Without outside help, the hukou system locks North Korean refugees and their children in generational cycles of poverty. Learn more from the infographic below and see how you can help end this cycle on Giving Tuesday.
This Giving Tuesday, we want to help break the cycle of poverty for many North Korean refugees and their children in China.
Our hearts yearn to help North Korean refugees and their families. Some take the precarious journey to southeast Asia for a chance at asylum in South Korea. However, most will choose to stay and live in China, where access is limited. Through education, we want to empower refugees and their children to break out of poverty SO THAT the next generation might do far more and reach many more North Koreans than we are able to do as foreigners.
Cycle of poverty as described by World Vision:
“The cycle of poverty begins when a child is born into a poor family. These families often have limited or no resources to create opportunities to advance themselves, which leaves them stuck in the poverty trap.”
This is the unfortunate predicament many North Korean refugees find themselves in while surviving in China. The problem is both geographic and legal. It is almost impossible to break out of without outside intervention.
No rights, no access
Most refugees are women who have been trafficked and sold into Chinese families or to Chinese men as wives. They usually end up in rural areas married to men who work as farmers. Many refugees in Crossing Borders’ network are forced to marry men with significant disabilities. By law, refugees do not have the right to work, and more importantly, working in a public setting exposes them to arrest and repatriation into North Korea. But out of necessity, some women work for cash in small restaurants and farms. These are not people of financial means.
Geographic challenges
Rapid urbanization in China grew its urban population from 30% (of China’s total population) in 1994 to double that (60%) in 2019. Mass internal migration has caused income disparity that continues to grow today. While urban areas gain more access and advantages, rural areas of China receive diminishing education resources (ie. less qualified teachers) and offer fewer economic opportunities. As urban migration has grown in the past few decades, more and more rural primary schools have also been forced to close.
Hukou status
The hukou system is China’s governmental household registration system. Chinese citizens have either urban or rural hukou and, as expected, urban hukou generally provides more public service and welfare than rural hukou. According to the website China Briefing, “those holding rural hukou are distributed arable land for their livelihood while urban hukou holders have access to government jobs, subsidized housing, education, and healthcare.”
Hukou is also inherited, meaning the child of rural hukou parents will inherit the same status. One’s hukou status also determines access to schools. Parents who choose to move to cities for work often leave their children in their rural hometowns with relatives because urban schools prioritize children with urban hukou. This has long term implications into college and the future of their careers. The hukou system creates a massive chasm between the urban and the rural.
See more on our Hukou system infographic
Teach young people
“to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth” - Proverbs 1:4
Proverbs speaks to the benefits of teaching and passing wisdom to the younger generation. They need knowledge, discipline and to become knowledgeable of both the divine things and worldly things. This is Crossing Borders’ desire for these people and an integral part of our mission to sow into the children of North Korean refugees. We want to prepare them for better access in China through education and for eternity with the Gospel.
To have a fighting chance at a better education, Crossing Borders currently provides for children of refugees to get educated in cities with better schools, which is often far from their parents. We also provide access to tutors and school supplies for many others. By God’s grace and with your support, several kids are currently attending college in China.
Akin to many Asian education systems, the objective of pre-college education is to score well on the college entrance exam, known as gaokao in China. But rural students must far outperform their urban counterparts as urban universities heavily prioritize urban hukou students. Whether they stay in their rural hometowns or aspire for urban schools, these children face a constant uphill battle due to their rural hukou status.
Learning a trade
Technical training is another means for both refugees and their children to earn a living and become self sufficient. When college is not an option, children often desire to receive technical training at trade schools or via an apprenticeship. This, too, requires money, access to schools and mentors. We have heard from refugees who want to sell street food or make money cutting hair but don’t know where or how to receive the necessary training. Crossing Borders provides financial aid to give refugees and their children technical training from trusted resources.
The children of rural China already have a tall mountain to climb. At a greater disadvantage, the children of North Korean refugees with rural hukou are destined to continue the cycle of poverty they grow up in. Without help, North Korean refugees are not able to provide opportunities for their children to break the cycle. And without ongoing support for their kids through college or trade school, the cycle of poverty will persist for generations.
This is why we feel like God placed education on our hearts for Giving Tuesday. We want to empower refugees to earn a living and their children to have the tools and opportunities to break out of the cycle of poverty. May God’s provision and grace give them that chance.
Please pray for North Koreans living in China under these conditions. Would you also pray about providing education for our refugees and their children?
Learn more about the crippling effect of China’s hukou system in our latest infographic:
Updated November 2, 2020
This was originally the fifth and final post of a series from 2015 called “North Korean Refugees Now”. Given the current state of our nation and the world, it felt timely to update this message of encouragement and hope.
Dec 2019 - ended the year with threats towards the US of an obscure “Christmas gift”
March 2020 - launched yet another unidentified projectile into the sea near Japan
Coronavirus outbreak in neighboring China created headlines as Kim Jong Un claimed zero cases in North Korea
April 2020 - unconfirmed rumors of Kim Jong Un’s death
June 2020 - North Korea destroyed a liaison office in Kaesong (north of the DMZ) in response to “hostile” anti-North Korean leaflet campaigns by defectors in the South.
October - a new ICBM was unveiled at the 75th anniversary of North Korea’s ruling party
Kim Jong Un was also shown to cry at the the same event expressing shame of not being able to provide his citizens with economic prosperity
44.9M cases
30.1M recovered
1.18M deaths
“Twindemic” warning of dangerous overlap with the upcoming flu season
0 approved for full use but 6 vaccines approved for early/limited
North Korea is as unpredictable and ruthless as ever, Coronavirus continues to have the upper hand and it is as though our country is being ripped apart.
What makes us at Crossing Borders the most optimistic has nothing to do with world leaders, policy decisions or the promise of a vaccine. Rather, our encounter with the hope and strength of North Korean refugees continues to amaze us; our hope in our loving Father steadies us.
One North Korean refugee who we helped early on, told us a story about his life and times in North Korean prison camps. He described the cramped cells he had to sleep in where people were packed in so tight that no one could move. They slept without mats or blankets on concrete floors and their bodies would develop sores every night from being in the same position for hours.
This young man said that during these times, he never laughed so much. The people he shared these cells with became his best friends and that there is a certain fondness he still holds for his time in what is known as the worst system of political prison camps in the world.
As we provide aid to people in our network, we also try to enjoy time together and play games with them. One very popular game we like to play is called “This is Fun.” It’s basically a staring contest where a group of people sit in a circle and try to make others laugh while not cracking a smile themselves. If you smile, you're out.
During a round of “This is Fun” with a group of refugees and orphans, one of our US staff members and a master at this game was left with one other refugee woman in the circle. This woman endured the famine, was sold, was placed in hard labor in North Korea’s prison camps, and was raising a daughter under China’s brutal zero tolerance policy for North Korean refugees. She is a strong woman.
During this round, her eyes became cold and she would not crack. The other staff members who saw the look in her eyes said it terrified them. The game ended in a draw and everyone who witnessed this was left mildly disturbed at the resilience and fortitude of this woman.
But this strong, seemingly-callous exterior is symbolic of the millions of North Koreans and North Korean refugees who have survived the worst of conditions. These people may seem cold and hardened on the outside but this is because of their impervious will to survive. It comes from a heart that would not allow the worst of all evils to bring them to dismay. It comes from people who could laugh at the most desperate of circumstances and come out without losing their minds.
This gives us great hope. It’s not for a better political future. It is the hope of these people who have endured famine and death. It is for these North Korean defectors who have seen the very worst of humanity: lying, cheating, stealing, trafficking and even cannibalism. And yet many found a way to survive and uphold their dignity.
Regardless of the tragedies and horrors these people have endured in the past, present and may face in the future, they will not be broken. In this, we see the grace of God.
O God, be not far from me;
O my God, make haste to help me!
May my accusers be put to shame and consumed;
with scorn and disgrace may they be covered
who seek my hurt.
But I will hope continually
and will praise you yet more and more.
Psalm 71:12-14
Our faith that is at the core of our work inspires and motivates us to make our organization as impactful as it can be. The spirit of these marginalized people gives us great hope. It drives us to help more North Koreans, a people certainly worth helping.
Why do North Korean defectors choose to make South Korea their final destination?
When North Koreans receive refugee status in Southeast Asia, they have a choice to go to any number of countries, which includes the US, the UK, Australia and many others. The overwhelming majority of North Korean refugees choose South Korea for the following reasons:
Citizenship - they are granted immediate citizenship in South Korea because, according to the South Korean constitution, all North Koreans are South Korean citizens.
A jump start - they receive a lump sum payout, which has been equivalent to $20,000 USD in the past, though this payout has decreased throughout the years.
Language - the two Koreas share the same language. North Koreans do not need to learn a whole new language when they arrive in their new country.
North Korean refugees who land in South Korea from Southeast Asia often describe the experience as traveling to the future. South Korea is a technologically advanced nation. If you look at a satellite image of the Korean peninsula at night, you can see the stark difference in the way the two countries light up at night. Refrigerators have built-in computers with touch screen doors, groceries can be ordered and delivered from a smartphone and people now control their cars and homes with their voices.
North Koreans who are plunged into this futuristic world often find it disorienting. The lights, the language and the modern pressures to keep up can be overwhelming. Compounded by the severe traumas many North Korean defectors have endured, one can easily see why the North Korean population in South Korea is faring so poorly.
Resettling in South Korea
When North Koreans arrive in South Korea, they are subject to an interview process by the NIS (or the National Intelligence Service) to assure that the refugee is not a spy. They are then taken to Hanawon, a re-education facility where they must stay for 3 months. The refugees are taught how to adjust to life in South Korea. They learn basic skills such as riding the subway, using an elevator, paying bills, and using a remote control.
After leaving Hanawon, South Korea provides basic living expenses, subsidies, and housing for 5 years. While this support helps the refugees get on their feet, other challenges lay ahead of them.
The South Korean accent is a difficult transition for North Koreans. Since so many English words have become part of the language, even basic signs are hard to understand. Slang has changed the language much more drastically than in the North.
Old and New Trauma
Discrimination is also common toward North Koreans and the stigma of being an outsider follows them wherever they go. This makes it challenging to find jobs or make friends.
And for many, the trauma of life in North Korea and China can be too difficult to bear without support from others. The incessant brainwashing and life of hardship in North Korea followed by being sold in China by human traffickers imprints memories that can’t be erased.
Elim House
Thankfully, both government and ministry resources are available for North Koreans in South Korea. One example is Elim House, our safehouse for abused North Korean women that opened in July of 2020. Although having a normal life is very difficult for North Koreans, finding a support network can make a significant difference in reaching that sense of normalcy.
At the time of this writing, we are grateful to announce the arrival of our first Elim House resident. Her life of only 28 years is marred with so much suffering and trauma and we’re praying for the steadfast, pursuing and healing love of Christ to mend what is broken.
Thank you for journeying with us through our Breaking Down North Korea video series. Please help by sharing these videos and let us pray together for the good and salvation of North Korea.
When our first North Korean defector, Cathy walked into Elim House earlier this month, our missionaries prepared and fed her dinner. They asked her if they could pray for the meal, she agreed. They held her hands and prayed. She began to cry. She said that this was the very first time she was served a dinner by someone’s hands other than her mom. She barely ate anything.
She fell asleep in the clothes she had on her back. Our missionaries described her sleeping on the warm floor saying, “she was like a wet bird who had finally found shelter.”
For North Korean refugee women in China, South Korea represents both a safe harbor and a trap. It is a safe haven because, once their plane touches down in South Korea, they have human rights. They can no longer be bartered like a commodity. If they are taken advantage of for labor with no pay, there is a legal process for them.
South Korea is also a trap. North Korean women see it as a place where they might meet their dream man, a man who will love them and provide for their every need, according to experts we have spoken to on the ground. When this does not come to pass, something changes within them. It’s as if their dream turns into a nightmare. Some become suicidal. Some turn to a finely tuned prostitution industry that preys on their disillusionment. Others turn to men who can neither provide emotional or financial security. Most become obsessed with money.
Elim House was intended to help women like these, women who experienced the hellscape of North Korea only to be turned over into human trafficking in China. And then once again preyed upon in South Korea. We officially opened our doors on July 3 of this year but because of COVID-19, potential residents have been wary of entering a living situation with strangers. So Crossing Borders has taken this time to make vital repairs, deepen our roots in the North Korean defector community and receive further training on how to care for abused women. Early in October, our first client walked through our doors.
Cathy was found on a bridge over a river about to commit suicide. But before she could take that final plunge, the authorities were able to stop her. Her story was typical, sold in China and hoping for a new life full of riches and security in South Korea. But what met her was an abusive relationship. Her husband’s family in South Korea mistreated her and took her life’s savings. She was also victimized by her family in China.
She was homeless, broke and had nothing when she stepped on that bridge. All she has known in life has been people who exploited her and took from her. It will be different in Elim House. In the few short days of her stay, she heard the Gospel for the first time. For the first time, she heard about a man who covers her with His relentless love, a man her heart has been longing for.
In her first week at Elim House, Cathy accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior.
Please pray for our first Elim House client, Cathy and for the many others who will enter its doors.
South Korea reports that there have been 33,000 North Korean defections into South Korea to date. While defectors running across the DMZ occasionally make headlines, most North Koreans find their way to safety through what has become known as the Modern Day Underground Railroad.
Big Brother
Human traffickers have scattered North Korean refugees throughout China. Since 2003, Crossing Borders has encountered pockets of these refugees and has attempted to help them. We covered the various challenges refugees face to live in China in Episode 2 and how far they are from a life of liberty. Many risk everything on a daunting journey out of China to find freedom.
Imagine trying to leave a country when you don’t have a valid ID, which means you can’t take any form of transportation. Even in privately owned cars, China has routine checkpoints where all the IDs of everyone in the car are checked and documented. Cameras also watch people’s every move on the roads, in city squares and in every building.
With the Chinese government always monitoring, how does a North Korean escape? A patchwork of people with diverse backgrounds and motivations, collectively known as the Modern Day Underground Railroad, works to get North Koreans safely out of China.
The Modern Day Underground Railroad
An entire industry exists in China to help North Korean refugees in China escape. There are some great nonprofit organizations helping to facilitate this. But there are also some people who do this for profit, often referred to as “brokers.” With no access to transportation, defectors must find people who will help them escape from China and hope that they are trustworthy and good people. The problem is that many of the people who offer to help these women end up abusing them.
A refugee in Crossing Borders’ network once told us that she was raped along the way by the very people who said they would help her. There’s no recourse for this inhumane abuse as refugees can’t turn to the Chinese police for help. Involving the authorities would result in capture and punishment for refugees and the perpetrator would likely walk free.
Brokers take refugees from city to city, oftentimes using fake IDs. They have apartments along the way where the refugees can stay at night. The final stretch of the journey is an illegal border crossing out of China into several different southeast Asian countries. Unfortunately, all of these safe harbor countries do not share a direct border with China, which means refugees must sprint through either Myanmar or Laos first to gain their freedom. Once they reach their destination, they are granted refugee status with the South Korean government who ultimately bring them into South Korea.
It’s a miracle that over 33,000 refugees have successfully made it to South Korea to date.
Freedom
After making this treacherous journey to South Korea one of the refugee women Crossing Borders supported while in China said that the day she got her legal ID in South Korea, she clutched it to her chest all night and cried. The fact that China doesn’t acknowledge North Koreans isn’t just a matter of paperwork; it’s a matter of personhood. When you aren’t considered a person, you don’t feel like you matter. Once this woman had her ID, she realized something that was missing in her life: humanity.
But once they gain their rights in South Korea and other countries, North Koreans face perhaps their biggest challenge: dealing with the trauma that they’ve experienced along their path to freedom. A lifetime of brainwashing propaganda, the scars of leaving loved ones behind, being trafficked and repeatedly abused and the shock of being injected to modern day living is more than any human should have to bear. We will cover this in our fourth and final episode of Breaking Down North Korea so please be sure to tune in.
Thank you for following our video series. Please help socialize these heartbreaking issues and please continue to pray for North Korea.
Why have so many North Korean women been sold in China? And what are the daily struggles these women face?
China’s One Child Policy
China’s One Child Policy was an attempt by the central government to stem the growth of the world’s most populous nation by limiting the number of children couples could have to one as China grew too large for the government to feed and control. The policy was successful in curbing growth, but according to a recent publication from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, as a result, there are warning signs of population contraction that could begin as early as 2027. Many estimate contraction has already begun.
Dr. Yi Fuxian, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said that among the wide range of reasons a country could experience declining birth rates, such as economic prosperity and improved career opportunities for women, the most significant cause in China’s case was the 1979 One Child Policy.
Not Enough Women
The average gender ratio at birth is 105 boys to every 100 girls. China’s ratio has been as high as 130 boys to every 100 girls and consistently skews higher towards the culturally preferred male children. It is estimated that China now has 30 to 40 million more men than women.
To exacerbate matters further, women born following China's One Child Policy are close to or have already passed their peak fertility age. There are simply not enough women in that generation to sustain China’s population level and the new Two Child Policy passed nearly four decades later on January 1, 2016 may have come too late.
Bride Trafficking
Chinese traffickers sell brides from neighboring countries to address their shortage of women. According to Human Rights Watch, “For years, it was easy for China to ignore the issue. The women and girls being trafficked are often ethnic or religious minorities, from impoverished communities, or, in the case of North Korea, on the run from their own abusive regime.”
Women North Korean Defectors
The first video in our new series “Breaking Down North Korea” covered the common role of women as primary breadwinners in North Korea and why most defectors are women. This created the perfect opportunity for China to meet its gender disparity needs by trafficking women from North Korea.
Once sold into China, life is difficult for North Koreans as a people sold into households with no one they can trust at home and fear of capture and repatriation is constant and all around. Even as they live in China, they are anxious and desperately want freedom.
Because of this ever present threat, they constantly look over their shoulder to make sure they are not being watched or followed. In fact, it is not uncommon for the Chinese government to make public announcements that they will pay bounties to anyone that turns in North Korean refugees. This drives these women deep into isolation. The less people who know about their situations, the less likely they are to be reported to the police. But this isolation leads to depression and hopelessness.
We hear this heartbreaking story time and time again. And this is why I’ve said that tragedy and trauma besets these people wherever they go. Every step of the way is fear and sadness.
Finding Community & Hope
In July, we asked about 100 North Korean refugees under our care about changes to the quality of their lives after encountering Crossing Borders. Here’s what they told us:
Physical safety, emotional healing and salvation are our recurring prayers for North Korean refugees and their children in China and we praise God when we hear back results like this.
Breaking Free
Many of these women look to South Korea for their ultimate freedom. An average of 1100 North Koreans enter into South Korea each year and most escape from China through the Modern Day Underground Railroad, which we will cover in our next episode. We’d love to hear your thoughts on the first two episodes of our Breaking Down North Korea series. Please drop us a note at hello@crossingbordersnk.org and share your feedback with us.
Missionaries and field workers for Crossing Borders in China are introduced to new pockets of North Korean defectors on a regular basis. There are an estimated 200,000 North Korean refugees living in China today but most are scattered throughout China. Though sparsely dispersed, most share common stories of escape from North Korea, hardships of life in China and also have never heard of the hope of Jesus.
God has allowed us to serve these oppressed people for almost two decades and they have taught us a tremendous amount about life in and out of North Korea. A new video series called “Breaking Down North Korea” was born out of our desire to share some of these learnings with our supporters.
Frequently Asked Questions
People interested in learning more about North Korean refugees often ask these questions:
How do North Koreans escape?
What is life like for them in China?
Do they all want to ultimately escape to South Korea?
Leaving Home
The first video in the Breaking Down North Korea series is called “Leaving Home”. We start our video series by covering the motivations that drive many to escape the hermit kingdom, such as persecution, starvation and utter hopelessness. “Difficult” doesn’t begin to capture the oppressive quality of life in North Korea. But most North Koreans choose to endure rather than risking their lives and putting their families in harm's way by attempting to escape.
As one of the world’s most persecuted peoples, many North Korean citizens are confronted with two impossible choices: stay and continue living under the tyranny of Kim Jong Un and his regime or attempt to escape and risk torture, imprisonment and in many cases, execution. We know many risk it all to flee North Korea based on South Korea’s Ministry of Reunification reported annual average of 1100 defectors entering into the South over the past several years. We wonder how many more are caught in the act and suffer inhumane consequences.
Porous Border
It may be hard to fathom that any person or goods can pass through one of the most ironclad borders in the world. While the DMZ is the world’s most dangerous border, North Korea’s border with China is known to be porous. Illegal activities take place across the border through the work of human agents on both sides of the border. This also seems like an impossibility but if you oppress a people to utter desperation, people find ways to survive, even if that means getting blood on their hands.
Black market activity across the border have imported cell phones connected to Chinese cell towers and have exported drugs like methamphetamines and opium out to China. It has also been the source of trafficked women into China where they are sold as servants and brides in a country still struggling with a shortage of females.
Staying Alive
Most men in North Korea are locked into state jobs with meager pay or serve in the North Korean army. This is the “duty” North Korean men serve, which puts the burden of providing for the family on women. Escaping North Korea is often driven by the selfless motivation of many women who aspire to earn money outside of North Korea in order to send money back to their struggling families.
However, those who successfully escape or are trafficked into China face an entirely new set of challenges where the land and language are foreign, the government deems them as enemies of the state and the threat of capture is ever present.
Breaking Down North Korea
We’re thankful for this opportunity to tell the collective stories of the North Korean refugees under our care. We look forward to answering your questions and uncovering the tragedies that occur behind the North Korean and Chinese veil and to show the redemptive work God has done to bring His light into their hearts and lives.
Please watch, like and share our video series: Breaking Down North Korea. Thank you.
WATCH THE COMPLETE BREAKING DOWN NORTH KOREA VIDEO SERIES.
Kim Jong Un is rumored to be in a coma and speculation swirls again about his younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, temporarily shifting to a ruling position for North Korea.
Kim Yo Jong is Kim Jong Il’s youngest child
Kim Jong Un is the youngest of three sons to Kim Jong Il. The eldest son, Kim Jong Nam, was assassinated in 2017 and middle son Kim Jong Chol was rejected as heir to rule North Korea, rumored to be due to his effeminate personality.
Kim Jong Un also has two sisters: older sister Kim Sul Song, born in 1974, and younger sister Kim Yo Jong, born in 1989. Kim Sul Song was thought to be Kim Jong Il’s favorite child and was the likeliest, at one point, to take control in Kim Jong Un’s absence. But Sul Song’s name has not been seen much in recent years. Yo Jong may have also found favor in her father’s eyes according to the first hand accounts of former Kim family sushi chef who goes by pen name Kenji Fujimoto. Per Fujimoto, Kim Jong Il often referred to Yo Jong as "Princess Yo Jong"
Kim Yo Jong’s rise to power
Kim Yo Jong was appointed as Vice-Director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department (PAD) in 2014 where she was responsible for crafting her brother's public image and messages. In 2017, a year before she stepped into the international spotlight, Kim Yo Jong also joined the North’s Politburo, officially called the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the WPK, as an alternate member.
Her public debut came during the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, when Kim Yo Jong served as a special envoy between the divided Koreas and met with the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in. An envoy’s role is similar to an ambassador, often tasked with resolving conflict between nations but Kim Yo Jong has been very vocal of her disdain for the South. Kim Yo Jong recently publicly threatened to destroy an inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong, North Korea. The building was obliterated a few days later.
Kim Yo Jong (far right) at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Kim Yo Jong today
Kim Yo Jong is 32 years old and currently serves as the First Vice Director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). Kim Jong Un is the Chairman of the WPK and the Central Committee is the main policymaking body of the WPK. If Kim Jong Un is indeed incapacitated, she is assumed to be the most likely temporary successor until one of Kim Jong Un’s sons are old enough to rule North Korea. Because North Korean leadership is fundamentally patriarchal, Kim Yo Jong’s rule would not be permanent.
North Korea under Kim Yo Jong
Since Kim Yo Jong’s role would not be permanent, she would most likely uphold the agenda and work of her brother, Kim Jong Un and, if her brother dies, would carry the core ideologies of the regime into the next generation until Kim Jong Un’s successor can take leadership. This is the best case scenario for North Korea. What remains unclear is a potential power struggle between Kim Jong Un’s heirs and his sister. There simply isn’t enough information to know which way this will go.
Kim Yo Jong followed her brother’s steps of foreign education and is thought to have shared an apartment with Kim Jong Un in Switzerland. There are speculations that they were very close and thus, her approach to ruling North Korea may be similar to her big brother.
It is not unlikely that Yo Jong will push beyond her brother’s dictatorial ways. Lee Seong-hyon, an analyst at the Sejong Institute, a research center in South Korea said “As she leads the offense against South Korea like a general, it silences those old hard-liners in the Politburo who may think she cannot be the leader.” We believe she may overcompensate in the North patriarchal system by ruling with even more vitriol.
(The New York Post recently wrote something similar about a future under Kim Yo Jong here )
North Korean defectors
In a public statement issued on June 4, 2020, Kim Yo Jong portrayed North Korean defectors as, “Human scum little short of wild animals who betrayed their own homeland,” and described their campaigns against North Korea as “acts to imitate men” “bark[ing]... where they should not.” Defecting from North Korea is an act of treason and punishable by hard labor, torture and oftentimes death. Kim Yo Jong’s public statement is no surprise and should she take control of North Korea, we expect the same severity of punishment to continue for defectors who are caught and returned to the North.
There is collateral damage from the path North Koreans take to find freedom. North Korean women often leave their half North Korean, half Chinese children behind when they decide to take the Modern Day Underground Railroad. Many leave with the promise of inviting their children and “husbands” to their new country once their citizenship is won. The Korea Institute for National Reunification estimates that there are about 30,000 of these children in China. Crossing Borders has cared for hundreds of children who find themselves at the center of international custody tug-of-wars.
I was contacted by a North Korean refugee in such a predicament in the year 2012. She lived in the Chicago area. Though I usually don’t take these meetings, my mother pleaded with me to go and hear her out. At a suburban McDonalds, we sipped coffee and I heard her story. She had escaped China in the early 2000s and was sold in China as a bride to an abusive husband. She pleaded with her owner and husband to let her leave China. She promised him that, once she gained citizenship in America, she would call for both him and their daughter and they would all live happily in the United States. But things didn’t work out as planned.
When she arrived in America, she was far removed from her husband because of the freedoms she was afforded. For the first time in her life, her human rights were respected. If her husband beat her in America as he did in China, the police would be just a phone call away. She made the difficult choice to tell her husband that she would not be keeping her promise. She decided that she would not be calling for him. But this choice came with a heavy cost: her daughter. Her ex-husband and former owner then said to her that it would take a legal US visa or a pile of cash to see her daughter again.
As we sat next to McDonald’s playland, this woman asked me if I could help her. She asked if I could coordinate the kidnapping of her daughter. I explained to this woman that, unfortunately, I would not be able to help her. She has not been reunited with her daughter to this day.
North Korean refugees in China have made it out of the most oppressive regime in the world. After leaving their country, they find themselves in a place with a seemingly endless supply of food but they are essentially slaves. At some point they must consider the risk of leaving China. The proposition is daunting in and of itself. It is almost impossible to think about the other consequences to their decisions.
This problem is not uncommon amongst the North Korean children in our Orphan Care program. As their parents fight about custody and visas, they entrust their children to our care. Crossing Borders has never seen a resolution to this type of situation.
This is why it is so imperative to continue to offer support to North Koreans who escape China. Even though they have freedoms and new lives, they often are dealing with issues from their journey to freedom. If they are not dealing with custody battles, they must wrestle with the trauma from all the years of suffering in North Korea and from being trafficked in China.
This year, we opened Elim House, a safehouse for abused North Korean women in South Korea. The climb is steep but is not impossible. Some refugees in our network have made it through the Modern Day Underground Railroad and have prospered in South Korea. One thing we have learned in ministering to these refugees for over 17 years is that we can offer no hope to these people outside of God. This hope is not of higher earning potential and medical care. It is the eternal hope that we have in the gospel.
North Korea has gone from venomous hostility to playing nice on the international stage all within the past four years. This is very predictable. Sometimes it is unclear whether North Korea is trying to be a lion or a lamb and very little is known about the nation’s current plans or motives. In a time of increased uncertainty, the future of North Korea remains as inscrutable as ever. The following is a roundup of recent moves the country has made.
The year 2020 began with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, renewing claims that the nation would be prospering once more with revitalized efforts to make a “frontal breakthrough to foil the enemies’ sanctions.” The effort would include increased income for the country through illegal and legal means - sending North Korean workers across the border to work for China, bringing in Chinese tourists, and smuggling contraband in and out of North Korea. Just last year, North Korea’s trade with China grew by 15 percent. The North Korean government dabbles in everything from exporting illegal coal to multi-billion dollar cybertheft projects.
But the coronavirus brought North Korea’s economic leap of enthusiasm to a screeching halt. According to The New York Times, by March, the nation’s exports to China had dropped by 96 percent in value. Behind a curtain of isolation and obscurity, the nation’s already crippled economy, which is heavily dependent on Chinese support to circumvent sanctions, is reeling. How North Korea’s government will prevent the nation from falling into a devastating crisis, whether the government will even attempt to prevent such an economic spiral in 2020, is unknowable.
On June 9, the KCNA, North Korea’s government-run news agency, reported that the nation would be cutting off all communication with South Korea in response to messenger balloons that had been sent across the border from the South for several years, many containing anti-North Korean leaflets written by North Korean defectors. The report called the leaders of South Korea “disgusting riff-raff” devoted to “hostile acts” that would “hurt the dignity of [North Korea’s] supreme leadership.”
On June 13, North Korea’s rising spokeswoman Kim Yo Jong, sister to Kim Jong Un, released a threat via the KCNA. “By exercising my power authorised by the Supreme Leader… I gave an instruction to the arms of the department in charge of the affairs with the enemy to decisively carry out the next action.”
Three days later, North Korean officials demolished the Inter-Korean Joint Liaison Office in Kaesong, North Korea. In 2003, the structure sitting at the North-South border oversaw over a hundred factories, employed more than 100 South Korean employees and 50,000 North Koreans. While far from its former glory, the empty building remained a shell of former hopes for cooperation.
Kim Yo Jong has taken the center stage for many analysts of North Korea’s government leadership. As the Professor of Korean Studies at Tufts University, Sung-Yoon Lee describes her, in a country of enigmatic leaders, Kim Yo Jong is “less visible but no less significant.”
Over the past two years, Kim Yo Jong accompanied her brother in summit meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae In, in meetings with President Xi Jinping of China and even at the historic conference with President Trump. Kim Yo Jong is currently the head of the Department of Organization and Guidance, the department of the North Korean government through which key personnel are determined for both the military and bureaucracy. Earlier this year, in the mysterious disappearance of Kim Jong Un, she became North Korea’s international spokeswoman.
Today, she is the voice of North Korea amidst international tensions. Following the recent rejection of US diplomacy with North Korea, Kim Yo Jong stated, "We have no intention of threatening the United States … if they don't touch us and hurt us, everything will flow normally.”
It is unclear whether the veiled statement is a warning or a challenge.
According to Lee Seong-hyon, an analyst at the South Korean Sejong Institute, North Korea has revived its efforts to act as a destabilizer for the United States. In the US, the coronavirus, its economic impacts, civil unrest, and an impending election has given North Korea an opportunity to throw a wrench into President Trump’s most visible foreign policy achievement - his diplomacy with North Korea. The efforts, according to analysts, may be in an effort to force President Trump to de-escalate North Korean sanctions before the US election.
Caught between shaming insults from North Korea and growing disdain from the people of South Korea are North Korean defectors in South Korea. As recently reported by The Korea Times, North Koreans in South Korea are swiftly becoming “enemies of the state” in both the North and the South.
North Korean defectors are publicly referred to as “human scum” and “mongrel dogs” who have betrayed their country in the North. Public figures and propagandists organize massive rallies decrying their lack of patriotism and reverence for their homeland. Families of North Koreans who have fled to the South face more dire consequences.
In the South, government support for North Koreans is dwindling. The growth of North-South tensions due to leaflets sent across the border by North Korean activists in the South has resulted in a surprising backlash. The South Korean government has recently begun to dismantle two major defectors' groups that have sent leaflets across the border via balloons. Police action is being taken against these organizations for transferring goods to North Korea without permits. Vocal organizations led by North Koreans are being silenced as a response to their anti-North Korean views.
"Since the beginning of the Moon Jae In administration in May 2017, government support has nearly stopped for defectors' groups that are critical of the Kim regime,” noted the head of the World Institute for North Korea Studies in South Korea, An Chan Il who is himself a North Korean defector.
Clouded uncertainties have pervaded the work of Crossing Borders since its beginning in 2003. Helping refugees half a world away has always been in the midst of uncontrollable and unpredictable circumstances that are outside of our control. But our hopes to share compassion with North Koreans who need help have not changed.
While the future still remains unknown, Crossing Borders is continuing its efforts to serve North Korean refugees and defectors in China and in South Korea. Most recently, Crossing Borders officially completed its opening ceremony to officially establish Elim House, a safe house for North Korean defectors in South Korea. There have been so many challenges in 2020, but we have faith that very soon, the doors of this shelter will open to those who need it most.
Please help Crossing Borders, even in the midst of these difficult times, to offer constant and unchanging grace and kindness with North Koreans.
Written by Yoon (Intern for Crossing Borders)
It would be an understatement to say that Netflix’s Crash Landing On You has been one of 2020’s biggest television hits. According to Nielsen Korea, ratings peaked at 24.1 percent as the show quickly became the second-highest-rated Korean cable drama in history. With its first episode airing in December of 2019 and the series finale in February of 2020, the show seemed to be a perfect package delivered just in time for the quarantine bingefests. The show tells a tale of two star-crossed lovers, which becomes a vehicle to highlight the show’s true appeal: a rare glimpse into North Korea.
Mostly shot in South Korea and Switzerland, the romantic comedy follows the love story of chaebol (a member of South Korea’s economic elite) Yoon Se-Ri, heiress to her family’s powerful conglomerate, who accidentally paraglides across the DMZ into North Korea and literally falls into the arms of Ri Jeong-Hyeok, a captain of the North Korean army and son of one of the highest political figures in the regime. Se-Ri, whose unpowered paraglide managed to slide by the border undetected, must now remain hidden in Jeong-Hyeok’s nearby rural village and find a way to re-enter South Korea, all the while falling in love with Captain Ri and facing the consequences that ensue.
As endearingly unrealistic as this may already sound, the show also features a number of additional k-drama tropes that are all too familiar: a crew of goofy side characters, a council of village ahjummas (middle-aged women), a play of money politics by the Korean elite and a threatening villain from whom the protagonists must protect one another. The spin this time, however, is that much of the story takes place on the other side of the Korean border, in a country so inaccessible on television and even less so in real life.
What I, along with many others, found most interesting about the show was the peek into mundane life in North Korea. Much of what is depicted in Crash Landing is like a slightly distorted mirror of what we see in South Korea— certain aspects of society seem like a carbon copy while others are dramatically different. One of the features my parents, in particular, enjoyed while watching this show was hearing the dialects of the North Korean villagers and seeing the slight nuances in commonly used Korean phrases that are highlighted in the subtitles. Following this, the ambience of the marketplaces and rural village neighborhoods somehow seem reminiscent of a South Korea from the distant past. My mom even mentioned to me that her friend, who grew up in rural South Korea, remembers taking part in the morning village exercises before school that the show’s North Korean children participate in.
On the other hand, the series also features elements of North Korea that are less recognizable to those from the South: frequent blackouts due to the electricity shortage, propaganda-projecting bullhorns perched throughout the village and hungry orphans hiding under marketplace tents. The series also includes the two countries’ primary divergence— namely, North Korea’s extremely oppressive communist government. Although the Kim dynasty is rarely mentioned in the show explicitly, the drama portrays the brutal prison camps and secret political tactics that we know are present within the country. More than anything, however, what I find the show captures most powerfully is simply what it must feel like to live under a regime as ruthless and silencing as that of North Korea. The government-mandated house checks, microphone bugs, and underground network of eavesdroppers make even the viewers feel as if they are a vulnerable threat.
It is very likely that the show is not an entirely accurate portrayal of life in North Korea. Although the creators recruited a North Korean defector to help write the script and piece together his knowledge of this secret country, many have noted that the show depicts North Korea as more pleasant than it really is. Still other details are certainly questionable as well, such as the super-rich Pyongyang family who sends their daughter off to study abroad in Switzerland and the young North Korean soldier who secretly watches k-dramas from the south.
Despite the myths that may need to be verified, however, one thing that is undeniable is that Crash Landing on You paints a picture of North Korea that has not been envisioned before. No matter how inaccurate or dramaticized it may be, this portrait is perhaps one of the only forms of media that offers an alternative narrative to the cold, mechanistic headlines of North Korea we see too often; rather, it is a human story that draws on more than just a paranoid dictator and his obsession with nuclear weapons. For the first time, this show dares to imagine, if even just a caricature, what daily life for North Korean people may or may not look like.
After watching the series and noting its viral impact, the one thing I took away from Crash Landing on You is this: people are curious about North Korea. Without even knowing it ourselves, we are itching to know and to see what lies behind the walls of the world’s most reclusive country— even if we have to imagine it. When you think about it this way, the connection between a lighthearted k-drama and an organization like Crossing Borders is more closely tied than it may seem. Evidently, there is a side of us that wants to imagine North Korea in all its humanity, to hear stories of real people and to match them with their actual faces and names— perhaps of those like the refugees and orphans Crossing Borders ministers to today. And if we can channel this kind of curiosity and interest in the North Korean people towards a compassion to genuinely serve and pray for them, well, we may just be on the right track.
Quick, when I say the words, “North Korea,” what immediately comes to mind? I’m guessing that you thought of Kim Jong Un, nuclear weapons, censorship, isolation, or hunger. While we may not know what exactly takes place within the borders of this highly concealed country or what day-to-day life looks like for North Koreans, we do know that this country needs prayer. Especially as the year 2020 has humbled and shaken the world with unprecedented and unpredictable events, we hope you can join us in lifting a prayer for North Korea in the following ways:
Pray for the people in North Korea — Many of us know that daily life in North Korea is grim: people are starving, the country is run by an always-present, unforgiving dictatorship and there is a lack of freedom on both an individual and national scale. This lack of freedom may be the most oppressive aspect of life in North Korea, as civilians are unable to speak out against their government or even call out for help to the outside world. As hunger, disease and poverty still ravage the country, we ask that you pray for the general health, welfare and safety of those living in North Korea today.
Pray for North Korean refugees amidst COVID-19 — For many North Korean refugees in China, the impact of Coronavirus has been devastating. North Korean refugees already have limited access to immediate healthcare, education and other resources because of China’s Zero Tolerance policy for these undocumented escapees. And Coronavirus has only exacerbated their situation further. Refugees are not able to be tested for the virus or obtain necessary medical help. Many who had previously worked in service-related jobs or on their own farms have also lost their primary source of income due to China’s lockdown and ban on outdoor work. We ask that you pray for God’s provision over the health, safety and livelihoods of this vulnerable population.
Pray for world politicians — As much as North Korea may be separate from the rest of the world, it is undeniable that other countries have a direct impact on North Korea. We ask that you join us in praying for our leaders, not only those in North Korea or the United States but from all around the world: for wisdom and discretion in their decision-making; for unity; and for a desire to genuinely benefit the people of North Korea. As many of us are distant from North Korea and its politics, we may feel that there is no power we really carry. But we know that God can move the hearts of people and we can only pray that He would use these world leaders to bring His peace and love into this world, especially in North Korea.
Pray for North Korea’s underground church — In a country where any defiance or stray from government regulation is treated as a punishable act, the church is no exception. Although we do not know the size or inner workings of the underground church in North Korea, we have heard that it does exist and is heavily persecuted today. Being caught by the government or even by family and friends is a very real fear for Christians in North Korea— even from childhood, North Koreans are taught to report anything that might be deemed as a threat to the regime. Especially as our missionaries in China have recently reported that the Chinese government has become more aggressive in inspecting and interfering in churches, it is not hard to imagine that the church in North Korea might also need our prayers now more than ever before. We believe the Gospel is the only hope for true healing and fulfillment to the North Korean people. Please pray for the security of the underground church.
Pray for North Korea’s future — Finally, we ask that you pray for the future of North Korea. The recent rumors of Kim Jong Un’s death have been widely circulated and, along with sparking news and conspiracy theories in the media, they have prompted many to genuinely think about the future of the country. If Kim Jong Un dies in the near future, who will succeed him? Will it be the end of the Kim dynasty? What will then happen to the future of North Korean civilians? All of these questions are valid, as no one can really say they know the answer with confidence— we can only trust that God does. We pray that we will cling to God’s sovereignty, timing and promise that He has a larger plan for the people of North Korea, whom He so deeply cares for.
Kim Jong Un disappeared for much of the month of April. He did not attend the country’s most important holiday celebration to honor the birth of his grandfather, Kim Il Sung— the founding father, king and god of North Korea. And when he missed an important military parade, rumors began to fly regarding his whereabouts.
Did he have a heart attack? Was he comatose from an alleged botched heart surgery? Was he hiding in his luxurious coastal home from the Coronavirus? Did he suffer a leg injury? No one knew for sure and for a moment, Kim Jong Un stole the world’s attention away from the Coronavirus, quite a feat for the leader of the 115th largest economy in the world.
Though it is difficult to know what happened to Kim, the bizarre weeks of speculation did reveal to the world some key truths about North Korea. Here are three things that we learned from the Kim Jong Un rumors:
1. There is no known succession plan in North Korea
If the rumors were true, North Korea would have been thrown into a crisis. Kim’s death would leave a seat of absolute power up for grabs with plenty of willing takers.
A nightmare scenario for the world would have been a power struggle for the throne. Sure, North Korea could simply implode as their leadership jockeys for a place at the top of the totem pole. But this is just one possibility; the others could spell disaster for the North Korean people, the Korean peninsula, East Asia and possibly spark a world war.
The Korean Peninsula was already in a tense 70-year military standoff. If a power struggle spilled over into the South, the United States would surely get involved and China would come to the North’s aid. It would be plausible that most of the world would be involved in the conflict.
The lack of succession plan exposed a gaping hole in North Korea that could spell disaster if Kim’s demise comes sooner rather than later.
2. North Korea is a black box
The Coronavirus crisis has also reached the Hermit Kingdom and the already reclusive country has closed off many of its ties to the outside world. Under normal circumstances, North Korean refugees with family members inside North Korea could send letters and money to their loved ones through a network of smugglers. The current circumstances have all but stopped this flow of information and money.
The Daily NK relies on reports from everyday North Koreans embedded within the country. The publication has reported that North Korea is even cracking down on these illegal phone calls, which use phones connected to Chinese cell towers.
But within the black box of North Korea lies another, even more secretive entity: the North Korean government.
On April 20, the Daily NK reported that Kim had a botched cardiovascular procedure and was in critical condition. Soon after, CNN and Reuters picked up the story. Defector Yeonmi Park, a North Korean defector said on her Instagram page that Kim was hiding in his compound to avoid catching COVID-19. South Korea soon claimed with certainty that Kim was “alive and well.”
But there is a fundamental problem with all of these rumors: how could anyone verify the many rumors? North Korea remained mum on the situation, tacitly adding fuel to the flame.
North Korea is the most confidential regime in the world. A leak in information could mean the execution of any official suspected of the offense. And how would an official leak information to the press? A North Korean cannot simply pick up their phone and call CNN. Even if information did leak, how would a respectable journalist verify it?
There are few ways for people to obtain reliable information from North Korea and most of these channels are regulated by the North Korean government.
3. Rumors are swirling within North Korea
As the world wondered about the demise of Kim, an interesting video from North Korea emerged. It actually proved to be fake but the fact that it caught the attention of the regime itself was interesting in itself.
The fake video was a collection of news footage that seemingly confirmed the rumors of Kim’s demise. What made the video somewhat plausible was the spot-on imitation of the voice of the North Korean news announcer Ri Chun Hee delivering the news.
Apparently, the video had circulated so widely within North Korea that the regime began to look for the person who produced it, according to the Daily NK.
There was also the matter of panic-buying in Pyongyang. It was reported by the Washington Post that residents of North Korea’s capital city Pyongyang started to panic-buy foreign goods and essentials because of the rumors of Kim’s death.
What these two incidents show us is that it is possible for information to spread within North Korea. Though phone calls are monitored and letters sent through official channels are often read, somehow rumors are spreading within North Korea— and that’s a good thing.
For there to be any hope of regime change from within, the North Korean people need to rise up against its government. And for this to happen, there must be a reliable chain of communication that occurs outside the sight of the North Korean government.
If these rumors were indeed spreading, could there be channels of communication that are completely unregulated?
On May 2, Kim made an appearance at a fertilizer factory, effectively squashing the rumors. This should not have come as a surprise. There have been a great number of rumors out of North Korea over the years, most of which have proved to be false. But North Korea is so opaque that even false news reveals key information about the regime.
Until there is real change in North Korea, all we have are rumors and conjecture. Ultimately, we hope for a day when these will end.
COVID-19 has swept through the world and created an oddly unifying moment in history. This unity, however, is brought on us by both unexpected and perhaps painful circumstances.
The people contained in their homes across the globe in this season are vastly different. The diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds inside each apartment unit, townhouse or two-flat may literally be continents apart. Individuals may be single or married, have several children or none, own cats or dogs or fish. Nonetheless, at this moment, a single commonality between myself, sitting at a computer in Los Angeles, someone reading a newspaper from a dining room in Munich, and the billions of people between us is that we are all sitting inside and wondering what’s going to happen in the next few months. So much has happened since January. What could be lying in wait within the next four months of 2020?
For Crossing Borders, a new safehouse in South Korea that took the better part of two years to research, plan, fundraise, and prepare has been stalled when only a month away from the starting line. In my own case, the prohibition of gatherings over fifty has suddenly evaporated any plans of a wedding celebration with family and friends and the eager plans for a honeymoon abroad have been dashed. It has been a dreamlike and unreal span of two months.
As Crossing Borders faced an unprecedented season of uncertainty, my fiance and I found ourselves discovering a similar season in our own lives as we navigated through cancelled venues and informing our guests and families of a postponed wedding. In a time we expected to be one of the most adventurous seasons of our life together, planting roots for a new future, we instead discovered an oddly cyclical and mundane season of waiting without a clear future. The purpose and drive we had held in anticipation seemed to have swerved off course.
The two of us spent the time in much thought and conversation. The result was a mixture of hopeful, anticipatory prayer and tentative first steps. My fiance and I decided to proceed with a private wedding with a few family members in the backyard of her parents’ home. At the wedding, she laughed as she recalled a nightmare she had only a month prior. “I dreamed that we were unprepared for the wedding. That we were scrambling to figure out what music to play, where to hold the ceremony, who would officiate.”
She was wearing small flowers she herself had picked that morning in her hair. She wasn’t sitting at the table of a reception area of a golf club but instead on the metal chair of her backyard patio. We hadn’t even had time to get wedding bands. I wore her father’s old ring, which was too big and kept slipping off my finger. But she was laughing. “Basically, my nightmare looked exactly like the ceremony we had today.” None of the wedding was what we planned, but it was joyful nonetheless.
Today, the two of us sit at home as we realize we may have been halfway across the world on our honeymoon if things had gone according to plan. We wonder if there are others going through the same in many different ways. Perhaps there was no better way to teach us to deliberate what lies in uncertainty. At the same time, the two of us are praying for guidance and wisdom in taking the right next steps. We want to plan and invest time in seeking good counsel and support, even as we get ready for the unknown ahead.
Crossing Borders, in this season, has expressed exactly the same. Oddly at work, I find myself in the same position as I am in my personal life. In the midst of the coronavirus, it has been a fruitful season of prayer and pause for our missionaries and staff, reflecting faithfulness, hope, and the individuals we have reached in China. Our staff is gathering to pray for the women and children we know have struggled through much greater for much longer, adversity. They, too, are waiting on a change - deliverance from their fears, uncertainties, oppression. It has been a season to remind us that we are incapable of serving them at all without prayer. Simultaneously, Crossing Borders is preparing the resources to minister to North Koreans in China and hopefully, in South Korea soon. They are in great need, now more than ever.
I don’t think it would be wise to say that a definitive lesson has been learned through this season. It is still a developing experience and for many there is a great deal of pain and hardship. It is too early to say that we have adopted peaceful and productive living in the coronavirus. There may be more waiting, more confusion, more unexpected difficulties to come. It is possible to say, however, that in new and refreshed ways, I want to be prepared and Crossing Borders wants to be ready. But there are clearly some things that no amount of planning can help me, my new marriage or Crossing Borders overcome easily.
A hidden joy in the midst of the unknown, the operative word being hidden, is a hope in something greater than our deepest fears and our most unclear moments. I have found some peace, certainty and comfort in faith in these circumstances - especially the ones that were not planned. I hope I will remember this truth often in this season. It is uncharacteristically optimistic of me, but I hope that this will be true for many of us united in waiting as well.
Psalm 62:8
“Trust in Him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before Him;
God is a refuge for us.”
Face masks made by North Korean refugees to give to their neighbors.
The coronavirus has changed everything in China for North Korean refugees in hiding, affecting the vulnerable population of approximately 200,000 people in hiding. All of the North Koreans in Crossing Borders’ vast network in China are women, almost all of them having been trafficked and sold to Chinese husbands. Many of them have young or adolescent children whose academic and social schedules have been drastically interrupted in this unexpected season of quarantine.
The refugees have sent us images of the insides of their small, city apartments converted into makeshift classrooms. Pictures of boys and girls reciting national pledges as they salute the Chinese national flag in school uniforms. The North Korean children in the outskirts of rural regions in China, however, have no choice but to sit quietly at home, waiting for schools to reopen. They do not have computers available in their humble country houses. For them, attending school was a privilege and powerful avenue for finding future opportunities. Every day missed leaves them further behind.
But the daily lives of half-North Korean children have not been the only ones forcibly placed on pause. Many of the North Korean women in China work day-to-day jobs in the service industry near cities or farming on small plots in the countryside. The strict precautions imposed by law in China have pushed both North Koreans and their husbands into their homes, unable to cultivate their farms or find work. A number of the North Korean women in Crossing Borders’ communities have expressed their worry about making ends meet through the spring and summer. The impact on the women’s families have been compounded by the fact that many of their husbands are disabled or also unable to hold their own jobs through this season. Men who could only find manual labor like making deliveries, construction or painting cannot find opportunities for work anymore.
“Amelia,” a North Korean refugee in Crossing Borders’ network, lost her job in a restaurant kitchen in the last month. She says that all the restaurants near her have now closed and is at home with her three children. Amelia is a single mother and is unable to find new work. For the past several weeks, Amelia has only had plain white rice in her home. Her rations grow smaller each day and her children have been asking for anything else to eat. When Crossing Borders’ field pastor visited their family, Amelia burst into tears out of worry. This month, Crossing Borders is exploring options to help financially sustain Amelia’s household in a time of extreme hardship. Crossing Borders has been careful not to extend direct financial support to the refugees in our network but these are not normal times.
Other women in Crossing Borders’ network have already begun responding to the coronavirus with incredible grace. “Lois,” a North Korean refugee who lives on the outskirts of a small city in China, began making face masks in her home and distributing them to her village neighbors. Those who received the masks responded in surprise. They were aware of how difficult the situation was for Lois and her family already, and that she was a North Korean refugee. In a situation where most were suffering with ends barely met, Lois and many women like her were thriving in faith and generosity.
But Lois’ response to the difficulties posed by the coronavirus is not entirely shocking. It is perhaps the North Korean refugee population that was, in some ways, the most prepared for the proliferation of the virus forcing individuals to go into hiding. Despite the extraordinary circumstances and stresses of the North Korean refugee crisis, the situation for North Korean women has not changed much.
North Koreans in China are accustomed to being forced to stay indoors, unable to travel long distances safely or interact with others. North Koreans, who have no legal refugee status or safety from the authorities in China, cannot take advantage of many forms of public transportation without risk of arrest and deportation. The lack of immediate access to healthcare or medicine has always been prevalent in the North Korean population, as refugees are deprived of many resources that ordinary individuals and their families may take for granted. Poverty, anxiety, fear for daily life are not new to North Koreans who have survived and fled from one of the most devastating famines in modern history.
In these trying times, Crossing Borders remembers that in suffering and difficulty, faithfulness and perseverance endures. As we serve the North Korean refugees and their children, we strive to share a hope that does not fail in the gospel. Simultaneously, missionaries and caretakers in China continue to hope that the compassion and grace shared by Crossing Borders, our donors and prayerful supporters will be multiplied.
DaYeon (right) meeting with one of our missionaries this past winter.
In the cold winter of 2019, Crossing Borders missionaries visited a Chinese city enshrined in ice and snow. The trip to meet a group of North Korean refugees in our network took long hours of driving through freezing winds and was pervaded by several security checkpoints along the way. More than usual, the missionaries found it difficult to travel without being stopped again and again by police or roadside officers. It was more than an annoyance. The work of Crossing Borders is more dangerous than ever.
The missionaries’ efforts to reach the Chinese city were rewarded with warm greetings from the North Korean refugees in Crossing Borders’ network of communities. One of the women was “DaYeon.”
DaYeon crossed the border from China to North Korea in 1997, during the Great North Korean Famine. From 1997 to 1998, up to 3.5 million North Koreans are estimated to have perished due to illness and starvation. DaYeon and many individuals like her watched family and friends die all around them. After over a decade in China, DaYeon misses her hometown.
As she greeted the Crossing Borders missionaries in the snow, she reminisced about her home. In the winter, DaYeon says that so much snow fell in her North Korean village that it rose above her knees. It was the hardest time of the year for DaYeon’s family. Nevertheless, she misses eating the sparse, North Korean dishes from home.
In her hometown, DaYeon ate corn and potato noodles often. At times, it felt like that was all that her family ever ate. Today, DaYeon has the rice that she craved growing up. But she still misses the flavors of home. DaYeon’s favorite food in North Korea was aged, dried and salted fish. She commented on the same fish she had tried to buy, “Markets don’t sell the same kind of pollack in China.”
DaYeon and her family lived near a mountain that people from the village used as their sparse farmland. DaYeon loved taking hikes and seeing her village from the mountain’s cliffside. In the spring, the hills were prone to mudslides. When the famine began, DaYeon discovered that someone in her village had cannibalized the corpse of a man who had died of starvation. She fled to China.
Less than half a year after her arrival in a foreign country, DaYeon was trafficked in the black market and married a Chinese man. Almost 10 years later, in 2009, she met Crossing Borders missionaries. For the first time, she heard the gospel and came to faith.
When missionaries first met DaYeon, they reported that her skin was yellowish, with dark spots. It is not uncommon to see North Korean refugees who have suffered various illnesses due to years and years of malnourishment. DaYeon began to receive financial support from Crossing Borders and started attending a local church in Crossing Borders’ network. She was grateful and grew in her faith.
With years of hard work, DaYeon and her husband opened a small restaurant in 2012. In secret, she began distributing small booklets about the Christian gospel to her patrons. It became a place for her to welcome both attendees at her church and Crossing Borders’ missionaries.
By 2017, DaYeon’s restaurant was so successful that she turned down the ongoing monetary support from Crossing Borders. Instead, she asked that the organization distribute the support that was being given to her with the poorer refugees in the organization’s network. But DaYeon’s life grew very busy with the monetary success of her restaurant.
But DaYeon’s life once more entered a season of struggle. She discovered that she had thyroid cancer. After a series of treatments in 2019, DaYeon was healed but forced into staying home and seeking rest. At first, it was a struggle. But over her time of rest, DaYeon realized that she had become a workaholic. She began to see that her monetary success had caused her to forget how she had arrived into her success and sense of satisfaction. At home, DaYeon spent time praying and reading the Bible.
When she met with the missionaries this past winter, she had many questions about faith. They reported that she is growing in humility and joy. We pray for DaYeon to continue to grow in her thankfulness and peace, as she finds both the hope for work and the comfort of rest in the message of the gospel.
The Communist Party functions on the promise that life under its governance is more profitable and beneficial than life under any other form of government, namely a liberal democracy. For President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party, the rise of the coronavirus and its impact on trade and the daily lives of over one billion Chinese citizens creates significant problems to be solved. As a one-party government, the power structure in China is unilateral - at times authoritarian and controlling. There are sacrifices that the Chinese people themselves must make in supporting a government that makes some decisions for its people at the cost of political rights. With the spread of COVID-19, a highly discontented and frustrated population of one billion individuals is not an acceptable situation for China’s governing leaders. It may cause individuals to rethink whether the promises of a one party government can provide prosperity or longevity for its people.
Particularly for President Xi, whose authority has been compared to that of Chairman Mao Zhedong at the height of his power, the national health crisis in China is a real political threat. Xi rose to his current position with promises of economic prosperity through expanded executive control and risk management for the people of China. His centralization of authority, moving away from delegating power to subordinates or future successors, has been with the trust that the office of the president would lead the country in a top-down chain of command that was responsive to any crises. With officials in Wuhan claiming that Beijing was too slow to respond to the coronavirus and others stating that negligence and misinformation of the virus’ danger put the world at risk, President Xi must now operate under the critical public eye more than ever.
The spread of the coronavirus, or COVID-19, was recently announced a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. For Chinese political leaders, the fingers pointed at the Communist Party with accusations that the outbreak in Wuhan was mishandled are both alarming and threatening. Beijing officials have responded hotly to associations of the origin of the virus even being focused on Wuhan, where it was first reported, and noted that such assumptions contributed to the stigmatization of their nation and its government.
Xiao Qiang is the founder of China Digital Times, a website that leaks directives issued by the Communist Party’s strategizing committee for government propaganda. Recently, he has noted the surge of anti-American rhetoric in public forums and media in response to the United States and its frustrations with the Chinese government regarding the coronavirus. According to Qiang, much of the noise may actually be organized by the Communist Party. “It’s an orchestrated, all-out campaign by the Chinese government through every channel at a level you rarely see,” remarked Qiang to The Washington Post. “It’s a counteroffensive.”
It would not be the first time that the Chinese government has turned to use of their nation’s intranet, news and media outlets to engender support for their one-party viewpoints. A similar phenomenon occurred following the controversial elimination of presidential term limits in 2018. At the time, Deng Yuwen, a political commentator on China’s current policies, noted to Aljazeera that with the oversight of President Xi, “Control of the press is at an unprecedented level.”
As the coronavirus’ spread in Wuhan seems to have hit a turning point for the better, the Chinese public is already seeing the campaign to avert the blame for the virus away from the Communist Party’s growing cult of personality. President Xi recently visited Wuhan’s hospitals and conducted video conferences with patients in the region in a “choreographed victory lap” according to The Washington Post. Furthermore, reports from Channel News Asia as well as analysis conducted by The Center for American Progress note that both investigations and convictions are underway for corrupted officials and irresponsible leaders in Wuhan who did not respond accordingly to the coronavirus outbreak. According to The Center for American Progress, this may very well be an effort to redirect the pointed finger of accusation away from Beijing and toward the city of Wuhan.
With a political cleanup on the way and President Xi commending the Communist Party’s response to the coronavirus, the developing campaign may very well result in a further centralization of power into the office of President Xi. Lower-level officials in Wuhan, afterall, may not be trusted with the authority that Beijing itself must ultimately wield. President Xi may not only walk away from the crisis unscathed, he may use the coronavirus as fuel for his growing cult of personality. President Xi is presenting an argument that he must be trusted with the power that others, corrupt and lackluster politicians, cannot.
Following his press tour in Wuhan, a state-run media organization wrote of President Xi’s dedication, noting that he had a “pure heart like a newborn’s that always puts the people as his number one priority.”
From Executive Director, Dan Chung
Crossing Borders is fueled by tremendous support from people around the world. I have traveled far and wide to meet and work with many of them and through my travels, I’ve found inspiration and deep friendships.
This has been one of the biggest blessings of working for Crossing Borders full-time. I’ve met so many like-minded individuals with the passion and drive to show the compassion of Christ to North Korean refugees. This month, I thought it would be an encouragement to highlight one of my interactions on our blog.
It was a series of coincidences that drew me to one of our strongest supporters and, now, an integral part of our team, Charlene from Glendale, California. A few years back, she was convicted to support a ministry that addressed the needs of both North Koreans and orphans. They searched the internet and found another organization who eventually referred them over to Crossing Borders. There was one problem: they couldn’t find our website.
As recently as five years ago, Crossing Borders did not have much of a web presence. In fact, we purposely made our website unsearchable on any search engine for security reasons. Unless someone had our specific web address, there was no way for us to be found. This was not good for business.
Charlene’s husband happened to have expertise for this problem. He was an internet marketing manager specializing in things like web design and search engine optimization. When he eventually found our website, he wondered if we were still in operation. The website was out of date and was in need of a major rebuild.
Charlene emailed us and I happened to be tasked with answering her email. It was a Friday and we spoke for about 15 minutes. I thought it was a generally positive interaction so I was relatively hopeful that they’d support us.
Charlene and her husband with a group of North Korean children.
The next day was a Saturday and I was about to play basketball with some friends. I received a text from Charlene with a picture. She asked if the people in the picture looked familiar. Charlene and her husband had some friends over. Charlene had been sharing with her friends about how God was moving her and her husband to support a ministry that involved North Korea and orphans. She had shared about her interactions with Crossing Borders.
Charlene’s friends happened to be my cousin, Nina, and her husband. The picture that Charlene texted me was with all of them around her dinner table. My cousin assured Charlene and her husband that Crossing Borders was still in operation and that they knew me well.
Over the next few years, Charlene, her husband, and my cousin’s family proceeded to run a number of fundraisers in Southern California that raised tens of thousands of dollars on behalf of Crossing Borders. I was able to share about Crossing Borders’ mission at Charlene’s church and many of the church members have been active volunteers for us both in the US and in China.
Charlene’s husband has personally helped Crossing Borders build a strong presence online and has pushed us to revamp our website. It is much easier to find Crossing Borders via Google and other search engines. He now serves as a member of our board of directors and guides Crossing Borders’ future.
It all started with an inkling in Charlene and her husband’s hearts. They felt compelled to search. They felt led to reach out to us and to share. Once they committed, they made themselves an indispensable part of what we do.
We used to say that Crossing Borders is a meeting place for refugees and the world. Crossing Borders has also become a place where people from different backgrounds and locations find kindred spirits. Once we find each other, there’s no telling what can be accomplished.
The reports from China’s health crisis as the number of infected individuals and casualties steadily increase, seemingly without any indication of slowing, are frightening to say the least. Crossing Borders missionaries returning to the United States from South Korea following the coronavirus outbreak reported that they were subject to intense questioning regarding their travel itinerary and current health. We are relieved to state that as of now, no one in Crossing Borders’ staff - both domestic or abroad - have been affected by the virus.
The Chinese government is under more scrutiny and criticism than ever as cases of the coronavirus infection have spread abroad and even to the United States. There are indications that the nation’s leaders may have hindered the process of declaring the virus as an emergency, as first cases are noted to have been discovered as early as December 26, 2019. Two cities, Wuhan and Huanggang, have been officially quarantined while major forms of transportation throughout the region of the virus’ outbreak have been put on hold.
Currently, China’s Health Commission has assessed that up to 24,324* people are confirmed to have been infected. The rapid transmission of the virus between individuals and the difficulty of identifying infections has revealed significant issues in China’s healthcare system. The inequality of resources and shortage of available medical supplies in regions with lower priority has contributed to ineffective infrastructures designed to prevent, diagnose and treat individuals. Throughout the Hubei province, citizens are lined up outside of hospitals in cold and in rain, waiting to have their symptoms tested. Experts note that the rate of infection may actually be much higher than reported, as well as the mortality rate as the death toll is almost at 500* in China. An antiviral treatment is yet to be discovered.
The Chinese government’s response to the virus has been to seal off multiple cities, close down schools, and keep close checks on citizens by enacting stricter regulations on travel with specific regions in complete lockdown. Overall, security in the country has increased significantly. Affecting over 56 million people in regions most affected by the coronavirus, these processes may, however, make it more difficult for supplies to reach hospitals and treatment centers. Expanded surveillance and monitoring of individuals has been enacted by the government for tracing the travel and interactions of the infected individuals. The vast network of China’s facial recognition software and digital records are being used to track individuals’ usage of public transportation and travel.
For North Korean refugees, an incredibly vulnerable population of up to 200,000 people in China, the coronavirus has several expected and unforeseen impacts. On the one hand, access to medical treatment is already precariously low for North Koreans, who are labeled “illegal economic migrants” by the Chinese government. In a country where identification is needed for every health clinic, North Korean refugees cannot seek help without risking arrest and repatriation. This not only means that seeking treatment is an impossibility for North Koreans in hiding, but that refugees will be unable to even seek diagnoses for potential symptoms of the coronavirus. For many refugees in Crossing Borders’ network who often live in remote, impoverished villages without regular access to healthcare, it may not be possible for individuals to gain access to medical supplies.
A second and perhaps equally dangerous impact of the coronavirus outbreak is a significant increase in the level of security in China as the government has expanded its normal level of surveillance and population control. North Korean refugees in hiding will have to hide and evade authorities more cautiously than ever, perhaps even avoid regular modes of travel that do not require identification, such as local buses or specific main roads in their region. For North Koreans who need to travel for safety or meet with their community, danger of arrest will be higher than normal.
Please pray for the North Korean refugees who are reaping unexpected and dangerous consequences of the coronavirus outbreak in China. Please pray for their health and security, that they might be protected from both sickness and those who might do them even greater harm.
* Please note that statistics reported in this post were based on the latest updates on Feb 5, 2020. Numbers may have increased significantly.
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