were sold to different men in different cities.

The family who purchased Michelle was cruel. They treated her like a slave and made her work their farm all day and all night. As a result, she has severe back pain and an injured hip, which prevents her from working. We are supporting her with a $50 per month stipend.

Sick of her situation and weary from her injuries, Michelle fled her family but was caught again by a human trafficker and sold to another man, with whom she lives today. Her current husband is good to her, she told us. He allowed Michelle to reunite with her mother and they live together today.

In addition to Michelle’s monthly stipend, entering into our network means that she will be connected to a community of North Korean refugees. She will not be alone in her struggles and she will have people who she can relate to and share about her past trauma. She will have job training available to her as well so that she can pursue a different job that will not require pressure on her back. She will also have access to doctors and therapists that Crossing Borders sends into China to give her quality health care.

Post Trump-Kim Summit: What Now?

Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un shaking hands at the June summit in Singapore.

The Trump-Kim summit came with much fanfare and anticipation. The meeting, which took place in Singapore, was the first time leaders from the two countries met in person. After several hours of discussions, the two nations emerged with a joint agreement by which the two nations agreed to work towards denuclearization. The US has agreed to temporarily stop military drills and North Korea has committed to recovering the remains of fallen soldiers from the Korean War.

This was a good start for the two countries, which just a year ago were threatening the region with nuclear annihilation. But as they say, the devil is in the details. Though a commitment to peace and stability is nice, the two countries must work through a number of contentious issues in order to reach peace and stability. Let’s look at where the negotiations are at now and what these negotiations mean to North Korean refugees.

Negotiating Bumps

After a meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier this month, North Korea said that the US had a “unilateral gangster-like demand for denuclearization.”

It seems that both sides are currently at a virtual standstill in negotiations. The US wants North Korea to denuclearize before they agree to anything. But North Korea wants security assurances before they denuclearize.

This does not mean that the negotiations will fail. We have already seen some surprise twists and turns in the lead up to the June summit and we expect to see some more in the coming weeks and months.

North Korea’s Nuclear Arsenal

North Korea showed promising signs toward denuclearization leading into the June summit. They stopped all missile tests and destroyed a nuclear facility.

But recent reports indicate that, despite North Korea’s pledge to work toward denuclearization, the country is quietly working to confuse the international community about the size and scope of their nuclear arsenal. If North Korea is able to successfully deceive weapons inspectors, there is no way for the world to know if the nation will ever truly denuclearize.

Experts fear that, if North Korea does not make any concrete commitments, time will pass and so too will the precious window to make a deal.

North Korean Refugees

You would think that North Korean refugees around the world would not want to go back to their homeland. This is the homeland that has betrayed them, according to their accounts. This is the homeland that many refugees associate with suffering and sorrow.

But most do want to go back if the current regime falls. Like most refugees, North Koreans identify strongly with the people and culture of their country. They have escaped to freedom and truth and many want the same for their countrymen.

The refugees in our network have expressed guarded excitement at the prospect of the talks between the US and North Korea. They feel that change can occur but that change would be extremely difficult to achieve.

We are living in a time where that change is possible, however remote. We know that ultimately, our hope is not in people but in God. We will continue to pray for change in North Korea.

Fifteen Year Anniversary: An Interview with Mike Kim

- This post was written by Dan Chung, Executive Director of Crossing Borders. 

We had been meeting for a couple of years without a name in the early 2000s to work toward a target we didn’t quite see. It was a group of college friends who had a passion to help North Koreans. Mike Kim (author of the book, “Escaping North Korea” and co-founder of Crossing Borders) and I sat at a bookstore on a cold Chicago morning in 2003 tossing names around. Nothing stuck.

Then, as luck would have it, one of us realized where we were meeting. Yes, it was a Borders bookstore. The word ‘borders’ was and is an essential part of our work. North Korean refugees were crossing a border into China for help and we were crossing many other borders to help. Crossing Borders. It felt right.

Five years ago on our 10-year anniversary, this memory did not seem so far away. Today it does. First of all, Borders Bookstores is now a thing of the past. Secondly, after getting married, having children and being a part of too many stories to recount, 2003 does seem like a long time ago.

One January 1, 2018, Crossing Borders celebrated our 15th anniversary. Over the years we have helped about 1,000 North Korean refugees and orphans with vital resources and protections. As a part of the original team, I can say without hesitation that we are still pursuing this work with the same vitality and excitement as when we first started. The only difference is that we’re a lot wiser now.

I wish I could peel back the curtain on all of it and share with you what an incredible ride it has been. Perhaps one day I’ll be able to. For now, I want to share a conversation I had with Mike Kim as we reminisced about the past 15 years.

We thank God for all the memories and for all the people who have helped in big and small ways. You are always near our hearts. 

The End of the Korean War and The North Korean Refugee Crisis

The Arch of Reunification located south of Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea.

The two Koreas recently announced that they will be coming to the negotiating table at Panmunjom, or Peace Village. National leaders will be convening in a building that straddles the two Koreas, one used for high-level negotiations. On the table is an order of business that many say is long overdue: a peace treaty that would signal the official end to the Korean War.

The promise of this treaty would be far reaching for everyday North Koreans and even North Korean refugees. But experts say that such a treaty would require more than one meeting and also complicated by many factors.

Lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula could mean an end to the starvation of the North Korean people. The UN reported last year that about two in five North Koreans are malnourished and 70 percent of the country’s citizens rely on food aid. Putting a stop to the pressing burden of hunger in the North Korean population could furthermore spell an end to the North Korean refugee crisis, as a major concern of defectors could be solved with reliable, sustainable resources.

But it is important to remember that many potential solutions to the problem of hunger are currently unavailable to the North as the Korean War never came to an official end. The three-year conflict from 1950 to 1953 ended with a truce, not a peace treaty. The truce was a simple agreement that stated that both sides would cease combat. A peace treaty, as opposed to the ongoing armistice, would require more involvement from both Koreas as well as many hours of negotiation on controversial issues such as sovereignty and land.

“Whatever they call it: a peace declaration, a peace accord, even a peace treaty — it doesn’t mean we will all wake up and Korea is at peace,” said John Delury, an associate professor of Chinese studies at Yonsei University in Seoul told the New York Times. “It’s significant, but it’s embedded in a process. I would imagine the two Koreas can do something on their own to declare their own commitment to peace.”

But many factors and forces could stop such open signs of good will in their tracks. Take for example North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. The country’s leaders have repeatedly signaled willingness to denuclearize only to break their promises in spectacular shows of force and open aggression. Both South Korea and the U.S. have recently said that peace would only be possible and sustainable if North Korea denuclearizes.

Some experts say that North Korea’s current motivations are not for peace but for war.

“Dictator Kim Jong Un’s move comes straight out of the rogue-regime playbook: Offer peace to distract from preparations for war,” wrote Michael Rubin of the conservative American Enterprise Institute think-tank for the New York Post. “That it repeatedly works reflects the naiveté of Western officials, for whom history begins anew with every administration.”

China is another complicating factor. China is a close ally to North Korea and has grave concerns about a U.S. presence on the Korean Peninsula, even as a peacekeeping force. China has been North Korea’s main benefactor and has represented up to 70 percent of North Korea’s economy. It is possible that a peaceful cooperation between the Koreas, which may eventually open opportunities for the West to enter into countries so close to China’s borders, would be an unwelcome thorn in China’s side.

With so much riding on potential peace between North and South Korea, it is easy to get swept up with the dream of peace and stability. No one knows what will happen next. The best we can do is hope and pray that the events that unfold in the next few months will result in progressive steps toward lasting peace for all people in the region.

"I wish I can go back for a day"

Nam Gyu Hyeong doubts he will ever be able to go back to his hometown in North Korea [Faras Ghani/Al Jazeera]

Part two of Al Jazeera's series on North Korean defectors features 81-year-old Nam Gyu Hyeong who fled as a 14-year-old student during the Korean War and worked his way up as a lawyer.

"It was 1950 and I was a 14-year-old student. The US military was stationed near my town near Hyesan city in North Korea. One afternoon, me, my 40-year-old cousin, his son and some seniors from school hopped on a military truck. We made it as far as the Geoje Island south of Busan where we were kept in a refugee camp for a year." 

In contrast to other defectors, Nam never felt alienated in his new country, but rather felt grateful for the aid of locals - a family who took him in, a police chief, and business partners. 

"South Korea has been really nice to me. It's given me so much and I feel happy. I wish I can go back for a day and see my hometown but I doubt much of my family is left. I just want to see what has changed and what life is like now. But I doubt that would be possible."

Listen to the full interview here: https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/north-korea-day-180216104750295.html 

North Korea's "Father of Defectors"

Park Jung-oh looks after the evening classes that take place for North Korean children [Faras Ghani/Al Jazeera]

In the first part of the Al Jazeera series, journalist Faras Ghani tells the story of Kim Yong-hwa, 64, who fled North Korea in 1988, formed the North Korean Refugees Human Rights Association of Korea in Seoul to look after those who continue to arrive and face difficulties settling in and is hence called by some as the Father of Defectors.

After fleeing in 1988 via Vietnam, being captured and jailed, fleeing again to Laos where he was captured again, Kim finally arrived in South Korea via a boat funded by a kind couple. However, after finding safety, Kim's fight for freedom and support for North Koreans only continued. 

"I founded the North Korean Refugees Human Rights Association of Korea in 2005 after an incident in Gangwon province where a female defector died in a car accident and her body was placed in the refrigerator for 20 days and not given funeral. No one wanted to deal with that.

"The Ministry of Unification gives around 200,000 Korean won ($188) as a funeral fee for each defector, but that's not adequate and extremely disrespectful because a lot of them don't have a family here. If they die, they'll die as mummies.

"I've saved almost 6,000 defectors so far and the media calls me the 'Father of Defectors'. But the job isn't done yet.

"I don't know where my family is. I heard through people that they were killed after I fled. I didn't speak to them after I fled North Korea.

Listen to the full interview here: https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/defectors-life-north-korea-180216092138530.html

Top 5 Lessons I’ve Learned from North Korean Refugees

Four North Korean refugee women with one of their children born from a forced marriage.

This year marks Crossing Borders’ 15th birthday. I’ve been a part of the organization since the very beginning and have watched it grow from its infancy to where it is today. It has been an incredible ride filled with joy and hardship. My biggest privilege has been the interactions and relationships I have formed with the North Korean refugees in our care.

Each year, I realize that I have received much more than I have given to these people. Here are five lessons that I’ve learned from North Korean refugees:

1. My life is never that bad

I have lived through days in my personal life that I would rather forget and my family has gone through a bit of suffering. Lost businesses, broken limbs, cancer and death are all a part of the pain one endures even in a modernized country. And these things are traumatic. But as I’ve gotten to know North Korean refugees, one thing is crystal clear: the pain and suffering I endure as someone who lives in the USA is undeniably less than the hurt in the life of a North Korean.

North Korean mothers have watched their children wither away in the famine. People have witnessed cannibalism. A pregnant woman’s belly was beaten mercilessly for carrying a half-Chinese baby. People have been bought, sold and traded like household items in the silent system of human trafficking. These are all things the people in our care and our workers on the field have shared again and again with me. Even now, this brokenness in North Korea continues.

This matters in my life because, no matter what I go through, I know that I have so much to be thankful for. In my darkest hour, I can take stock and comfort in great degree of safety, liberty, and justice I have been granted - just for being born in a different part of the world. I do not deserve this kind of peace or comfort any more than the North Korean people I have met, but I realize I have been given so much.

2. Humans are resilient, North Koreans are superhumans

I once interviewed a North Korean woman who lost her family in the famine. She thought that death was inevitable because she too was starving. She went behind her house and laid down near a creek to die. She laid there for hours. But even as she lay there, immobile, powerless, and hungry, for some unexplained reason, she did not die. After several hours on the ground, she stood up and walked for the border into China. Now, over two decades later - after having trekked into a foreign country hostile toward North Korean refugees, after having been sold into human trafficking, after having survived year after year, she is still alive to share her story.

The North Korean refugees that I have met in China have similar tales of miraculous survival despite all odds. For some reason, they did not die. Some might call it luck, others providence. Whatever it is, those who have survived the worst famine in modern history are more than resilient. I have come to admire the will and grit of these people. They inspire me to push myself everyday.

3. A mother’s love is almost unbreakable

I have seen North Korean refugees separated from their children too many times. I have met North Korean women in South Korea who have left children behind in China. I have also met North Korean mothers in China who have left children behind in North Korea.

In 2009 I met a family who left their youngest daughter behind in North Korea. She had been left in the care of a relative until the family could find the funds and connections to get her out. I sat with this couple as they ate at a restaurant in Northeast China but it was clear that they didn’t have much of an appetite. They could only talk about their daughter. The mother nibbled at her food, tears flowing from her eyes the whole meal. Since the family fled North Korea, their daughter could have been sent to a prison camp. She could have been left out in the street by their relatives. I cannot, to this day, imagine the kind of fear that must have been present in this North Korean mother’s heart as she escaped North Korea.

Fortunately, Crossing Borders was able to help this family. It took months and months of planning but finally their daughter was able to escape and be reunited with her mother and father.

There is something universal about the desperation a mother feels when separated from her child. This desire is stronger than any other human instinct I have seen, perhaps just as strong as our instinct for survival.

4. How much a government can impact a person’s life

All North Korean refugees will be affected by the North Korean government for the rest of their lives, even if they live on the other side of the globe. A strange thing happened in countries that espoused Communism, rather than making its people more collectivist, Communism has given its people a more every-man-for-himself attitude.

The North Korean system is based on the idea that, together, the North Korean people can become fully self-reliant. The nation has taken draconian measures to ensure that people comply.

People will publicly tell lies to stay out of trouble. They know that their government has also lied to them. What this has created is a whole society that is based on lies. This behavior is tacitly taught to every citizen. Don’t show your hand or someone will come take you away at night. Don’t share your feelings, even to your own children or you may be reported, imprisoned and executed.

North Korean refugees cannot shake this kind of fear even when they leave their country. And sadly, many maintain this habit that was indoctrinated in them even after they leave. After all, over 200,000 of them still reside in China -  where North Korean refugees must continue to lie about their identity, nationality and beliefs just to survive.

5. How little a government can impact a person’s soul

Despite the overwhelming odds against joy or peace in their lives, a state of hopelessness is not present in the lives of all North Korean refugees. Some have found a way to break free from the grip their government has had on their lives and, through faith in God or other means, many have risen above their circumstances.

I wrote a story about this in the past. I once played a modified version of the staring contest with a North Korean refugee. Underneath her stone-cold stare was an iron will that would not bend to me or to anyone. Needless to say, I did not win the contest.

Despite all of the hardships the North Korean people have endured, there are those who have found a way not to let their government take what is most pure and special in all human beings. In many ways, the North Korean government has found a way to make their people comply. But within a few of the North Korean refugees I have had the privilege of meeting  is an indomitable spirit that will bend but never break. There are some who have suffered with the spirit and strength to cling to things that we could not see, who are able to withstand seemingly insurmountable odds by holding on to deep-seated, immovable hopes in peace and joy to come.

I truly believe that God can use this more than any actions by governments around the world to free the North Korean people.

North Koreans find faith and family in LA church

North Korea refugee May Joo survived a harrowing journey before arriving in Los Angeles where she met Sarah Cho and her father at a ministry that serves North Koreans. 

SUSANICA TAM/FOR KPCC

Amid a dozen other North Koreans, May Joo found herself in a community that gave her a sense of familiarity. But sitting and singing in the small church in LA's Koreatown, Joo found herself getting to know a God she had no idea existed before fleeing North Korea. 

The ministry, founded by the Cho family who immigrated from South Korea, aims to offer an open faith-based community for Koreans, in particular North Koreans who can often feel isolated or discriminated against. 

North Korea refugee Sammy Hyun plays with his son after a church service in Los Angeles, Calif. on Sunday February 4, 2018. 

SUSANICA TAM/FOR KPCC

"There's this Korean word jeong — it's like this love you want to feel from people — but in Los Angeles, I was not able to feel a lot of community support. So I wanted to go somewhere they serve North Koreans, to receive jeong," said Sammy Hyun, 41.  

Listen to the full radio story and read the in-depth article here: https://www.scpr.org/news/2018/02/16/80767/once-barred-from-practicing-religion-north-koreans/

Portrait: North Korean Orphan Care in China Part 2

KyungTae walking near his home in Northeast China.

The following is an excerpt from our Orphan Growth Fund update we sent late in 2017. The Orphan Growth Fund is a subscription program that Crossing Borders runs. All funds donated to OGF are earmarked to benefit of half North Korean children like KyungTae, whose story is below.

“Betrayed Families”

After being released from prison, YA befriended a young woman who shared her story: she had run away to China and been abused by the man who bought her. After being abused, she had gone to the police station herself to be repatriated to North Korea.

As the 26-year-old kindred spirit confided in YA her desire to escape and cross the border again, YA in turn opened up about her plans to be reunited with KyungTae and eventually move to South Korea.

Despite the suspicions of a kind HwaKyo, a term to describe a Chinese national born in North Korea or legally married to a North Korean, YA insisted on trusting her new friend with hopes, dreams and even details of her contacts along the North Korean “Underground Railroad.”

When YA went to a neighboring city to call her “sister” in China, she was ambushed and immediately arrested. Her friend had been an informant for the “bowibu,” a secret police force dedicated to tracking and hunting defectors.

These types of traps are often accompanied by close government surveillance of “betrayed families” such as YA’s. The branding of “traitor” can often extend to the family members of defectors. Earlier in 2013, YA’s older brother had also attempted escape across the Tuman river and was captured. The family left behind had since been shunned by the village and YA’s mother’s protruding bones and sallow face are explained by their rusted rice cooker—there hasn’t been any food to cook.

KyungTae (second from right) with other North Korean orphans.

Hope for the Future

After YA’s deportation, KyungTae and his father struggled. Both loved YA and cried upon news that she had been deported without being allowed to say goodbye. At 67 years old, the elderly father, could no longer work to provide basic necessities, let alone support KyungTae’s education. KyungTae, who was only 10 when his mother was deported, retreated into silence and became withdrawn.

As we await more information on YA’s well being in the labor camp, as well as the possibility of early release through a bribe, we have set up a home sponsorship with a family and a member of Crossing Borders staff to host KyungTae in a town an hour away from his father so he can continue his education.

KyungTae is now about 17 years old. He has not seen his mother since July 2009 and on top of classes and other challenges typical to a teenager his age, KyungTae confronts the daily challenges of being a half North Korean child.

But in recent years he has been changing and light is returning to his life. He still misses his mother but he is now moving toward adulthood. Recently, he was selected for a work-study program at his school. He is studying to become a mechanical engineer. A company paid to have him work at a factory in Southern China. When he returned home to his father, KyungTae proudly handed him about $100 USD. His father broke down in tears. KyungTae is turning 18 next year. We are still waiting for his mother to be released from prison.

These children’s lives and their stories often echo some of the most painful aspects of the refugee experience. And yet, through our ministries and your support, KyungTae and other Orphan Care children have also found the unending love and redemption through their faith.

For more information about the Orphan Growth Fund, click here.

Portrait: North Korean Orphan Care in China Part 1

KyungTae during a visit in 2012.

The following is an excerpt from our Orphan Growth Fund update we sent late in 2017. The Orphan Growth Fund is a subscription program that Crossing Borders runs. All funds donated to OGF are earmarked to benefit of half North Korean children like KyungTae, whose story is below.

KyungTae is a teenager who has grown up in China as the child of a North Korean defector. His exact date of birth is unknown, but his father’s family estimates he was born in 2000.

KyungTae’s story is not uncommon among his generation of half-Chinese, half-North-Koreans–the aftermath of various Chinese and North Korean policies. These children, even if they were born in China, often feel the direct effects of North Korean oppression. Crossing Borders, in response to this growing need, has created group homes and caretaking services for the children of North Korean refugees.

KyungTae’s mother, YA, was in the military during her past life as a North Korean citizen. But following the infamous Great North Korean Famine of the 1990s, YA, like hundreds of thousands of others like her, fled North Korea to neighboring China in search of food, hope and a better life. It is estimated that 1 to 3 million North Koreans died of starvation during the famine’s peak years of 1995-1998.

China, though an ally to the DPRK, was also suffering from a stark gender imbalance following the One-Child Policy. With an increasingly male-dominated population and thus a shortage of brides, China’s traffickers welcomed many of the North Korean refugees crossing the border by tricking or kidnapping them into slavery and selling them to the highest bidder.

YA was immediately sold as a forced bride and married off to a man the same age as her father. However, despite the 45-year age gap between husband and wife, KyungTae’s parents were happy and raised their son together in a home free of violence or abuse.

“We all cried at the meeting place.”

In 2009, YA was captured with 26 other refugees and imprisoned with other defectors, awaiting their deportation. A total of 44 refugees were rounded up in a two-day raid, the largest this village had ever seen.

As husbands and mothers-in-law gathered in front of the police station and waited through the night, it became clear that this raid was ordered from higher ranks. Their bribes, regardless of the sum, would not be enough to save their loved ones, or to even see them one last time.

Our staff joined the crowds of family members mourning their mothers, wives, and daughters at the nearby KFC and “we all cried at the meeting place,” according to a report from our staff.

Defectors who have lived abroad for more than 10 years, like YA, are judged harshly and often sent to the most austere re-education camps. Many become disabled as a result of their beatings, though some have escaped in the past.

For four years, neither our staff nor YA’s family members had any confirmation of whether or not she was alive, if she had survived the camp, or how long her sentence would be.

Praying for KyungTae and his family in 2010.

“Sister, please take care of my KyungTae”

Through a network of underground contacts, in 2015, our staff got a message through to YA, who had just been released after four years of hard labor in a camp, and was now back in her hometown.

A port town of about 400,000 residents, ChongJin makes up one of the many dark spots seen from space. With little to no electricity, much of North Korea is pitch black after sunset, leaving inhabitants vulnerable to looting and theft at the hands of armed military troops. Due to ChongJin’s location and distance from the border, messages are few and far between, often requiring coordination between several staff members and Chinese nationals.

Severely anemic and recovering from years of malnutrition and abuse, YA wrote a letter for her former caretakers in China who had never stopped searching for news of her wellbeing.

In her letter, YA quickly addresses the facts. She was released in December 2014. She describes her family’s health and confirms that she was imprisoned with another Crossing Borders refugee. But at the core of her message, she expresses gratitude. She is thankful for not being forgotten. She thanks her “sister” for the aid she can send in the form of food, medicine and money. And most importantly, she asks for photos of KyungTae and begs, “Sister, please take care of my KyungTae.”

Based on the details of her letter as well as confirmations from other contacts who visit her village for business, we were able to begin researching options for a second escape.

YA, focused on regaining her physical strength, also set her sights on reuniting with her son and husband in China.  To do this, she would have to pay a broker to smuggle her across the border – a dangerous and expensive option.

YA’s “sister,” who was a staff member of Crossing Borders, sent her clothes and the little money she had—only a fraction of what it would cost to pay the broker’s upfront fee—and waited for news.

The next installment of KyungTae’s story will be posted next week. For more information about the Orphan Growth Fund, click here.

Grace Jo lived in North Korea until her family defected when she was 7. / Photo by Alex Melagrano

Grace Jo, a North Korean defector who recalls living in hunger, eating boiled mice soup for basic nutrition, spoke about her experiences as a citizen of one of the world's most repressive nations, and her journey to eventually resettling in the US. 

With the help of the UN and a Korean-American pastor, Jo sought asylum and eventually found the organization Emancipate North Koreans (ENoK) and was housed in their "Empower House."

“Even after I [came] to America I didn’t actually realize what freedom [was],” Jo said. “But the moment I could go to other states freely, or take a plane and meet other people from other states it [felt] like I’m traveling…it’s a big country and I can travel if I want and I can go anywhere.”

However, to close out her talk, Jo focused on cultural similarities and the importance of showcasing Korean culture.

“I think culture is a very beautiful thing,” Jo said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s North Korea or South Korea or the U.S. The cultural beauty, we can share that even if we don’t know the language.”

Read more here: https://www.huntnewsnu.com/2018/02/north-korean-defector-speaks-out-at-harvard/ 

30,000 Elephants in the Room

The Korean unification flag (above) will be used as the two Koreas march together at the opening ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.

There is no country in the world better than North Korea at theatrics and spectacle. And there is perhaps no better stage than the Winter Olympics for the North to display its chops.

Last year the country was wrapped up in a worldwide performance as they launched ICBMs and tested a nuclear weapon, much to the ire of their neighbors and other global powers. But this year North Korea seems to be changing course. After a year of provocations, comes a charm offensive and an offer to field a joint team under one flag at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

But even as the theatrics of the Olympics will warm hearts and provide North Korea a platform to soften its image, over 30,000 North Korean defectors living in South Korea will be watching. Their presence will tell a darker story behind the theatrics.

North Korea’s attempts at smoothing over the past two years with their Olympic delegation, which will include an “Army of Beauties.” This “army” is a cheering squad comprised of 230 attractive, tall North Korean women from elite universities.

It is clear that North Korea is trying to send a message through these women. It is an attempt to show the world that all is well within its borders, that the North Korean people are well fed, healthy and beautiful.

The two Koreas will also send a unified delegation during the opening ceremonies under one flag. They’ll field a joint women’s ice hockey team. There will no doubt be other signs of unity between the two countries that will indeed be heart warming.

For over 30,000 North Korean refugees watching this global performance, there will be a different tale to tell of their homeland, North Korea. Many have spoken out against their former country in a damning UN report, which details in amazing consistency the gruesome methods of torture that the regime employs.

In the thousands of interviews and interactions I have had with North Korean refugees, people have told me of death, cannibalism and the hellscape that North Korea has become.

It will, without a doubt, be an emotional moment when the two countries enter the Olympic arena under one flag. But such images should not overshadow the truth present in the lives of over 30,000 defectors who have fled desperately for their lives. Perhaps they, with us, can witness the union of the Koreas in this year’s Olympics, beyond its theatrics, and look forward to a day when peace and harmony will extend beyond a single, international event.

North Korean labor in Russia

A North Korean worker walks through the building site.

In a report published Tuesday, there are an estimated 50,000 North Korean workers in Russia, living clandestinely on construction sites as "slave-like labor" to send meager funds home to their families. 

The US State Department has focused on this ex-patriate community in their most recent sanctions in an effort to reduce economic support for Kim Jong Un and the totalitarian state's nuclear program. 

However, with Russian diplomats weighing in on the effectiveness of sanctions and toeing the line between international condemnation and acting as the "crucial lifeline" to North Korea, the workers in Russia will continue building for now. 

Read more here: http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/15/europe/russia-north-korea-labor-intl/index.html

North and South unite for the Olympics

In anticipation of the Winter Olympic Games opening on Feb. 9, North Korea has sent delegations to the demilitarized zone at Panmunjom for discussions on how to unite the peninsula for the games. 

The South Korean Unification Ministry has led talks primarily around coordination of the musicians and entertainment groups. However, officials in Seoul, Washington, and Pyongyang have expressed hopes for peace talks. 

Read more here: http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-north-korea-olympics-20180115-story.html

Music is Contagious

Children of North Korean women learning new songs at our annual retreat.

What is the value of a song to a child? How can one song affect her life?

We taught a child of a North Korean refugee a simple song at a retreat this summer. It’s a Christian song about how God can help us in times of trouble. A young child who learned this song, Esther, seemed to take to the music and lyrics at the retreat.

Last year we were able to host a retreat with many of the refugees in our network. The purpose of this retreat is to provide Christian counseling and support to address the trauma that North Korean refugees have endured. During this retreat is a smaller retreat, which is for the children of these refugees. This is where Esther was able to learn this song.

When we made a follow-up visit to Esther’s family this fall, we were surprised that, not only did Esther retain the music, she continued singing it after the retreat. She loved it so much that she taught the song to the children in her neighborhood.

We think this is symbolic of the love and care that we show to the refugees when we see them. The support and the services that we provide for these people never just ends with them.

We have seen time and time again that refugees share the money they receive from Crossing Borders with others in their community. They bring other refugees into their communities. They help each other in times of need.

It is like a song that Esther could not help but share with the community around her.

Inside the Ministry of Unification:

In the background of the Demilitarized Zone, behind the wires and fencing are two countries, two sides, two telephones and one talk to barter peace in the peninsula that has been split since their ceasefire in 1953. 

The Unification Ministry of South Korea, employing hundreds of analysts and specialists and with a $1.02B budget, has worked to approach peace through many dimensions: military, culture, education, etc. 

However, despite a two-year hiatus between the two countries' telephone hotline, the ministry is facing an "intractable" task: garnering unity among brothers who look increasingly different from one another. Among younger generations, unity is less popular than among those who remember a single country peninsula.  

Read more here: http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/06/asia/south-korea-unification-ministry-intl/index.html