North Korean Defector’s Decomposed Body Found in Home

South Korean authorities recently discovered the decomposing remains of a 49-year-old North Korean defector in her apartment in Seoul. The woman defected to South Korea in 2002 and began working as a counselor at the ministry-run Korea Hana Foundation to support other defectors in 2011. According to some media outlets, she had a good reputation among defectors and was hailed as a successful resettlement case. However, she left her job in 2017 and had asked the police not to extend their protection services in 2019. Her badly decomposed body was found approximately one year after her demise after she had failed to settle multiple rent payments. Dressed in her winter clothes, she was almost in a “skeleton” state upon being discovered and was said to have died a lonely death without any family members in South Korea.

NEW LIVES, OLD TRAUMAS

Every year, hundreds of North Koreans flee their country and risk being trafficked in China’s sex trade or being caught and repatriated, where they face torture, imprisonment or possibly even death back home, in search for a better life. South Korea’s Unification Ministry reported that over 30,000 North Koreans have defected since 1998 in the aftermath of the end of the 1953 Korean War, though only 42 defectors have been recorded since the pandemic.

Nevertheless, for those few “lucky” individuals who successfully make it to the South, their newfound freedom is often met with financial difficulties, culture shock and hostility from some South Koreans as they struggle to adapt to the country’s notoriously competitive and success-driven society. Our own surveys with medical experts show that 100% of the North Korean refugees in Crossing Borders’ network in China suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. This includes a defector under Crossing Borders’ care, Boa, who left her parents and younger sister and fled the North in 2011, only to experience a new sense of loss and fear upon settling in the South.

REALITY CHECK: THE CONTINUOUS STRUGGLES

An official from the Unification Ministry commented that a re-examination of the crisis management system for defectors shall be carried out in response to this “very sad” case. However, this is not the first time the authorities had promised to improve social welfare for defectors.

Two years ago, a similar tragedy unfolded in a low-income Seoul apartment. 42-year-old single mother, Han Sung-ok, who escaped the North, was starved to death along with her 6-year-old son, Dong-jin, in one of Asia’s wealthiest cities. After risking everything to flee her homeland, she was sold to a Chinese man in China with whom she had a son. When she decided to escape to South Korea, she left her family behind and gave birth to Dong-jin a few years later. Han struggled to keep up with work while caring for her young child; meanwhile, she fell through a gap in the welfare system where she could not secure government assistance without presenting the divorce papers necessary for her to qualify for benefits as a single parent. By then, she was also no longer eligible to receive help as a defector because the protection period of five years had expired. The last reports received about Han from a neighbor claimed that she was distracted and anxious. Shortly after, a water meter inspector who noticed a foul odor alerted the building management, which led to the subsequent discovery of two decomposing bodies, a bag of red pepper chili flakes (the only food found in their sparsely furnished home) and a bank statement showing Han had withdrawn her last 3,858 ($3 USD) a few months before her death.

These tragic deaths are not isolated cases. Rather, they should serve as a reminder that although North Korean defectors are free from the Kim’s authoritarian regime, many still suffer from unimaginable pain, loneliness, isolation and discrimination in the South. Past traumas do not automatically come to an end with their arrival in South Korea. Crossing Borders is trying to help as many as possible.

South Korea Mourns Over Deadly Halloween Tragedy

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered a one-week mourning period after at least 156 people were killed and almost as many injured in a crowd crush during the country’s first Halloween celebration in two years following the pandemic. The sad incident has taught many lessons to the South Korean government and has also been an early litmus test of the relationship between North Korea and the new Yoon administration.

The tragedy unfolded as an estimated 100,000 people, most of them in their 20s and 30s, were pushed into a narrow, steep alleyway in one of Seoul’s most popular nightlife districts in Itaewon on October 29, 2022. Shortly after 10 p.m., witnesses reported seeing crowds surging in different directions and people falling like dominoes, piling one person onto another and trapping them.

The police chief acknowledged that they had received numerous calls alerting them to the seriousness of the situation hours before the deadly incident and admitted that their emergency response was “inadequate” and vowed to conduct a “speedy and rigorous intensive investigation,” while the Interior Minister, Lee Sang-min, apologized to citizens at a National Assembly meeting, “It is very sad for me as a father who has a son and daughter… it is difficult to express in words how unreal this situation is, and it is difficult to accept this situation.”

WORLD LEADERS GRIEVE WITH SOUTH KOREA

Foreign leaders expressed condolences over the mass loss of lives, with at least 26 foreign nationals from 15 countries confirmed dead. At least four Chinese nationals were among those killed and China’s President Xi Jinping sent his condolences to President Yoon, “On behalf of the Chinese government and the people of China, I express our deep condolences for the victims,” their families and the injured. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden also sent well wishes to South Korea, but one particular country remained silent – North Korea’s President Kim Jong-un was absent among those expressing sympathy.

During South Korea’s former President Moon Jae-in’s administration, Kim had personally sent messages of condolences to Seoul over the passing of President Moon’s mother in 2019 and the coronavirus outbreak in 2020 where he expressed solidarity with “compatriots” in the South and wanted to “share the difficulties and pain with the South” as a common Korean people. In return, President Moon had sent a condolence letter to Pyongyang over typhoons and flood damages in 2020. However, unlike his predecessor, President Yoon has no personal relationship with Kim, thus it may be safe to assume that no response to the horrific Halloween tragedy is expected from the North.

WILL NORTH KOREA RESPOND?

Although Seoul has not heard from Pyongyang over the Halloween incident, some speculate that communication may take form as criticisms over President Yoon’s administration through North Korean state media. For example, during the Sewol ferry sinking tragedy in 2014 which resulted in over 300 deaths, North Korean state media criticized the effectiveness of the then South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s government for the slow rescue efforts and even demanded the president to be put to death. As public outrage in South Korea grows alongside the climbing death toll from the Halloween disaster, the North may even take advantage of the divisions among South Koreans to side with the people and criticize the government for going ahead with their joint South Korea-U.S. military drills amid national mourning period in order to justify the series of “aggressive and provocative” missile exchanges.

However North Korea chooses to respond, it would shed light on the current state of inter-Korean relations. If Kim does decide to send President Yoon a personal condolence and refrain from broadcasting a nationwide criticism of the South, the Itaewon tragedy could potentially serve as a bridge to mend relations between the two Korean governments. Kim Jong-un has undoubtedly been busy as missile testing activity has increased recently and communications in the midst of firing missiles could also send mixed messages to their southern neighbors.

Top NK Headlines - October 2022

INCREASED SURVEILLANCE IN CHINA-NORTH KOREA BORDER REGIONS

  • North Korea’s Ministry of State Security issued an order to “closely watch and punish behavior that harms internal order” amidst rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

  • Local branches along the China-North Korea border were asked to ensure that “not one single incident or accident occurs” by immediately arresting those who continue to use illegal mobile phones and subjecting them to public trials and criminal punishments.

  • Authorities in Yanggang province near the China-North Korea border began reemphasizing an August 2020 decree which placed night time curfews on residents because China and other countries are still suffering from Covid-19, resulting in the border being “unsafe.” The provincial branch warned locals that the curfew remains in force until next year.

  • However, it appears many North Koreans are willing to protect each other as the authorities intensify public surveillance due to distrust toward the government, with a source telling DailyNK that, “while commoners are suffering from daily food shortages, the leadership doesn’t care if they live or die because their bellies are full.”

Source:
https://www.dailynk.com/english/north-korea-security-agency-calls-tightened-surveillance-people-border-region/ 
https://www.dailynk.com/english/n-korean-government-again-emphasizes-nighttime-curfews-in-border-region/ 

NORTH KOREA WORKERS SENT TO RUSSIA ESCAPE AFTER LEARNING THEY ARE BEING SHIPPED TO UKRAINE

  • An increasing number of North Korean construction workers in Russia fled their duty stations and went into hiding after being told that they would be sent to wait for assignments in war-torn Russian-controlled areas in Ukraine.

  • Although the North Korean government controls media within its borders, citizens overseas are well aware of Russia’s invasion.

  • There is a high demand for construction amid the Ukraine-Russia conflict, particularly in Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

  • A source told Radio Free Asia that, “The Workers are shaken by the news. … Pyongyang in early September ordered the dispatching companies to gather workers and put them on standby instead of taking on new work where they are currently dispatched.”

  • Management officials also chose to flee their posts upon learning about the impending deployment.

  • Meanwhile, even Russians have been attempting to flee their own country, with 23 Russians reaching South Korea by sea since late September, but most were refused entry.

Source:
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/ukraine-10052022185441.html 
https://www.reuters.com/world/russians-fleeing-putins-call-up-sail-skorea-most-refused-entry-report-2022-10-12/

NORTH KOREA GRANTS AMNESTY TO NON-SOCIALIST CITIZENS AND PARDONS COVID RULE BREAKERS

  • North Korean authorities are offering amnesty to people who leaked government propaganda to South Korea if they turn themselves in and expose others by the end of the month.

  • The amnesty is only available to ordinary citizens, as government officials guilty of the crime would not be forgiven.

  • The government fears that copies of propaganda materials given out at lectures provided by the Propaganda and Agitation Department might be used by organizations, media or intelligence in the South to gain information about Pyongyang and how it keeps its people in the dark.

  • A source told Radio Free Asia that, “The authorities threatened that if the residents do not turn themselves in during the surrender period, they and their family members would be sent to a political prison camp.”

  • Sources added that the government tend to offer amnesty to citizens for “non-socialist behavior” whenever there is tension within or outside the country, or when public morale is low.

  • In addition, North Korea was expected to pardon some political prisoners for minor violations of emergency quarantine regulations in the last three years based on “a general review of the prisoners’ attitude toward reform, how they carried out their disciplinary labor tasks, issues regarding their ideological attitudes are more.”

  • However, it is unclear whether the pardons actually happened, as they are rare among prisoners at political prison camps operated by the Ministry of State Security, which are deemed “total control zones” – once prisoners go in, most never leave.

  • A source told DailyNK that the pardons appear to aim at demonstrating the “magnanimity and consideration of the Workers’ Party” and “would be the first time it’s happened in the Supreme Leader’s 10 years in office.”

Source:
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/amnesty-10062022184040.html 
https://www.dailynk.com/english/north-korea-set-pardon-prisoners-accused-breaking-covid-19-regulations/ 

NORTH KOREA REMAINS UNSTOPPABLE IN MISSILE DEVELOPMENT

  • North Korea fired its fifth ballistic missile in just over a week across Japan’s northern Hokkaido and Aomori prefectures for the first time in five years on October 4, 2022, prompting the government to urge citizens to seek shelter from falling debris.

  • North Korea further launched its sixth missile test near the border with South Korea hours after the South detected 10 North Korean warplanes flying 12km to the border on October 14, 2022.

  • Pyongyang carried out a record number of weapon launches in 2022 and Seoul imposed its first unilateral sanctions against the North in nearly five years for missile development.

  • China and Russia later blamed U.S. military drills for provoking North Korea during an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting.

Source:
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/03/1126660435/north-korea-ballistic-missile-japan
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/04/north-korea-fires-missile-over-japan-prompting-warnings-for-residents-to-shelter
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/13/north-korean-aircraft-buzz-south-korea-border-fighters-scrambled
https://www.nknews.org/2022/10/security-council-fails-to-condemn-north-korean-missile-test-over-japan/

Xi’s China Continues to Strive for Zero-Covid

Over 2,000 party delegates from around the country gathered in Beijing as China’s ruling party embarked on its week-long Communist Party Congress on October 16, 2022. President Xi Jinping, who is widely considered to be the most powerful Chinese ruler since Mao Zedong and is expected to win an unprecedented third leadership term, kicked off the 20th national congress by delivering a strategic plan for the party and the rest of China for the next five years. Accompanied by his two immediate predecessors, Xi’s speech focused on the importance of strengthening national security through military and economic developments and his commitment to achieve zero-COVID.

PANDEMIC FATIGUE

China has long maintained that its governance is unique and cannot be judged through the lens of traditional Western approaches based on capitalism, thus it was no surprise that Xi repeatedly emphasized the Chinese model of peace and common prosperity (a slogan that facilitated last year’s crackdown on the big tech, education and real estate sectors), while labeling his controversial zero-COVID policy as a “people’s war to stop the spread of the virus.” During his speech, Xi added that the party puts “the people and their lives above all else,” which has since caused widespread frustration and disappointment among citizens and investors who had been earnestly hoping for change, not continuity with the current policy.

Despite heightened security measures being implemented across China in the run-up to the congress, the increasing COVID fatigue over lockdowns and travel restrictions has sparked a rare public protest in Beijing. Even though criticisms of the government, particularly in relation to nationwide restrictions associated with Xi’s stringent zero-COVID policy, is a punishable offense in China, images showed two protest banners on a bridge in Haidian in Beijing, a district home to China’s top universities. “We want food, not PCR tests. We want freedom, not lockdowns. We want respect, not lies. We want reform, not a Cultural Revolution. We want a vote, not a leader. We want to be citizens, not slaves,” said one banner, while the other called for a boycott of schools, strikes and the removal of Xi.

In a desperate attempt to contain outbreaks before the congress, the government imposed a number of security curbs in the name of COVID-19 across Shanghai, Xinjiang and 36 other cities. In Shanghai alone, at least 46 residential buildings or neighborhoods across 14 of Shanghai’s 16 districts were designated medium risk and one high risk. As for the highly controlled autonomous territory of Xinjiang, 22 million people have been suspended from traveling in and out of the region after the National Health Commission announced 93 asymptomatic COVID-19 cases.

CHINA’S ECONOMY UNDER XI’S LEADERSHIP

Although China’s economy has drastically slowed down since the pandemic, Xi took pride in reflecting how the country has “made tremendously encouraging achievements in both epidemic response and economic and social development,” as well as echoed slogans from previous congresses to emphasize the party’s top priority in development. This is contrary to reports indicating salary cuts and reversal of bonuses among civil servants in China, with section-level cadres in Shanghai having their annual salary reduced from 350,000 RMB to 200,000 RMB ($48,635 to $27,792 USD)  and subdivision heads from 240,000 RMB to 150,000 RMB ($33,350 to $20,844 USD) . Our sources also revealed to us that a number of public-school teachers in Chongqing faced pay cuts between 40 to 60%, while teachers from a public high school in Hebei were said to have their monthly salary reduced from 8,000 RMB to 6,000 RMB ($1,112 to $834 USD) and were ordered to volunteer at COVID-19 testing sites in the middle of the night.

There does, however, appear to be a shift in Xi’s attitude toward China’s past conservative economic policies, which placed a high level of scrutiny on the private sector and deemed key private markets as enemies of “common prosperity.” Going forward, Xi pledged to build a “high-level socialist market economic system … unswervingly consolidate and develop the public ownership system, unswervingly encourage and support the development of the private economy, give full play to the decisive role of the market in the allocation of resources, and give better play to the role of the government.” In relation to tech crackdowns, he instructed the tech sector to focus on “national strategic needs, gather strength to carry out indigenous and leading scientific and technological research, and resolutely win the battle in key core technologies,” which commentators speculate is in response to the U.S.’s move to restrict China from obtaining or manufacturing key chips and components for supercomputers.

It is unclear if Xi’s attempt to reinvigorate the nation in the face of challenges such as youth unemployment, the imploding real estate market and a slowing economy will cause greater protest or settle the masses. Our hope is that the country gets back to “business as usual” once congress concludes, allowing our work with refugees to also return to its former levels.

Konglish - Elim Community Classes

What is Konglish

The two Koreas took divergent paths when they were split in 1945. The South has been open to the outside world, its products and influences, while the North has been hermetically sealed off from the rest of the world. This is all too apparent in how language has evolved in the two countries. Though the North and South shared the same language (Hangul), the South Korean strand of Hangul has taken many words, phrases and ideas from the West since the split.

When North Korean refugees land in South Korea they find themselves in a dizzying array of new. They must find their way in what seems to many like taking a time machine into the future. One thing that makes this transition even more jarring is language. Though the majority of the words, grammar and syntax are still shared between the two countries, South Korea has adopted many English words through the influx of American culture. This hybrid language is what has been dubbed “Konglish.” Not entirely Korean nor English, this hybrid language is more cultural than academic and therefore, there isn’t an easy way to learn it. Crossing Borders started Konglish classes to help North Koreans learn this confusing new language. These classes have already proven to be more than just an education but a starting point for this nascent community.

There are hundreds if not thousands of Konglish words sprinkled in everyday Korean dialogue. For example, the word “rinse” is 린스, which is pronounced “rin-sue” in South Korea and the word for “apartment” is 아파트 and is pronounced “ah-pah-teu.” Though there are Korean words for rinse and bus, South Koreans prefer to use the English word.
Even more confusing are some Konglish words that are derivations of English words or phrases. Take for example the word “오바이트,” pronounced “oh-ba-ee-tue.” This word means to vomit and is a derivative of the English word “overeat”. Also, the word “핫도그” pronounced “hot-doe-geu,” which doesn’t mean “hotdog” but rather corn dog. This list goes on and on.

Konglish Classes

While there are language programs that help young, ambitious North Koreans learn English in order to further their future prospects, there are very few that help North Koreans assimilate culturally, and in this case, with Konglish. Many of the refugees that Crossing Borders has helped through Elim House and in China are not young. The majority are mothers in their 40s and 50s who are trying to scratch out a living and raise their children. This is an underserved population in South Korea and many feel too busy to enjoy any kind of community. According to South Korea’s Ministry of Reunification Survey of North Korean refugees in 2019, 75 percent of North Korean refugees said they do not participate in “any community activities.”

In the three pilot classes that we hosted this fall, we taught 12 refugees and gave them vital language skills that will hopefully serve them well in acclimating in South Korea. But what is more, this has given Crossing Borders the opportunity to help foster a community among the refugees who have participated in our classes. 

Community Among Classmates

At dinner after one of our classes this fall, a North Korean refugee told our executive director Dan Chung and others at their table that she was having trouble sleeping since she came to South Korea in 2019. When asked for more details, she opened up about the times she had to hide from the police in China. She described one incident in which the police came into her apartment but she escaped through a window in the back. She said that whenever she heard sirens or even a loud car at night, her heart rate spiked and a grave panic overtook her. She said she often woke up screaming and she had to send one of her children away to a boarding school because her nightly outbursts were so disruptive.

Another refugee at their table was deeply empathetic and encouraged this refugee to get mental health help. We explained to her the effects of trauma and how it’s important to seek help.

In Crossing Borders’ value statement we clearly lay out our goals. It states “Crossing Borders offers North Korean refugees and their children opportunities to thrive by providing physical care, emotional healing and spiritual guidance in a safe community.” Through just a few classes, this “safe community” is already forming and we couldn’t be more excited.

What started out as a fun idea to help meet the needs of refugees trying to assimilate, we feel like God has shown us a great opportunity to foster community. Please pray for us as we explore more classes tailored to North Korean refugees in need.

North Korea’s Changing Attitude Towards Marriage

In traditional North Korean society, people seldom question the government or societal norms to avoid trouble. This is especially true among women living in the countryside who are often arranged to marry officials from the security and police force for the sake of social and economic stability.

NKNews described the life of a North Korean woman, Kim Young-sook (a pseudonym), who was born into a well-to-do, deeply patriarchal family in the late 1970s. Kim’s mother raised her to become a good wife one day when she eventually married a man chosen by her relatives or colleagues before turning 30.  Kim became a teacher and was introduced to a young military officer by a friend’s mother when she turned 23. Their courtship lasted longer than expected but the two eventually married. Kim got pregnant shortly after their marriage and also took her household duties very seriously as taught by her mother. As she continued to work as a teacher after marriage, the family lived a privileged life receiving two extra sets of rations (one for being a teacher and one for being an officer’s wife) which was far more important than the salary she brought home. By all accounts, she lived the model life of a loyal North Korean comrade who did everything right.

THE DRAW TOWARDS MEN WITH DEFECTOR FAMILY MEMBERS

In the past, North Korean men with family members who defected were often socially and politically isolated, thus not perceived as “marriage material.” However, since local North Koreans have been unable to achieve any professional and societal advancement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, women nowadays are looking to men with relatives overseas. A source told DailyNK that North Korean women look for men with defector family members as marriage partners, as they are presumed to lead a better life compared to fellow citizens suffering from a nationwide food shortage. Another woman in her 20s from Hoeryong said that she and her friends would only marry men with “good conditions,” which means “a man with lots of money [i.e., a man with defectors in his family] rather than a man with a good job.”

Many refugees from South Korea and China have reported to Crossing Borders regularly sending remittances to their relatives in North Korea despite the heavy surcharge taken by the brokers.

According to the source, security agents and police in Hyesan, Yanggang province, used to profit from local smugglers until COVID-19 prolonged border closures. Today, those working in law enforcement no longer have an edge over everyday North Korean citizens in padding their own pockets or securing rations due to North Korea’s failing economy. While ordinary citizens struggle to put food on the table, people with defector families are “living in luxury” due to the money sent to them.

CHANGING ATTITUDES TOWARDS NORTH KOREAN MARRIAGES

While financial security is a prerequisite for marriage among many North Korean women aiming for survival, a major reason why many young North Korean women delay or even abandon the idea of marriage is reportedly due to South Korea’s pop culture displaying personal freedom and the advantages of having their own living space. According to a source in North Hamgyong province, not being able to live in their own homes would mean that either the wives would need to adopt the customary concept of living with and taking care of their parents-in-law, or the husbands would receive cold stares from the in-laws as their workplace fails to provide rations or proper salaries. A man in his 30s who got married in 2019 and recently moved out of his single-room home which he shared with his parents told DailyNK that he preferred paying an extra $44 USD to rent out with his wife and living comfortably “even if this meant having to survive on porridge.”

Another noteworthy shift amongst young North Koreans’ attitude towards marriage is their reluctance to register marriages due to the hefty bribes and long waiting time to legalize divorces. As the government considers the dissolution of marriage to be “an anti-socialist act that creates social unrest,” courts have been ordered to refuse divorces unless there is an “unavoidable reason.” A source told Radio Free Asia that each city and county court has a cap on the number of divorce cases it could handle in a year based on the size of the population, for example, Kyongsong county which has a population of about 106,000 can only grant 40 divorces a year. Another source added that, “In the past few years, family quarrels have been increasing due to difficulties in living, so the number of families seeking a divorce is increasing. There used to be a tendency to be ashamed of getting a divorce, but this is not the case these days.”

A marriage in North Korea may be more about survival than a relationship. This is another unfortunate example of a beautiful gift of God disfigured by an oppressive dictator.

Top NK Headlines - September 2022

(THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-James Manning/Pool Photo via AP)

NORTH KOREA AMONG THE 1,000 INVITEES TO ATTEND QUEEN ELIZABETH’S FUNERAL

  • The UK has invited a representative from North Korea, which has an embassy in West London, to attend Queen Elizabeth’s funeral on September 19, 2022.

  • Foreign office officials have handwritten around 1,000 invitations to world leaders and other dignitaries to attend the funeral as well as a reception with King Charles, but Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Russia, Myanmar and Belarus were not invited.

  • The invitation is at an ambassadorial level, meaning Pyongyang’s leader, Kim Jong-un, would not attend.

  • South Korean president, Yoon Suk-yeol, has accepted the invitation to attend the funeral in London before his visit to meet Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, in Canada.

Source: 
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2022/09/14/North-Korea-invited-to-send-representative-to-Queen-Elizabeth-s-funeral-source-says 
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2022/09/113_335916.html

NORTH KOREA COMMENCES COVID-19 VACCINATIONS

  • Covid-19 vaccinations have commenced in some parts of North Korea after Kim Jong-un briefly mentioned vaccines during his speech at the Supreme People’s Assembly on September 8, 2022, and recommended that the public wear masks starting in November.

  • Authorities have yet to announce when a nationwide vaccination campaign would begin.

  • The vaccination vials have no labels and health officials administrating the shots have circulated rumors that they are from China.

  • Authorities avoided officially disclosing that the vaccines were for Covid-19 and people were told that the shots were to “prevent the flu and fevers” that originated abroad.

Source: 
https://www.dailynk.com/english/covid-19-vaccinations-commence-some-parts-north-korea/
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/covid_vaccine-09162022170058.html 

NORTH KOREA PASSED NEW LAW AND DECLARED A NUCLEAR STATE

  • North Korea put their “Nuclear Forces Policy Act” into effect on September 8, 2022 to legitimize the right to use pre-emptive nuclear strikes, which is described by Kim Jong-un, to turn the country’s nuclear status “irreversible” and thereby bars denuclearization talks.

  • The country has since forced citizens to attend a week of propaganda lectures to promote the new law and highlight its passage as an example of Kim’s greatness.

  • Article 1 of the law stipulates that nuclear forces shall be a main force of national defense to deter war.

  • Article 3 of the law stipulates that the president of the State Affairs of the DPRK shall have all decisive powers concerning nuclear weapons and that in case the command and control system over the state nuclear forces is placed in danger owing to an attack by hostile forces, a nuclear strike shall be launched automatically and immediately to destroy the hostile forces.

  • Article 6 of the law stipulates that the DPRK can use nuclear weapons:-

  1. in case an attack is launched or the like is judged to be on the horizon (i) by nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction; (ii) by hostile forces on the state leadership and the command of the state’s nuclear forces; or (iii) against important strategic objects of the state; or

  2. in case the operation for preventing the expansion and protraction of a war and taking the initiative in the war is in the opinion of the DPRK to be “inevitably needed”; or

  3. in case the DPRK decides it to be an “inevitable situation” in which it is compelled to respond by nuclear weapons to protect the state and its people.

  • Article 7 of the law stipulates the readiness of nuclear forces to be immediately executed in any conditions and circumstances upon issuance of an order by the state.

  • Article 9 of the law stipulates that the DPRK shall constantly assess and upgrade its nuclear forces in accordance with international nuclear threats.

  • In response to the passing of the new nuclear law, South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense issued a warning that “Should North Korea attempt to use nuclear arms, it would face the overwhelming response from the South Korea-U.S. alliance, and its regime would enter a path of self-destruction.”

Source: 
https://kcnawatch.org/newstream/1662721725-307939464/dprk’s-law-on-policy-of-nuclear-forces-promulgated/
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-vows-continued-deployment-strategic-assets-after-nkorea-nuclear-law-2022-09-16/ 
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/nuclear_lectures-09142022155748.html 

NORTH KOREA SELLS WEAPONS TO RUSSIA

  • According to U.S. intelligence, North Korea intends to sell millions of rockets and artillery shells to Russia.

  • Since Russia is running low in ammunition supply since its invasion of Ukraine, its former ally, North Korea, which keeps a significant stockpile of Soviet-era-copied shells, is said to be an ideal candidate.

  • Due to international sanctions and export controls, North Korea “may represent the single biggest source of compatible legacy artillery ammunition outside of Russia, including domestic production facilities to further supplies”, said Joseph Dempsey, research associate at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

  • In return, North Korea will likely want food, fuel and other materials from Russia due to U.N. sanctions imposed over its nuclear program.

Source: 
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a41094368/russia-buying-north-korean-weapons/ 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/explainer-what-help-are-north-korean-weapons-to-russia/2022/09/07/97055a64-2e82-11ed-bcc6-0874b26ae296_story.html

North Korean Chuseok Feast, Without the Feast

A Korean Chuseok table

As the Korean Peninsula celebrates the Chuseok thanksgiving festival on September 10 this year, major food shortages sweep across the famine-stricken nation with a 700 percent rise in food prices, according to UN officials. This is leaving North Korean families unable to perform customary duties by bringing food to gravesites to thank their ancestors for an “abundant harvest” for a third consecutive year. Among the two main imported food products, namely sugar and flour, their prices between 2017 and late June 2022 have risen 726.76 percent and 271.84 percent per kilogram, respectively. Faced with the significant price increase in raw materials, food vendors must raise their prices or shrink their portions, but many fear that doing so would drive away customers and ultimately threaten their livelihoods.

HOW NORTH KOREANS CELEBRATE CHUSEOK

Unlike South Koreans who enjoy the holiday for at least three days, Chuseok is a one-day celebration in North Korea as socialist anniversaries like the birthday of its founding leader, Kim Il-sung, are deemed more important than traditional holidays. However, this does not mean that North Koreans lack sincerity in their preparation for Chuseok.

Traditionally, Chuseok food preparations are taken very seriously and would even begin a month in advance. North Koreans make songpyeon rice cakes two or three times bigger than South Korean ones and fill each half-moon shaped rice cake with boiled red beans or kidney beans, grinded walnuts or stir-fried vegetables. As the weather is colder in the North, a large amount of songpyeon is made during Chuseok, which can be stored and consumed for a long period of time. In addition to preparing their ancestors’ favorite dishes, North Koreans also cook Korean beef radish soup and grilled beef, though beef is extremely rare in the North and is often replaced with pork that they receive as rations from spring to fall which they preserve in salt.

THE NORTH KOREAN WAY TO BEG FOR FOOD

It has never been easy for North Koreans to acquire enough rice to make songpyeon even before the Covid-19 pandemic and recent economic downturns due to its low rice production. This year’s Chuseok is further met with “worse-than-expected food shortages” to the extent North Korea’s leadership ordered officials stationed abroad, including diplomats, trade delegates and smugglers of specialized items, to secure rice, corn, beans and other staple food supplies as much as possible. The authorities issued an explanation to the order: “Agricultural production took a hit following a ban on movement with the emergence of COVID-19 cases during the first half of the year, a time when the nation was supposed to fully mobilize labor into agricultural areas,” and added that the value of grain secured can be offset against their scheduled cash contributions to the Workers’ Party.

According to a source from DailyNK, the authorities called on overseas officials to secure food for the state. Additionally, a request for food by North Korean officials visiting the Indian Chamber of International Business to discuss humanitarian food aid was recently published on Yonhapnews, which DailyNK’s source warned that it could lead to punishments of the officials.

STEALING FOOD FROM ITS PEOPLE

Locally, “corn inspection squads” have reportedly been tasked to patrol areas near rural collective farms to catch “grain thieves” until the harvest season this month. However, sources from Radio Free Asia suggest that this is in fact just an excuse for the government to search and confiscate food from innocent citizens carrying grains. During a crackdown in North Hwanghae province, south of Pyongyang, “Merchants who were targeted by the police lost whole corn sacks” and residents were reportedly enraged by the authorities for “punishing people who trade grain to make ends meet.”

North Korea is in dire need of aid and yet continues to play war games while forcing its people to suffer under their cruel and harsh control.

The Trouble with North Korea’s Young Generation

Unlike his parents, Switzerland-educated Kim Jong-un grew up with ample exposure to foreign cultures and according to his classmates, he had Michael Jordan posters tacked up in his room and enjoyed wearing his Nikes. Even after becoming North Korea’s Supreme Leader, Kim befriended U.S. basketball star Dennis Rodman and commended the popular South Korean girl group, Red Velvet, for their K-pop performance in Pyongyang where he was “deeply moved.”

His personal enjoyment of international influences, however, did not sway his style of rule to open up to the possibility of social, economic or political reform. Rather, the young leader is fully aware of and fears how young North Koreans in their 20s and 30s (also known as the Jangmadang (market) generation), who account for about 14 percent of the 25 million population, do not think they owe anything to the regime as they grew up during the worst famine in the country’s history where upwards of several million citizens were estimated to have died of starvation. As Seo Jae-pyong, Director at the Association of the North Korean Defectors explained, “The older generation grew up on rations from the regime, but the younger generation grew up on rice purchased from the (Jangmadang) market. They think they didn’t get any benefit from the regime’s system. It is natural that there is a huge gap between them in terms of loyalty and ideology and thoughts about the country’s leader.”

WHY K-POP AND K-DRAMA MATTER IN NORTH KOREA

Following episodes of natural disasters, COVID-19 lockdowns and rising tensions from missile tests, which were met with extensive international sanctions, the country would appear more isolated than ever. However, ordinary North Korean citizens have continued to gain foreign exposure to freedom and money through music and dramas from its Southern neighbor and Asia’s fourth-largest economy. This has sparked new waves of worries amongst the top brass concerning a young generation who aspire to seek a new culture and potentially threaten the regime’s existence.

Kim Jong-un labeled K-pop and K-drama as “vicious cancer” that corrupts young North Koreans’ “attire, hairstyle, speeches and behaviors,” as they give the Jangmadang generation a glimpse of life in South Korea, which is in stark contrast to the socialist paradise they had been taught to believe they live in.

According to Thae Yong-ho, a North Korean diplomat to the United Kingdom before defecting to South Korea, some 70-80 percent of the Jangmadang generation are estimated to have watched South Korean movies or dramas. There is evidence to suggest that K-drama and K-pop played a significant role that motivated North Koreans to risk their lives to defect. “The younger generation came to recognize that North Korea is economically weak. They know about the people who fled to South Korea, and they know that those defectors are better off than they are,” said Kim Yong-hwa, head of the NK Refugees Human Rights Association of Korea.

THE YOUNG GENERATION CROSSED THE LINE

North Korea’s attitude toward foreign pop culture has relaxed and hardened over the years, closely tied to the level of political tension with the South. “The party is constantly changing rules about what’s acceptable when it comes to foreign content, and the people have to pay attention,” said Jean Lee, senior fellow at the Wilson Center and former Pyongyang bureau chief for the Associated Press. Furthermore, the state of North Korea’s economy dictates its restrictions, thus with the country’s increasingly dire straits, the regime is keen on adopting a more conservative approach to avoid any risk of destabilizing its socialist model. Upon passing a new law to prevent the spread of content not approved by government censors in December 2020, its leader suggested tougher controls on societal content and shortly afterwards, a propaganda website accused K-pop record labels as “slave-like exploitation.”

Acknowledging that the culture of young people is a critical problem that must be addressed without further delay as the fate of the party, revolution, country and its people are at stake, the regime emphasized on ideological education for children and a public reign of terror. Preventing ideological deviation includes displays of public punishment that include executing elites who fail to show enough loyalty or sending those who consume South Korean content to up to 15 years in labor camps. As part of the re-education package, young people and their families were reportedly exiled to “volunteer” in rural hard-to-survive agricultural villages to repay “the Workers’ Party’s love and benevolence with the sweat of loyalty when the nation is struggling.”

Meanwhile, and ironically, Hollywood-style videos of ballistic missile launches featuring Kim Jong-un were shown on state television, which were “produced in a more cheerful way on purpose to appeal to young people,” according to Hong Min, director of the North Korean Research Division of Korea Institute for National Unification.

The future of foreign media remains unclear in North Korea. While the regime expresses its disdain for foreign pop culture, it can do little to stop it. Jangmadangs came as a result of North Korea’s failure to provide for its people in the ‘90s. To stop the flow of media is to stop the Jangmadangs from operating all together and, if this occurs, the people may starve once again.

The Rejection of North Korean Defectors

Scene from Extraordinary Attorney Woo (Netflix)

NOT-SO-DISCREET BIAS

In an episode of the trending Netflix K-drama Extraordinary Attorney Woo, a brilliant lawyer with autism, Woo Young-woo, defended a North Korean defector, Gye Hyang-sim. The case centers around a robbery that a North Korean defector allegedly committed. During the course of the episode, Woo finds that a doctor, who provides his expert medical opinion about the case, had an immense bias against the defector. Ultimately, his prior testimony given at the onset of the original trial was disqualified due to bias.

Though this story is based on fiction, there is data to back the premise of the episode. North Korean defectors face a myriad of hurdles when they arrive in South Korea. Not only do they carry a tremendous amount of trauma, they must figure out an unfamiliar system of laws, most of which are based on a democratic capitalism, a completely foreign concept to these people. To complicate matters even further, many North Korean refugees report feeling discriminated against, according to recent studies.

NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS NOT WELCOMED

In 2017, a poll revealed that about 50 percent of North Korean defectors living in South Korea felt discriminated against because of their background, with discrimination based on economic status (16 percent) as the leading cause, followed by level of education (14.4 percent) and region of origin (12.2 percent). Prejudice towards defectors is an “open secret” in South Korea, according to Andrei Lankov, a professor at Kookmin University and a director at Korea Risk Group. He went on to say, “defectors are seen as outsiders and suspicious figures … In general, people who come from less successful countries are seen differently. In this hierarchy, North Koreans are very close to the bottom because their country is seen as a collective loser.”

Further, a study by the Korea Institute for National Unification (“KINU”) found that many South Korean parents do not want their children to study in elementary schools with a high number of defector children. North Korean defectors, South Korean parents, unification workers, social workers and teachers were interviewed in this study. Kim Soo-kyung, a researcher at KINU explained that, “South Korean society is not yet prepared to accept defectors as the members of local communities.” Defectors are uniquely positioned between North and South Korean society and are sometimes referred to as “pillars of unification” for the key role they will potentially play in the future. However, Kim continued by saying the South Korean public “sees the defectors only as “pillars of unification,” or byproducts of inter-Korean relations.”

‘ALTERNATIVE SCHOOLS’ FOR DEFECTOR CHILDREN STRUGGLE TO GET ACCEPTANCE

According to the Education Ministry in South Korea, around 10 percent or 230 North Korean students enrolled into nine alternative schools exclusively for North Korean defectors as of 2019. Yeomyung School, which has around 80 students and 13 faculty staff members, is the only alternative school in Seoul certified by the Education Ministry to award a high school diploma. Beyond regular classes that prepare students for college, the school has a curriculum that takes into account students’ backgrounds, including missing school years due to poverty or life in hiding as defectors, and offers special classes to help them transition into South Korean society.

However, Yeomyung School was met with a well-known concept among urban planners called NIMBYism, which stands for “Not In My Back Yard” and strong resistance from residents in Eunpyong-gu, a district in northern Seoul, when the school planned to move there. In particular, the residents claimed that the government-designated lot should be used for locals and not “outsiders” or North Korean refugees who are “unwanted” in their neighborhood. During Yeomyung’s two-and-a-half-year search for a new location, nearly 700 people signed a Presidential Blue House petition protesting the school’s potential move.

The high school dropout rate for children of defectors is nearly three times higher than that for the rest of the population, while 21.3 percent of defectors aged 10 to 18 spoke out about difficulties keeping up with school curriculum, according to a study by the Korean Educational Statistics Service.

While no society or culture is without its biases, it is a tragedy that a people who have lived through horrific circumstances are confronted with rejection in South Korea.

Elim House Mid-year Update

Korea Opened Up

As Korea began to loosen its quarantine restrictions for foreign travelers in May 2022, two of our US staff members were able to visit Elim House. The main objectives of that trip were to spend time with our Korea team, see Elim House and meet current residents and to continue building strategic relationships with South Korean churches and key organizations.

A month later in July, one staffer returned to Korea with his family for a longer stay to continue the work that started in May. He and his wife were able to take part in the first Elim House retreat and also had a chance to pilot a few new initiatives. Being able to have our US and Korea team physically in the same place was long overdue and we’re excited to share all the good that came of these recent trips. There are a few more visits planned for our US staff in the second half of the year to explore the new and different ways Crossing Borders might serve the North Korean refugee population in South Korea.

Very Few Defectors Entering South Korea

South Korea’s Ministry of Reunification routinely publishes the number of North Korean defectors entering South Korea each year. As you can see below, the total count of defectors had been as high as 2,914 (2009) and the percentage of women as high as 85% (2018). With the global pandemic shutting down both North Korean and Chinese borders, this number shrank down to just 63 total defectors who arrived in South Korea in 2021. Most sources involved with helping North Koreans with whom we spoke while in South Korea expect even fewer arrivals in 2022.

Not surprisingly, this slowdown has caused the work at the Ministry and at Hanawon to significantly drop off. Related or not, the volume of inquiries of women seeking shelter at Elim House or government-run shelters have also slowed down. Elim House residents have spanned from newer defectors to those who had lived in South Korea for close to a decade so this may be an unexpected coincidence or perhaps just the impact of all the people of Korea adjusting to life after COVID-19.

Time to retreat

A one-night retreat with past and current Elim House residents and our staff was something we’ve wanted to test in Korea, and with a larger team on the ground for the summer, we moved forward with this pilot retreat. Our time together kicked off with Sunday morning worship service at Elim House followed by a quick road trip to the west coast of Incheon where we spent the next day and a half by the water. Four North Korean women attended the retreat and we had an amazing time together digging for clams (more rocks than clams), exercising, playing games, eating and sharing our lives with one another. 

This time away was to be a time of rest and getting into each other’s lives and God allowed for exactly that. God was gracious in providing us with delicious food, hours of laughter, vulnerability and shoulders to cry on. While our time together went far too quickly, we had an opportunity to get a better glimpse into the depth of trauma these women had endured through North Korea and China and how much pain they still carry in their hearts. It broke our hearts to see it up close but also gave us a renewed sense of why God assigned us to do this work halfway around the globe. It reminded us of Psalm 38:18: 

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

Bodily training has value

Charlene is the wife of one of our US staff and is also a seasoned fitness instructor. While on this trip to Korea, Charlene had prepared to teach private classes to groups of North Korean women and also at the retreat. It’s not that South Korea doesn’t have personal fitness instructors. Quite the opposite, actually: workouts like pilate and CrossFit have saturated Korean culture in recent years. While accessible to the masses, including North Korean refugees, we’ve learned that these are not venues where North Koreans (especially women in their 30s-50s) feel comfortable. Whether that is driven by differences in dialect or stature (North Korean women are noticeably shorter than their South Korean counterparts) or even just a self consciousness that persists in everyday life, most of the women who attended had never been to a fitness studio or workout class. 

Refugee women ranging in ages from 30’s to 70’s attended our two workout classes. They arrived early, worked really hard to learn moves they’d never seen, and most importantly, thoroughly enjoyed themselves and took plenty of opportunities to laugh at themselves and each other. Helping these women strengthen their bodies was of some value but it was evident that they gained so much more simply by being together in community.

Kelly

As she patiently waits to receive housing assistance while staying at Elim House, we’ve seen the transforming power of the gospel shape Kelly’s heart. Once a stranger to the bible and Jesus, her hunger for the word and desire to grow in her prayer life have both noticeably grown. She also recently inquired about being baptized and weighed the options of doing it with the pastor that currently leads the Elim House Sunday worship or waiting until she was settled in her new home and a local church. The Lord has really opened her eyes to see and ears to hear and we thank God for bringing salvation to Kelly’s life.

Kelly and our social workers regularly share time together in the word during morning devotionals. They applauded Kelly's determination to learn and pray diligently and it is their prayer that a day will come in the near future where Kelly’s conversations with her heavenly father feels as natural and normal as breathing.

Looking ahead

One of the core values of Crossing Borders is to provide a safe community to refugees.

“Crossing Borders offers North Korean refugees and their children opportunities to thrive by providing physical care, emotional healing and spiritual guidance in a safe community.”

These recent trips to Korea reinforced for us the importance of doing the work of restoring North Korean refugees in a safe community. It is in that place where we saw women allow themselves to be vulnerable and share, to laugh out loud and cry together. It is in that place where God can heal and allow them to experience his warm embrace.

Chuseok is Korea’s fall harvest holiday and when Elim House will host the next retreat with North Korean refugee women. As we prepare for this by sending one of our US staff, we also plan to continue testing new community building events by hosting classes that teach different life skills.

We’re thankful for a season of learning and adapting to ministry work in a place like South Korea. We’re thankful for a fruitful summer and excited to follow God’s leading this fall. We’re thankful for the faithful partners who make this work possible. Please pray for Crossing Borders and our teams in the US and Korea to “devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need,” (Titus 3:14).

Top NK Headlines - August 2022

Kim Jong Un in 2019. (www.kremlin.ru)

KIM JONG-UN WAS ‘SERIOUSLY ILL’ DURING THEIR COVID-19 PANDEMIC

  • As North Korea declared a “shining victory” over Covid-19 and hailed the “miracle” of just 74 virus deaths, Kim Yo-jong announced that Kim Jong-un had in fact been “seriously ill.”

  • The North blamed the outbreak on the South for flying Covid-contaminated leaflets across the border, which Kim Yo-jong described as a “crime against humanity,” citing “the danger of spreading an infectious disease through contacting contaminated objects.”

  • According to the state news agency, she also said that amidst suffering from a “high fever”, their leader “could not lie down for a moment thinking about the people he had to take care of until the end in the face of the anti-epidemic war.”

  • One source spoke of how the COVID-19 outbreak gave Kim Jong-Un a unique opportunity to “shift his public persona from that of a military leader into still more of a father figure to the nation.”

  • International observers speculate that North Korea refers to “fever” rather than Covid-19 due to a lack of testing equipment.

Source: 
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-62501152
https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3188582/north-koreas-kim-jong-un-was-seriously-ill-covid-19-surge-says
https://thediplomat.com/2022/08/kim-jong-uns-changing-public-persona/

Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin. (www.kremlin.ru)

NORTH KOREA VOLUNTEERS 100,000 TROOPS TO RUSSIA

  • According to Russian state media, “100,000 North Korean volunteers are prepared to come and take part in the conflict” to help Russia win the war against Ukraine.

  • Russia’s military pundit, Ignor Korotchenko, said that his country would welcome the troops and commended the North’s counter-battery expertise.

  • North Korea’s military is the world’s fourth largest, with nearly 1.3 million active personnel, according to the Council for Foreign Relations in New York.

  • It is also reported that North Korea plans to assist Russia in rebuilding a post-war Ukraine by sending more than 1,000 workers to the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine if Russia wins the war.

  • Meanwhile, Donetsk separatist leader, Denis Pushilin, sent a message to Kim Jong-un calling for an “equally beneficial bilateral cooperation agreeing with the interests” of their people during the August 15 anniversary of the Korean peninsula’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule at the end of World War II.

Source: 
https://nypost.com/2022/08/05/russian-state-tv-north-korea-offers-kremlin-100000-troops/ 
https://www.dailynk.com/english/north-korea-selected-workers-dispatched-eastern-ukraine/ 
https://www.businessinsider.com/north-korea-offering-russia-100k-troops-help-beat-ukraine-reports-2022-8 
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/17/donetsk-leader-ties-with-north-korea-ukraine-russia

The Demilitarized Zone in North Korea.

NORTH KOREA REJECTS SOUTH KOREA PRESIDENT’S OFFER OF AID

  • Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, told South Korea’s president, Yoon, to “shut his mouth” as she rejected his offer of economic assistance, including food, energy and infrastructure help, in return for denuclearization.

  • According to North Korea’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper, she said the country does not intend to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

  • She called Yoon “really simple and still childish” for suggesting such an “audacious” plan and added that “No one barters its destiny for corn cake,” as she dismissed the possibility of face-to-face talks with the South.

  • As a close confidant of her brother and someone who oversees inter-Korean affairs, she questioned Yoon’s sincerity in calling for improvements between the two countries as South Korea continued to participate in joint military drills with the U.S. and failed to stop propaganda leaflets from flying across the heavily guarded border.

  • North Korea launched two cruise missiles two days after Yoon’s offer, marking its first weapon test in more than two months.

Source: 
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/nkorea-leaders-sister-says-north-will-never-deal-with-skoreas-audacious-2022-08-18/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/19/north-korea-rejects-seouls-absurd-offer-of-economic-aid-for-denuclearisation
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/17/world/asia/north-korea-missile-launch.html

Nancy Pelosi in 2019. (Gage Skidmore)

NORTH KOREA SLAMS PELOSI’S VISIT TO THE KOREA BORDER AND TAIWAN

  • North Korea denounced U.S. House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, as the “worst destroyer of international peace” over her visit to the Demilitarized Zone and Taiwan.

  • An official at North Korea’s Foreign Ministry stated that, in addition to discussions with Seoul to call for “strong and extended deterrence against North Korea”, Pelosi “made her appearance even in the joint security area of Panmunjom, utterly betraying the vision of the hostile policy of the current U.S. administration towards the DPRK.”

  • Pyongyang also lashed out at Pelosi over her visit to Taiwan, which drew threats and massive military drills from China, North Korea’s key ally and trade partner.

  • While emphasizing Taiwan as “an inseparable part of China,” North Korea’s spokesperson added that Pyongyang “fully support(s) the Chinese government’s just stand to resolutely defend the sovereignty of the country and territorial integrity.”

Source: 
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/08/06/asia-pacific/politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific/north-korea-nancy-pelosi/
https://thediplomat.com/2022/08/north-korea-denounces-pelosis-visit-to-taiwan/

North Korea Defeats COVID

North Korean officials wearing protective suits. (Rodong Sinmun-News)

North Korea recently declared victory over COVID-19. Kim Jong Un praised the country, calling their fight against the virus the “greatest miracle” in global health. The country reported 74 deaths from the virus and about 5 million infections, which, if true, would be the world’s lowest death rate from the pandemic. They did this without a vaccine and with a health system that most experts call dilapidated. This announcement has been met with skepticism for those in the North Korean aid community.

The Daily NK reported that as the country touted its miraculous victory over COVID-19, that the country has been clamping down internally on disease and population control measures.

“According to multiple sources in North Korea, North Korean authorities are limiting the issuance of documents needed for inter-regional travel, including travel certificates, business trip certificates, approval numbers and quarantine confirmations,” according to the August 4 report.

When North Korea first announced their outbreak in May, Crossing Borders sounded the alarm. We petitioned the church in the US and globally to pray for North Korea. We were concerned about what COVID-19 might do to the North Korean people who have been malnourished for decades. Studies have shown how malnutrition degrades a person’s immune system over time. 

A few members of our US staff were visiting Elim House in South Korea when news broke of  North Korea’s COVID-19 outbreak. They were able to talk to refugees and aid groups on the ground, all of whom supported our suspicions that North Korea was grossly underreporting their death toll. We spoke to refugees with contacts in North Korea who were telling them that the amount of suffering is akin to the famine of the 1990s.

Kim Jong Un himself used the word “miracle” in describing his country’s defeat of COVID-19 because that is indeed what it would take for the country to overcome the disease. It is within the realm of possibility that the lack of obesity and the level of control the government has, can yield a more positive result against the virus. But it is much more likely that North Korea is not telling the truth given their history of deception both internally to its citizens and to the world. 

Choi Jung-hun, a North Korean defector who served as a doctor before fleeing in 2011, was quoted in this CNN article as reflecting on the SARS outbreak of 2002-2004 that “North Korea had no ability to test for the disease, so officially it recorded zero infections. According to 38 North, likely due to inadequate testing supplies and/or capabilities, only a handful of COVID-19 cases have officially been confirmed, with the rest attributed to an unidentified “fever” since the onset of this year’s outbreak.

Exactly what is going on in the country remains a mystery. The sources we sighted on the ground also only give us a limited picture of what the pandemic is doing throughout the whole country. And if the North Korean government is trying to conceal the truth about COVID to the outside world, it certainly is attempting to do the same inside the country as well. This means that, as the country monitors its citizens, it will also monitor internal communications about the pandemic as well. Regular citizens will not be able to tell a friend in a neighboring city what is happening to them. It will take years, if not decades, for the world to get a picture of the damage wrought by the pandemic.

This is also what happened during the North Korean famine in the ‘90s. The world was clueless to the devastation unfolding in North Korea at the time. It was only as tens, if not hundreds of thousands of refugees walked across the border into China that the world was able to see the full extent of damage that occurred in those years. The testimony from refugees took decades to gather. And the picture that each life painted took time to eventually tell the full story of a famine that took upwards of 3.5 million North Korean lives.

North Korea’s Growing Homelessness and Prostitution as Living Conditions Worsen

growing Homelessness in North Korea

North Korea’s economy has suffered one of its biggest contractions as it battled through an almost three-year COVID-19 lockdown, the second-worst drought in 40 years and continued international sanctions. As the hermit country’s most vulnerable people slip deeper into starvation, its government ordered periods of intense crackdowns on the rapidly growing number of homeless people along the China-North Korea border for threatening to hinder state emergency quarantine efforts and tarnishing the image of socialism. Meanwhile, more and more women were forced to enter into the sex trade as North Korea’s paralyzed economy left ordinary citizens with no other option for survival. 

ORDERS TO HIDE THE HOMELESS

North Korean authorities were alarmed by the reappearance of crowds of homeless people along the border and feared an upcoming wave of illegal border hoppers and defectors as more people approach the country’s “strict security zones” along the border, which warrants unauthorized trespassers to be shot at unconditionally as part of its COVID-19 preventative measures. 

Most importantly, its leadership was reportedly worried that photos showing homeless North Koreans could be taken from the Chinese side of the border, which a source told Daily NK that they “could be misused in the anti-Republic schemes of enemies, who run around trying to pull down our ideology and socialist system.” According to Daily NK, the Ministry of Social Security recently issued “Order 1541” to intensify crackdowns and take tougher control and management on the homeless. Provincial branches of the ministry were also called to “eradicate” the homeless who appear daily in markets, near train stations, at garbage dumps, along train tracks, in train tunnels and under bridges, and house them in temporary buildings or inns, while homeless adults would be allocated to take part in labor-intensive activities in labor brigades.

INTENSIFIED CRACKDOWNS ON STREET PROSTITUTION

Prostitution became widespread in North Korea since the late 1990s, a time when women were forced to find ways to survive after the government suddenly stopped distributing rations to its people. However, Article 249 of North Korea’s Criminal Code states that women who are caught engaging in prostitution can receive a punishment of up to one year of forced labor, and up to five years at a forced labor correctional facility in more serious cases.

In practice, prostitution is a crime that is even punishable by public execution, mostly by firing squad. For example, in July 2020, the state executed six people including four party officials for operating a prostitution ring that involved female college students and senior officials in Pyongyang. Following a crackdown in August 2020, more than 50 female students from two prominent Pyongyang performing art colleges, who were reportedly driven into prostitution by poverty brought on by the endless demands for school fees, were sent to a labor camp for three to six months for their alleged involvement in a prostitution network that catered to Pyongyang’s elites. The investigation also revealed that under government pressure to raise money, prestigious schools arbitrarily demanded money from students, and as a result, at least 200 school students “who have difficult family circumstances are thereby forced into prostitution.”

North Korean train station

North Korean Authorities were ordered to search for suspected prostitutes in train stations

Due to the economic difficulties caused by COVID-19, there has been a rise in the number of North Korean women working as prostitutes. In March 2022, the authorities even arrested mothers of newborns who turned to prostitution in order to put food on the table. More recently, Kim Jong-un ordered the Social Security Department and Socialist Patriotic Youth League to carry out intensive crackdowns on street prostitution in major cities, including Chongjin and Hamhung. A source told Radio Free Asia that on July 30, 2022, district-level meetings were held to educate young people in an effort to deter them from selling their bodies for money, while a meeting in Chongjin’s Sunam district publicly criticized several young female prostitutes, whereby “each of the eight women on the stage revealing their names, ages, home addresses, and their jobs, and forcing them to criticize themselves.” It was reported that the authorities’ searches in train stations, parks and streets for suspected prostitutes have been met with success, with approximately 30 girls in their teens and 20s arrested on the first day of the crackdown as they begged men who were waiting for the train at Hamhung station at night to pay for their services for as little as 30,000 won (U.S. $4.30).

Running Away from China, aka “runxue”

It was reported in June 2022 that the continued lockdowns and quarantines imposed in Shanghai and other Chinese cities have pushed China’s middle-class to explore plans to move overseas as people grew more concerned about further restrictions that may be imposed to encroach on their basic freedoms and also lead to economic and social stagnation. Following Shanghai’s reopening on June 1, 2022, authorities imposed new city-wide lockdowns with over 1 million citizens confined at home or in quarantine facilities due to recent outbreaks of COVID-19. The endless cycle of easing and increasing restrictions has become emotionally and psychologically taxing on citizens. 

“They have neither freedom nor safety.”

According to Chen Daoyin, a political scientist and former associate professor at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, “The middle-class group expected a decent life… Before they exchanged freedom for security, but now they have neither freedom nor safety.” A writer in Shanghai told the CS Monitor that she had never lived abroad before but was planning to save up to leave, as she claimed that no one could protect themselves during the lockdown. “This thing is universal – your freedom of residence and freedom of travel will be restricted. You may get a knock on the door and be taken away in the middle of the night.”

Online discussions about “running away from China” or “runxue” (a newly created word for “run philosophy” to avoid censorship) have surged. “Emigration” was also searched more than 100 million times on a single day in May 2022 on WeChat, and interests in emigration or “run philosophy” could similarly be found in other social media platforms like Weibo and Zhihu.

#theLastGeneration

China’s youths, especially those who were educated abroad, fear that the zero-Covid-19 policy was no longer economically feasible, with recent figures showing China’s economy contracting, thus many have plans to return abroad. A video went viral and became an online meme showing police officers warning a young man’s family that they would be punished for three generations for refusing to go to a quarantine camp, in which the man replied, “this will be our last generation,” before it was censored by the authorities. Many young people in their 20s and 30s identified with the sentiment, with one Weibo user stating that, “Not bringing children to this country, to this land, will be the most charitable deed I could manage” under the hashtag #thelastgeneration before it was censored. 

According to the Economist, online search trends show that China’s young and educated elite are thinking about leaving the country. Spikes in the searches for “run” on Chinese social media platforms coincided with traumatic events in Shanghai, such as when an asthma patient was refused medical treatment and died, or when videos of infected children separated from their parents spread online.

Sharing Run Philosophy Resources on GitHub

Countless accounts offering detailed strategies and tips on how to emigrate from China can be found on GitHub, a rare foreign platform that is not censored in China.  For example, a post on runxue include details of:

  • FAQs on a range of issues, e.g., visa / passport applications, immersion problems for new immigrants, psychological barriers, cultural differences, differences in political ideologies, language barriers, family settlement, transfer of assets, logistics, healthcare, etc.

  • how to emigrate, e.g., apply for work or student visa, work for a foreign company and apply for internal transfer to an overseas position, etc.

  • what is “run” and how “run” does not equate to betraying your country, etc.

  • when is the best time to “run” at the different stages of your studies / career, etc.

  • where to “run” to, with the top three countries being Canada, Japan and Singapore.

  • why you should “run”

There are also a number of posts on how to “run” to specific countries. For example, one post gives detailed step-by-step advice on how to immigrate to Australia even if you do not have much money, and another post shares the user’s personal experience on immigrating to Canada.

Brokers / Traffickers

Our sources in China who have helped North Korean refugees previously escape out of China tell us that brokers have been busy servicing Chinese nationals who are willing to pay a steep premium in fees. While this may be impossible to validate, Chinese authorities imposing tighter controls to “strictly restrict non-essential exit activities of Chinese citizens” as part of its zero-Covid-19 policy, including suspending the issuance of passports to people with “non-urgent” reasons for leaving the country last year makes this news seem plausible.

 Experts state that “this may be the status in China for the next three-to-five, or five-to-10 years.” Thus, citizens are more likely to rely on traffickers or brokers to leave the country going forward.

Additionally, another source in Chongqing states that the demand for hiring brokers to arrange for sham marriages for the purpose of emigration is rising, especially among young working professionals, including doctors, who are able to pay large sums to process the necessary paperwork.

Top NK Headlines - July 2022

NORTH KOREAN FISHERMEN DEFECTORS WHO KILLED CREW MEMBERS CASE REOPENED 

  • In November 2019, on a fishing boat full of North Korean men attempting to defect to the South, two fishermen were found guilty of killing 16 of their crew members.

  • Seoul’s Unification Ministry released photos of two men in their 20s struggling while being forcibly moved by South Korean military men toward North Korean soldiers waiting on the other side of the demarcation line at the border village of Panmunjom in November 2019.

  • According to police accounts, the men were blindfolded and bound with ropes.

  • The former President Moon Jae-in’s administration described the fishermen as “heinous criminals” who did not “clearly express” a “sincere” desire to remain in South Korea, thus they did not receive the usual treatment of North Korean defectors, including being investigated and debriefed by intelligence officials during their stay.

  • President Yoon Suk-yeol’s office reopened the case and called the repatriation decision “a crime against humanity that violated both international law and the constitution.”

  • On the claims that the fishermen were repatriated for the crimes they committed, Jang Se-yul, the president of the National Association of North Korean Defectors, said in a forum that “North Korea is not a normal country. … I know people back home who stole and broke laws to survive and feed their family on their ways to eventual escape.”

  • Meanwhile, Moon’s former situation room chief Yoon Kun-young accused Yoon’s administration of undermining the opposition party, “are you saying we should have let the grotesque murderers get away with their crime and protect them with our own people’s tax money?”

  • It is suspected that the two fishermen were publicly executed in Pyongyang.

  • The Unification Ministry told NK News that 23 defectors currently in South Korea are not under government protection due to their criminal records. According to the Act on the Protection and Settlement Support of North Korean Refugees, such protection extends to assistance with education, employment, housing and healthcare.

Source: 
https://www.yahoo.com/news/photos-north-korean-defectors-being-233822877.html
https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20220715000606 
https://www.nknews.org/2022/07/south-korea-repatriated-nearly-200-north-koreans-but-only-expelled-two-seoul/ 

NORTH KOREA INCREASES SURVEILLANCE OF ITS PEOPLE VIA APPS

  • North Korean authorities have long used the intranet network as a surveillance tool. All smartphone users have been required to install an application called “Red Flag” that keeps a log of visited web pages and take screenshots of their phones at random intervals.

  • Recently, all smartphone users are mandated to install a new application, Kwangmyong, in order to get their quarterly communication license cards. This application allows the government to remotely track users’ locations and monitor their devices in real time.

  • With Kwangmyong installed, the authorities are now able to track users’ offline activities, including cell phone activities, file sharing and viewing of illicit material via physical media like USB flash drives and SD cards.

  • It is reported that citizens are unhappy about the invasion of privacy by the Ministry of State Security and other law enforcement agencies.

  • A resident of Pukchang country, north of Pyongyang, told Radio Free Asia that “At the post office these days, residents are lining up to pay the fee to get their quarterly [license] card. … but some have refused to install the app and have been able to buy the quarterly card on the black market.”

Source: 
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/app-07082022150535.html 

Shinzo Abe (DOD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Dominique A. Pineiro)

SHINZO ABE, JAPAN’S KEY ADVOCATE TO NORTH KOREA’S ABDUCTION CASE, SHOT DEAD

  • Japan’s longest-serving former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe died after he was shot while giving a public speech in support of Liberal Democratic Party candidates in Nara city.

  • Despite little progress being made towards resolving issues concerning North Korea’s abduction of Japanese citizens during his tenure as prime minister, Abe repeatedly called for the North to return the abductees home and “The Abe administration was successful in raising concerns and interests over the abduction issues domestically and internationally,” according to Sachio Nakato, a professor of International Politics at Ritsumeikan University.

  • During the 2002 summit, North Korea admitted to abducting 13 Japanese nationals and have returned five in total. However, Abe’s government claimed that there are more Japanese abductees than those claimed by the North.

  • Akin to Yoon’s administration, Abe leaned towards imposing sanctions against North Korea and did not agree with Moon’s policy towards reunification.

Source: 
https://www.nknews.org/2022/07/shinzo-abe-key-advocate-for-resolution-of-abduction-issue-dead-at-67/ 

A view of Hamhung, South Hamgyong Province, in 2011. (Jen Morgan, Flickr, Creative Commons)

NORTH KOREAN BROKER MYSTERIOUSLY DIES IN LABOR CAMP

  • A source in North Hamgong Province told Daily NK that during a trip to visit his wife, an inmate serving her sentence at Hamhung Correctional Labor Camp in South Hamgyong Province for human trafficking, the authorities informed him that she had died without providing any information regarding her death, including when she died, the cause of death or what happened to the body.

  • The woman in her 40s smuggled North Koreans to China from 2012 to September 2015. She was captured by the Ministry of State Security after one of the defectors was repatriated back to the North after being caught by Chinese security agents.

  • Her husband was unable to see his wife for a year due to Covid-19 restrictions until this visit, where he brought some cornmeal mixed with sugar and innerwear for her, only to be scolded by camp officials for asking questions concerning his wife’s death, telling him he “should be grateful that they even told him she was dead.”

  • The source also said that “Since COVID-19, even ordinary people have been having a hellish time trying to make ends meet, let alone people in prison for crimes. … Many prisoners surely must have died unnatural deaths, unable to eat or dress properly and under surveillance from guards. … they are simply dying.”

Source: 
https://www.dailynk.com/english/hamhung-labor-camp-inmate-dies-under-mysterious-circumstances/

North Korea Gets Creative with State Propaganda

Contrary to reports on the economic crisis and food shortages in North Korea, new content showing the joyful and stable lives of “ordinary citizens” in Pyongyang began to surface on social media. According to NK News, North Korean state media company, Sogwang Media Corporation, initiated a propaganda campaign which targets supporters abroad and aims to shape the perception of foreign viewers with claims of freedom and utopian social conditions.

Since 2018, there have been a number of English, Chinese and Russian-speaking vloggers who post content on social media networks through fake accounts to deliver heavily scripted state propaganda. YouTube Channel NEW DPRK which features blog-style videos has played a key role in helping North Korean propagandists reach over 1.9 million international viewers with nearly 23,000 subscribers as of June 2022. NEW DPRK’s Weibo page Time Traveller-2022 featuring a young Chinese-speaking North Korean woman, Yang Yixin, was also created after Yang served as a tour guide in Chinese Youtuber Lei’s Adventures Official Channel’s North Korea travel series, which has over 455,000 views as of June 2022. Meanwhile, the expanding propaganda operation created an account in February 2022 portraying a young Asian man under the name Eric Endosen on Twitter, and posted the same photos using other Sogwang-affiliated Twitter and Weibo accounts such as “@Parama_Coreafan” and “Take you to Koryo”.

THE GIRL NEXT DOOR

North Korea’s new propaganda strategy departs from the over-exaggerated, solemn state propaganda often perceived by western media. The content now appeals to young online viewers through Twitter and YouTube channels like Sary Voline, which features 11-year-old vlogger, Song A, a Harry Potter fan who speaks fluent English with a posh British accent. Song A introduced North Korea to the audience in a tone that is difficult to associate with traditional state propaganda, “Pyongyang where I live, is a very beautiful and magnificent city. Have you ever been to Pyongyang? Well, I want to show you in person interesting and fun places in Pyongyang.” Friendly and approachable, Song A also added a personal touch to her videos by “promising” to take the audience on tour and pledging that “if you come here, you’ll be totally surprised because literally wherever you go there are amusement parks.”

In Song A’s second video which was uploaded almost two weeks after the lockdown in Pyongyang was lifted, she told the audience that “a week ago, I was starting to lie down sick temperature was 39 degrees. The next day it was even worse, my mom was down too.” Just as Song A expressed her worry that medicine was running out, military doctors visited her home while she added that friends, neighbors and local shop staff brought her “giant red juicy strawberries,” dumplings and vegetables, so “just like this, everything is under control as it used to be and everyone is just fine!”

TAIWANESE SUPPORTERS SEEK TO GIVE NORTH KOREA ‘A VOICE’

Although North Korea has a record of cross-posting and fooling foreign observers into believing their propaganda stories, genuine overseas supporters of North Korea have seemingly emerged like Taiwan-based groups “DPRK Business-Culture News” and “gotodprk.” In an interview with the founder of DPRK Business-Culture News, Hong Hao, he told Crossing Campus that he believes different cultures should be given their own voice, and through sharing his travel experiences in North Korea (which he asked to be referred to as the DPRK), he hopes to explore this “mysterious country” together with the people of Taiwan. In particular, Hong noted that most of the information about North Korea comes from the “western media hegemony” which seeks to paint a negative image of North Korea. He gave an example of news about Kim Jong-un’s impending death in 2020 leading to a critical situation in the Korean peninsula, which was later proven to be malicious rumors.

From introducing public transport in Pyongyang and traditions in the North, to sharing local North Korean snacks and even hosting activities to “help celebrate Kim Il-sung's birthday,” Hong held three workshops at the end of 2021 alone which was a great success with venues packed with enthusiasts and North Korean souvenirs sold out “in a flash.” Before each talk, all participants were invited to stand and bow to a statue of Kim Il-sung with the national anthem playing in the background. It is interesting to note that most of the participants were in their 20s and 30s and were composed of couples, friends and families with children.

DID WE FORGET?

With borders closed since the beginning of the pandemic, the North Korean government has had complete control over information disseminated to the outside world, thereby blurring the line between news and state propaganda. As the new campaign delivers more relatable and modernized content with young girls vlogging about Covid-19 quarantine and posing for selfies at home and in cafes, it is easy to understand why people are beginning to forget that all content available on social media are government-controlled as the Kim regime prohibits anyone in North Korea, including diplomats and overseas citizens, from accessing the internet.

North Korean Leader Cries and Carries Mentor’s Coffin at State Funeral

Days after the North Korean leader punished officials for failing to contain Covid-19 and despite strict nationwide lockdown measures, Kim Jong-un was seen in tears at a state funeral for Marshal Hyon Chol-hae, a top North Korean official who served three generations of the Kim family, along with a large number of senior officials at the April 25 House of Culture, a theater located in Pyongyang on May 22, 2022. North Korean state media released images and video footage of Kim Jong-un without a face mask and carrying Hyon’s coffin with other regime officials, who were masked, before he threw earth into Hyon’s grave at the national cemetery.

WHO WAS HYON CHOL-HAE?

Hyon was born on August 13, 1934 in Yangil County, Jilin Province, China. As the son of a member of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army organized and led by the founder of North Korea, Kim Il-sung, Hyon attended the Mangyongdae Revolutionary School, Kim Chaek University of Technology and Nicolae Bălcescu Military Academy in Romania. Hyon served in Kim Il-sung's personal security escort corps in the 1960s and was promoted to Major General and Deputy Director of Organizations in the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces (“MPAF”) General Political Bureau in 1968. After taking up the role as Director of the Korean People’s Army Rear Officers’ Training School in the 1970s, Hyon was promoted to Lieutenant General and Director of the MPAF General Logistics Bureau in 1986, where he served until his next promotion to General and Deputy Director of the MPAF in recognition of his contribution to the improvement of the country’s munitions and logistical support systems in 1995. In 2007, Hyon was appointed Director of the National Defense Commission of the DPRK Standing Bureau among other distinguished, high-level appointments. As a core member of Kim Jong-il's military management for 15 years, Hyon frequently appeared with the former North Korean leader, including a trip to China in May 2010. Under Kim Jong-un's administration, Hyon took the titles of Commander-in-Chief and Marshal of the Korean People’s Army in 2012 and 2016 respectively.

Chinese media also reported that, although Hyon Chol-hae’s nephew, Hyon Sung-il (former Third Secretary of the DPRK in Zambia), and his wife defected to South Korea in 1996, the late Marshal remained a trusted member of the party and was even praised as “a soldier loyal to President Kim Il Sung and a revolutionary comrade-in-arms loyal to Chairman Kim Jong Il and the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un” according to North Korean state media.

A MENTOR TO KIM JONG-UN

Hyon Chol-Hae

According to Yonhap, Hyon played a key role in training Kim Jong-un to become Kim Jong-il's successor before his father's death in 2011. Hyon was part of Kim Jong-il’s inner circle when he was mulling the “succession problem” and was later credited for “Devoting himself to his important duties in supreme leadership organs of the DPRK armed forces during the period of important historic turn in the succession to the revolutionary cause of Juche, he ensured that the monolithic command system of Kim Jong-un was established across the entire army.”

Hyon was almost a father figure to Kim Jong-un and their close relationship can be seen by the leader referring to Hyon as “uncle (a-ba-ee, 아바이)” and to himself as “Jong Unny (정은이),” a nickname used by Hyon in his childhood. Hyon and Kim Jong-un frequently exchanged letters and Hyon even had a direct phone line to the leader.  As a mentor who had backed Kim Jong-un as the “sole successor” to lead North Korea, the young dictator would seek Hyon for his advice on military affairs using high honorifics in their exchanges.

Kim Jong-un and Hyon were last seen together in public in July 2021, when his mentor attended an annual veterans conference in a wheelchair and the leader was seen leaning down and holding Hyon’s shoulders from behind.

DEATH AND LEGACY

Hyon was hospitalized “for a long time” and was “in pain” following treatments for his chronic heart disease and heart failure in 2017 and 2021 respectively. While Hyon was again hospitalized at Ponghwa Clinic in central Pyongyang this year, Kim Jong-un was known to have visited his bedside multiple times and was reportedly unable to leave his side. It is also reported that the leader had rushed back to the hospital when he received news of Hyon’s critical condition, which was filmed in a documentary titled “Closest to the Sun,” with the narrator quoting Kim Jong-un in an emotional voice, “Comrade Hyon Chol-hae, I’m here, open your eyes” and “What will I do if you go,” as Hyon was shown unconscious on a ventilator. On May 19, 2022, Hyon died of multiple organ failure with Kim Jong-un by his side.

Hyon loyally served late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and was a close confidant. He helped prepare Kim Jong-un to become the country’s next leader before his father died in 2011.

Introducing the Demystified Zone

My life changed in July of 2001. My best friend and founder of Crossing Borders Mike Kim returned from a short-term mission trip to China and opened my eyes to the plight of the North Korean refugee. I have been devouring the sad and peculiar news coming out of the Hermit Kingdom since that day and have not stopped.

With a background in journalism, I have shaped the public-facing communications of Crossing Borders from the very beginning. We have tried a little bit of everything over the past two decades. But in this quest to communicate the full story of the heartbreak and sadness that I felt as I dived deep into this work, I realized that we were missing an important aspect of North Korea.

Last year, I spoke to my good friend Sug Shin about Crossing Borders and our communications. I told him that while I am generally content with what we put out, I wished there was a lighter, more approachable way to communicate my stance as a Korean-American man whose heart breaks for the North Korean people but who also keeps current with the ridiculous news coming out of North Korea.

I don’t think I am alone in saying that I think it’s preposterous that North Korea once claimed that Kim Jong-Il shot 11 holes in one on his first round of golf or that no one in North Korea is legally allowed to have the same haircut as their dear leader, Kim Jong-Un. We as Crossing Borders staff have kept these absurdities to ourselves simply because we didn’t want to, by publicizing this content, detract from the sufferings of the North Korean people.

As I expressed this to Sug, he had a simple solution: put it in a podcast. Our team brainstormed, explored, researched and produced our new podcast which we call “The Demystified Zone” aka “The DMZ.” Through it, we will cover the light and the dark but from the perspective of two normal people, not analysts or academics.

For example, this year North Korea put out a Hollywood-style video, which depicts Kim Jong-un launching one of his latest ICBMs. He struts around in a leather jacket and designer sunglasses while commanding a military team. The edits are akin to a ‘90s action movie and replete with slow motion shots for dramatic effect. I cannot begin to express to you how absurd this seemingly high-cost production is while its own citizens suffer from persistent food shortages and lack of adequate health care. In an episode titled “Rocket Man”, we spent time expressing our exasperation at this and even had a few laughs at the expense of the Great Leader himself.

Come join us on this journey. I think you’ll like what you hear. 

#PrayforNK - July 10, 2022

On April 25, 2020, North Korea put on its grandest night-time military parade to commemorate the 90th anniversary of their army. Thousands gathered to cheer on marching soldiers and a display of massive missiles. An estimated 20,000 North Koreans worked together over the past few months in preparation of the parade.

Then on May 12, Kim Jong Un ordered a nationwide lockdown and declared a "maximum emergency." He appeared for the first time in public with a mask.

Crossing Borders team members Dan and Jacob arrived in South Korea to visit our Elim House team on May 13. By the time they started meeting with North Korean pastors and people closer to the situation, the count of COVID-19 cases in North Korea had surpassed 2 million. Lacking proper medical testing equipment, cases of “mass fevers” is how the North Korean government and press (Korean Central News Agency) tabulated their counts. Most speculated that the military parade was a super-spreader event and responsible for the spike in COVID-19 “fever” cases. Experts also generally agreed that North Korea making this news public meant their situation was far more grievous and potentially much further along than they communicated.

At the time of this writing, North Korea has:

It truly does seem stranger than fiction. A North Korean pastor that came to visit Elim House said the situation was truly dire, that many feared for the worst and pointed to the famine of the 90s as an example. Dan and Jacob asked several contacts if there was anything they could do to help while in South Korea for the week. Not surprisingly, there wasn’t a direct way to send help and most of their contacts simply said “please pray.”

#PrayforNK

For the week starting July 10, 2022, Crossing Borders will be partnering with churches in multiple countries to seek God’s mercy for North Korea. The four areas we will focus on during this week of prayer are:

  1. HELP - move North Korea to receive outside help

  2. PRAY - unite the South Korean church to pray together

  3. TRUST - faith to trust in God’s goodness through North Korea’s COVID outbreak

  4. SEND - God to create opportunities and to send his workers to North Korea

HELP

The suffering in North Korea is senseless and cruel when there are multiple countries willing and waiting to help. We pray that God would move North Korea and Kim Jong-un to receive medicine and food aid.

PRAY

The topic of North Korea is a hot button issue in South Korea. While the South Korean church generally has a heart to help North Korea, this issue has become sensitive and often divisive in the South Korean church. We pray for God to unite the church to have one heart towards North Korea in prayer.

TRUST

Many of our contacts seemed to feel helpless in being relegated to watching from the sidelines while North Korea reported increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases. Our team felt the same way while being in close proximity to North Korea during their visit and yet being helpless to do anything. We pray for more faith to trust in God’s goodness and sovereignty, even in a time such as this.

SEND

North Korea’s borders are on strict lockdown and China has grown increasingly hostile to foreign missionaries in the past few years. It seems virtually impossible to send a team to either country. We pray that God would create opportunities for outsiders to be sent in, namely believers who carry the message of the gospel.

Prayer Campaign Details

  1. The #prayforNK campaign will officially start on July 10, 2022 and end on July 17, 2022 with a short video message from Dan Chung on each Sunday.

  2. If your church would like to join the prayer campaign, simply email us before June 30, 2022 at hello@crossingbordersnk.org with your church name, main contact name, email, address and phone.

  3. Tell us how many participants your church estimates joining the prayer campaign and we will mail out bookmarks with prayer topics and hand made crosses for your church.

Thank you for praying with us. God have mercy on North Korea.