Jessica (An Elim House Resident)

Jessica with other North Korean refugees.

Through Elim House, we have had the chance to see a wide range of needs of North Korean refugees. Jessica came to us in December of 2022 and, unlike the other refugees who we’ve met, she did not have a great financial need. Instead, she came to us because of her emotional state. She said that she needed the emotional support of a community that cares for her.

It is unclear how she has made her money and it seems as if she doesn’t work much. Her backstory changes on a daily basis and it does seem like she has some emotional trauma. She spends hours and hours each week with our staff. Through this time, it is our hope that she would know that she is loved by God and that she would get the emotional help that she needs. 

In North Korea, Jessica’s father worked near the Demilitarized Zone where he made missiles for the regime, and as a result, her family lived well. When her mother passed away, Jessica’s father turned to alcohol. He eventually remarried to a woman he met through an acquaintance and ultimately quit working.

Jessica, who was attending college in Pyongyang at the time, was forced to return home. She worked and supported eight children, including three of her stepmother’s kids. Jessica got into the business of selling copper in North Korea. She eventually expanded her trade to China. She also acquired goods from China and sold them in North Korea and made a small fortune, she said. However, her father stole money from the company Jessica did business with and fled, which complicated her work relationships. 

Before Jessica’s grandmother passed away, it was revealed that Jessica’s father was not her biological father. Her biological father was a Korean-Japanese man. The father that she knew was in reality her step father. Jessica's mother had once lived in Japan. After marrying Jessica’s biological father, Jessica’s mother became pregnant, and Jessica's maternal grandmother took the whole family to North Korea, including Jessica's mother. Her birth father decided to defect from North Korea at the age of 26 as his work became difficult.

When Jessica’s mother came to North Korea, she did not know she was pregnant. She gave birth to Jessica after remarrying. Jessica was physically abused by her step father when she was young, and as she grew up, this built in her a hatred towards men, she said.

As Jessica got older, she had made friends with military influence (including some Ministry of State Security officers) which allowed her to cross over to China frequently. But eventually, an acquaintance betrayed her and handed her over to traffickers in exchange for double the going rate. According to Jessica there are too many “trashy people,” a phrase she repeats when she recalls her past experiences. 

There were many times in China when she was betrayed and victimized by other North Koreans. In the early days of her life in China, there were times when she was taken to North Korea while helping other North Koreans. She was also sexually abused on multiple occasions. Jessica said that there were many unimaginable things in her past.

She was sold to a handicapped Chinese man who had no feet, became pregnant, and ran away from the house when her child was just two years old. But, because of her concern and care for her son, she visited every few months to see her baby and brought provisions. She lived a hard life in China for 10 years and eventually bought a fake identity.

In an attempt to escape from China to Korea, she spent six months in Vietnam and another six months in Cambodia. Life was extremely challenging in those two countries but she said she had to endure because of her desire to live.

Jessica eventually made it to South Korea in 2010 at the age of 38. While government assistance allowed her to receive housing, she hired people to help find relatives from her biological father’s side of the family in Japan. She waited six months in South Korea until she was authorized to have a passport and left immediately for Japan as soon as it was issued.

This is just a glimpse into Jessica’s life before she settled in Japan for several years and ultimately returned to South Korea. Like most North Korean women who come to Elim House, Jessica’s past is filled with suffering and pain. As the details of her story change from one telling to the next and our observations from other similar encounters is that it is a form of a survival skill for many North Koreans. We hope Jessica stays for a while and is receptive to the help we can offer her through counseling and with the healing love of Jesus.

Top NK Headlines - April 2023

NORTH KOREAN CHILDREN MARCH 216 MILES IN 15 DAYS

• North Korean state media released footage of elite school children walking 216 miles across the country to show loyalty to the state as part of a 15-day “study program.”

• Many textbooks say the country’s founder, Kim Il-sung, left his studies in Manchuria (northeast China today) and walked to his home in Mangyongdae (part of Pyongyang today) in 1923 when he was only 11 years old after learning that his father had been arrested by Japanese police.

• Every year since 1975, top pupils as young as 11 years old have been handpicked to retrace the alleged route walked by Kim.

• Students chanted loyalty slogans as they marched in the annual event to signal to the nation the level of sacrifices the state expects of them.

• One student told the media that, “The march was harder than I thought. But by making it through harsh valleys and mountains, I learned that I can overcome any difficulty.”

• However, defectors who joined the march as children told Daily NK that it was a “harrowing journey” as “At the end of each day, we would unpack at the lodging facilities and students would cry because of all the blisters on their feet. The next day, those blisters would burst, causing a lot of pain. But no one could say anything.”

Source:
https://www.nknews.org/pro/state-media-review-north-korean-kids-show-loyalty-to-state-by-walking-215-miles/ 
https://www.scmp.com/video/asia/3216807/north-korean-11-year-olds-among-children-marching-400km-footsteps-late-founder-kim-il-sung 

SOUTH KOREA FIRES WARNING SHOTS AT NORTH KOREAN PATROL VESSEL

• The South Korean military fired warning shots to repel a North Korean patrol boat that had crossed the countries’ disputed maritime border near the South’s Baekryeong Island while chasing a Chinese fishing boat.

• During the operation, the South Korean high-speed vessel collided with the Chinese boat due to poor visibility, causing minor injuries to some of the South Korean sailors.

• The poorly marked border has not been officially recognized by the North and has led to clashes over the years. Last year the North fired a ballistic missile across the maritime border, which prompted the South to fire three missiles, suspend flight routes and issue orders for island residents to take shelter in bunkers.

• South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a statement claiming that “Our military is prepared against various provocations and keeping a decisive combat posture while closely monitoring the enemy’s movements.”

Source:
https://apnews.com/article/north-korea-patrol-boat-sea-border-e100ee4e6663d62e474bbae988d4e6a5
https://gbcode.rthk.hk/TuniS/news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1696456-20230416.htm?spTabChangeable=0 

Kim Jong-un cuts the red tape during a dedication ceremony for 10,000 apartments in Pyongyang. (Yonhap)

PYONGYANG CELEBRATES BUILDING 10,000 APARTMENTS

• Kim Jong-un attended a ceremony on April 16 to celebrate the completion of 10,000 newly built homes in Pyongyang’s Hwasong District.

• The event was dedicated to the 111th birth anniversary of Kim Il-sung, called the Day of the Sun, on April 15.

• According to state media, the country’s leader reaffirmed the Workers’ Party of Korea’s goal to set the housing project as a “top priority” and make Pyongyang a “world-famous” city.

• Since Pyongyang pledged to build 50,000 new apartments by 2025 during the Eighth Party Congress in January 2021, thousands of young laborers have been mobilized to launch a series of construction projects amidst foreign suspicion of ongoing food shortages.

Source:
https://en.yna.co.kr/view/PYH20230417011700325?section=image/nk
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/north-korea-celebrates-building-10000-modern-homes-pyongyang-2023-04-16/ 
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/02/26/asia-pacific/north-korea-housing-project/ 

Kim Jong Un and his daughter watch a test launch of a new intercontinental ballistic missile. (KCNA)

NORTH KOREA’S NEW MISSILE TRIGGERS EVACUATION ORDER IN JAPAN

• North Korea’s launch of its new solid-fuel ICBM sparked fear over residents in Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido after the government alerted millions of people to take cover.

• The missile flew for about 621 miles and landed in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

• Kim Jong-un, oversaw the test launch and said that the new missile would reform the country’s strategic deterrence components to enable it to more effectively respond with a nuclear counterattack.

• Experts described the new type of weapon as a significant upgrade to its existing technology. According to Ankit Panda, a senior fellow at the U.S.-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, “If successfully developed, solid-propellant ICBMs would complicate wartime planning for the U.S.-South Korea alliance as these missiles would be much more responsive in a crisis.”

• A South Korean military official added that there is a possibility that Pyongyang was testing a part of a reconnaissance satellite, such as a sensor.

Source:
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/missile-04142023161051.html
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/12/north-korean-missile-prompts-evacuation-order-in-japan
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/12/asia/north-korea-missile-japan-intl-hnk/index.html

North Korea Is Not Taking South Korea’s Daily ‘Hotline’ Calls

A South Korean liaison officer speaks with his North Korean counterpart. (Unification Ministry)

Since the establishment of the Moscow-Washington hotline in 1963 following rising nuclear tensions between the Pentagon and the Soviets, many countries have adopted the “red telephone” culture for leaders to communicate directly, particularly in times of crisis. For example, the Beijing-Washington hotline was set up in November 2007 when the two countries agreed to ease dialogue and avoid miscommunications during moments of crisis in the Pacific. The first Seoul-Pyongyang hotline began operation in September 1971. Today there are 33 telecommunication lines between the two Koreas that run through the Panmunjom Joint Security Area (“Panmunjom”) within the Demilitarized Zone and maintained by the Red Cross, five of which are used for daily communications, 21 for negotiations, two for handling air traffic, two for sea transport and three for economic co-operation.

Despite significant diplomatic implications associated with the inter-Korean hotline, Pyongyang has remained unresponsive to the twice-daily routine calls from Seoul for five consecutive days since Good Friday amidst elevating tensions on the peninsula. The North stopped responding since the South issued a warning on the preceding Thursday demanding Pyongyang to stop operating South Korean-owned assets, namely buses provided by the South for the Kaesong Industrial Complex, the joint economic project that South Korea pulled out of in 2016. This marked the first time the hotline calls went unanswered for consecutive days since they were resumed in October 2021. In response, South Korea’s Unification Ministry expressed “strong regret” over Pyongyang’s “unilateral and irresponsible move” to suspend the liaison communication channel.

KOREA’S GREEN AND RED PHONES

There are two telephone handsets that sit in South Korea’s Freedom House, one green and one red, in case one fails. Although both phones are capable of calling and receiving, Seoul calls on the green phone every day at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., and receives incoming calls from Pyongyang on the red phone. The hotline phones are operated by experts in diplomatic protocol from the Unification Ministry, and every detail pertaining to the call is carefully arranged to avoid even the slightest risk of conflict. For instance, to resolve the problem of who calls first, it was initially decided that Seoul would call Pyongyang on odd dates and vice versa on even dates.

On April 20, 2018, an additional top-level hotline was set up between the then-South Korean president and North Korean leader a week prior to the historical summit held in the border town of Panmunjom. Despite the fact that telephone usage is no technological breakthrough in the 21st century, steps to ensure the line was working in both directions were meticulously implemented: South Korean officials were to pick the phone up first before taking a return call from the North. In stark contrast to modern day complaints about the speed of internet connections on smartphones, a four-minute and 17 second telephone conversation between the two countries on landline was remarkably deemed a success for having smooth connection and good voice quality, and as a South Korean official commented, “It was like calling next door.”

REPAIRING RELATIONSHIPS AFTER A FIGHT

The inter-Korean hotlines have gone through periods of suspensions over the past years. More specifically, North Korea unilaterally disconnected the hotline eight times in 1976, 1980, 1996, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2020-2021. Most recently in June 2020, the North declined calls and criticized the South for their activists’ anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns. The calls were only resumed in July in the following year, when the former president, Moon Jae-in, exchanged letters with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and pledged to improve ties. Although they were severed again for about two months a few weeks later in protest against Seoul-Washington’s military exercises, North Korean state media reported that the two sides reconnected again in October.

Although establishing a hotline between two countries is not unique to the two Koreas, the inter-Korean hotline has long formed a key connection between the South and the reclusive North. As a result, making or receiving a call through the hotline is no longer a matter of convenience, but a symbol of peace and stability between the two countries that are still technically at war.

Time Is Running Out for North Koreans Detained in China

Even though some experts speculate that Pyongyang will unlikely open its borders in the near future, China’s new ambassador to North Korea recently became the first diplomat to enter the country since the pandemic as he began his official duties in Pyongyang. As trade between North Korea and China has resumed, it brings much hope to North Koreans in China who have not been able to work or contact their family back home since 2020, “I haven’t been able to see my father and mother in Pyongyang for three years,” explained a woman working at a North Korean restaurant in China.

However, for the estimated 600 to 2,000 defectors arrested and detained in Chinese prisons, the possibility that the country may gradually lift its border restrictions after April 15 to mark Kim Il-sung's birthday means forced deportation to the country they escaped from.

CHINA’S POLICY ON REPATRIATION

Despite China’s status as a signatory to both the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees, it dutifully honors the 1986 bilateral agreement with Pyongyang to legalize the forced repatriation of defectors to North Korea, where they would be received with brutal punishments. In the past, repatriated defectors faced torture, imprisonment, sexual violence, forced labor in prison camps and even public execution. Chinese law labels North Korean defectors as illegal economic migrants and the authorities actively conduct nationwide crackdowns on North Koreans attempting to transit through the country to seek freedom and protection.

On December 28, 2022, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the DPRK, Elizabeth Salmon, sent her first public letter to Beijing. She sought information about health conditions and risk of forcible repatriation in relation to a North Korean woman, who was “arrested at an acquaintance's house” in June 2021 and subsequently detained in China. The identified individual was one of the seven North Koreans held by Chinese authorities, whom the previous United Nations special envoy, Tomas Ojea Quintana, claimed to be at risk of arbitrary arrest and forcible repatriation. China had since denied having any knowledge of Quintana’s allegations in its reply in April 2022, highlighting that “people from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea who illegally enter the country are not refugees and that their actions violate Chinese laws and undermine the country’s order for the management of entry and exit.”

Refugees in Crossing Borders’ network have reported that local police made visits to their houses during the pandemic to reassure them that they would not be deported. They were cautioned by the police, however, to “stay quiet and don’t speak to any foreigners.”

THE TERRIBLE PRICE OF DEFECTION

Despite strict border restrictions imposed by Pyongyang that prevented the Chinese government from freely and routinely repatriating defectors back to North Korea during the pandemic, a source told Radio Free Asia that 50 North Koreans were sent back to Pyongyang by the Dandong customs office in the summer of 2021. Among the escapees were North Korean soldiers and pilots who served in the air force. Chinese citizens expressed sympathy toward the group facing deportation, with one Chinese citizen of Korean descent recounting that, “They said ‘If they leave, they will die. It is horrible that after escaping their country to survive, they are going to be executed young.’ The witnesses even showed hostility toward the police, who are essentially sending them off to die.”

North Korea is not only known to be unforgiving toward defectors, the safety and wellbeing of defectors’ family members are often compromised. A North Korean woman who defected to the South in 2017 told Bloomberg that she could only afford to bring one of her sons with her at the time, and her eldest son who volunteered to stay behind was beaten to death when North Korean authorities found out about their escape.

MASS REPATRIATION

As the number of defections has increased since China lifted its zero-Covid policies, the number of North Korean detainees in China is also projected to rise amidst on-going arrests and “severe” crackdowns by Chinese authorities. As a result, China is expected to resume forced returns of three years’ accumulation of detainees to North Korea as soon as Pyongyang reopens its borders. Although the fate of hundreds or even thousands of North Koreans awaiting mass repatriation remains uncertain, the prison break of defector Zhu Xianjian in 2021 sheds light on the extent defectors are willing to go to avoid returning to North Korea.

A North Korean Way to Improve Women’s Status

On March 8, North Korea called for large celebrations to mark International Women’s Day and glorify women as socialist revolutionaries. The state-run Korean Association of Social Scientists even issued a statement that reads, “Today many women in the world suffer from deprivation of political rights and social inequalities. However, women lead a happy life as masters of the state and society [in North Korea where] women’s rights are ensured.” With photos showing recreational activities held specifically for women and joyful-looking citizens posing, dancing and enjoying performances in front of the Pyongyang Grand Theatre circulating the internet, it is easy for the rest of the world to forget that most North Korean women still suffer in a largely patriarchal society and are frequently used as propaganda tools of the regime.

BEHIND THE HEADLINES

The emphasis on the Kim family’s continuous efforts to “unfold a new era of women’s importance and respect for women for the first time in history” can be viewed as North Korea’s attempt to display its superiority over its rival southern neighbor, which has recently been accused of undermining women’s rights movements. North Korean women appear to be undoubtedly gaining more visibility and influence in society, with this generation of female politicians making up nearly 18 percent of the government, just 1.5 percent lower than that of South Korea.

Over the years, North Korea has made a number of surprising moves to empower women in leadership positions. For instance, Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, who accompanied her brother’s inner circle during a series of summits with South Korea and the U.S. in 2018, was the first North Korean woman to appear in the country’s overseas diplomacy. The country also notably appointed its top nuclear negotiator, Choe Son-hui, as its first female Foreign Minister in June 2022. Moreover, unlike his late father and grandfather, who were rarely seen in public with the female family members, Kim Jong-un repeatedly appeared in high-profile diplomatic visits, celebratory events, military parades with his wife, Ri Sol-ju, who often made headlines for her modern, stylish appearance. In addition, following a number of unusual public appearances of Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, North Korea has unveiled new postage stamps featuring his daughter, which sparked new speculations that the country may be preparing for its first female leader.

WOMEN PRAISED AS TOOLS OF CHILDBIRTH

Traditionally, women in North Korea receive flowers from their husbands and children on Women’s Day while the national and municipal governments host various cultural events to show their appreciation for women’s efforts in the development of the socialist country. This year, state media, Rodong Sinmun, took the opportunity to praise women as the “flowers or heroines of the country” and for their dedication and loyalty to their leader, Kim Jong-un. Not only do women play the role of breadwinners who dominate the black market and create more than 70 percent of the country’s household income, North Korean society places the heavy burden of housework on women and recognizes the kitchen as a “woman’s space.” As such, the media highlighted women’s responsibilities as housewives, daughters-in-law, wives and mothers who should always take good care of their in-laws, actively encourage their husbands and children to perform their duties for the country and participate in the Kim dynasty.

Women were also urged to bear more children so they would eventually serve in the army as an act of the “greatest patriotism.” Sources told Radio Free Asia that a series of ideological lectures were held for housewives across the country that commended legendarily fertile women and historical women who supported soldiers in wartime as true patriots, as well as collected donations to support the military despite their difficult living conditions. Women who have sent many children to the military are honored with a trip to Pyongyang and promised by Kim Jong-un that the most active supporters would be invited to important military celebrations. It is interesting to note the heavy reliance on manpower in North Korea, where 1.15 million people are enlisted in the army, with men serving seven or eight years and women encouraged to join for up to five years, compared to the South’s 555,000 military personnel.

Despite this year’s pomp and circumstance, North Korea’s long history of mistreatment of women have caused international observers to continuously express concerns about women’s rights, especially when reports by South Korea’s Ministry of Unification show that North Korean women are still discriminated against due to their fixed gender roles in society and limited social advancements.

China Arresting Pastors and Shutting Down Churches

Xi Worship and Autonomy of Religion

China defines religious personnel as people who have “legally obtained the qualifications and are allowed to engage in religious and religious activities.” Under President Xi Jinping’s administration, this group of workers are required by law to “support the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the socialist system,” “practice the core values of socialism” and “adhere to the Chinese principle of independence and autonomy of religion.” While these policies may seem at odds with one another, it has allowed scrutiny placed on Chinese churches to significantly increase over the years. Xi pledged to exercise “more control” over its people and authorities have employed new methods to persecute Christians in China, including fabricating charges of fraud and deeming international travel of church leaders a crime.

XI’S VIEW ON ORGANIZED RELIGIONS

In China, the concept of freedom of religion is specifically qualified and restricted by a general concept of an arbitrary “Chinese self-administering principle.” For instance, China’s state-sanctioned churches must actively promote Xi’s thoughts, including worshiping Xi, converting into political propaganda centers to broadcast Xi’s speech during the Party Congress and holding study sessions on party policies. Human rights activist, Bob Fu, further described that, since China labeled the Christian cross as a “national security threat” and began a “cross demolition campaign,” some pastors who refused to remove the cross from buildings received 12 to 14-year prison sentences. 

Additionally, the Public Security Bureau uses technology to monitor religious activities, including 

• facial recognition software that allow the security services to identify and track an individual’s movements and note with whom they associate and where

• harvesting of biometric data, smartphone scanners, voice analysis and satellite-tracking systems for vehicles allow for surveillance round the clock

• introducing 5G technology to monitor all aspects of life in real-time around the globe 

The government has also reportedly censored words like “Jesus,” “Savior” and “Amen” on WeChat while new regulations have been implemented to shut down church websites and Christians’ social media accounts. In other words, all religious content posted online – every word, image and video – must be approved by the authorities.

Meanwhile, China has demanded that schools “oppose and resist Western erroneous views” and encouraged students to report on professors who speak positively about western concepts of governance. Xi has also ordered that foreign religions be “sinicized” before operating in China, namely that the Communist Party must “guide the adaptation of religions to socialist society.”

PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN CHINA

Here are a few recent examples of how attempts to promote religious democracy in China have triggered the authorities’ willingness to use force in nationwide crackdowns on churches and other religious:

1. Chengdu (2023): Members of a church were questioned by the police about their attendance at a church service and arrested on suspicion of “conducting illegal religious activities.” It is also interesting to note that during Xi’s tenure, a similar case reached Chengdu’s court where a senior pastor was arrested and sentenced to nine years in prison and three years of deprivation of political rights for “inciting subversion of state power” and “illegal business operation.”

2. Beijing (2023): A pastor from a large church was arrested and detained for 10 days during a communion service on suspicion of “illegal assembly.” Since the church was targeted by the government in 2019, a number of meeting points have closed, its members have been taken away for investigation and church supplies were seized. 

3. Xi’an, Chengdu and Wenzhou (2023): Two pastors from Xi’an were arrested and detained on suspicion of fraud after being placed under house surveillance for six months. In Chengdu, the police laid out cot beds outside a pastor’s home to guard his activities and prevent him from attending the Sunday service. Meanwhile, a bishop from Wenzhou was taken away by the authorities to prevent him from attending the funeral of another “underground” bishop.

4. Shenzhen: In 2019, nearly 60 members from a church fled the country and upon failing to seek refugee status in South Korea’s Jeju Island, sought the same in Thailand. It should be noted that the Chinese consulate in South Korea refused to grant citizenship to one of the newborn children in the group, which shows how the government is tightening its grip on religious freedom among its people, even if they are abroad.

5. Baoding: In 2022, there were mass disappearances of priests who were reportedly taken away for “Party ideology training.” The condition for release was to agree with party policies. Otherwise, they would serve a sentence for an “arranged crime.” As a result, many priests went into hiding and cut off contact with the outside world for protection.

6. Datong: The police began demolishing a hundred-year-old diocesan house as a way to affirm “Sinicization” and a Christianity “according to Chinese characteristics.”

Freedom of religion is a lie when the ruling dictator must be worshiped, all religious content is curated by the government and priests and crosses vanish. The work of Crossing Borders in China and many other groups helping North Korean refugees continues to be done through the church. We believe that the health and protection of North Korean refugees in China is threatened as the church is further monitored and scrutinized.

Top NK Headlines - March 2023

SOUTH KOREA TO INCREASE SUPPORT FOR NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS’ RESETTLEMENT

• South Korea’s Ministry of Unification announced its plan to improve the level of support for North Korean defectors by raising the resettlement basic subsidy from 1 million won ($760 USD) to 9 million won ($6,840 USD) per one-person household and the one-time living expenses-related emergency financial assistance from 1 million won to 1.5 million won ($1,140 USD) per case.

• Following the lonely death of a North Korean woman in Seoul, the ministry also plans to closely monitor some 1,200 defectors to proactively detect and address their difficulties and provide more psychological support.

• According to a survey by Korea Hana Foundation, 17.9 percent of North Korean defectors are self-employed due to discrimination in South Korean companies. The survey also shows that the longer they have lived in the South, the higher the self-employment rate.

• “People from North Korea find it difficult to adapt to the workplace culture in South Korea,” commented Seo Jae-pyong, president of the Association for North Korean Defectors.

Source:
https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20230316005100325
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/03/356_347048.html 

NORTH KOREA HELD MEETING ON FARMING AMID FOOD SHORTAGES

• North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, discussed issues on agricultural stability and urged officials to meet grain production targets amid reports suggesting that the country is facing a serious shortfall of food.

• South Korean lawmakers said that the North is facing an annual rice shortage of 800,000 tons, while a recent United Nations report estimated that 60 percent of the North Korean population suffered from food insecurity by the end of 2021 compared to 40 percent prior to the pandemic.

• Kim called to increase yields at all farms and eradicate “internal factors that have [a] negative effect on the development of agriculture,” while declaring that “nothing is impossible” under the leadership of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party.

• Since Pyongyang has opted for a strict pursuit of self-sufficiency, almost all of its grain is produced domestically and “Achieving adequate agricultural output in North Korea’s unfavorable soils has, ironically, generated heavy reliance on imported goods and left the country exposed to global shocks, diplomatic conflicts, and adverse weather,” explained 38 North, a U.S.-based monitoring project.

Source: 
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2023/3/2/north-koreas-kim-says-nothing-impossible-amid-grain-push 
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/28/north-korea-food-shortages-kim-jong-un-agriculture-grain-targets-sanctions 
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/north-korea-convenes-meeting-agricultural-stability-amid-food-shortage-woes-2023-03-15/ 

NORTH KOREA’S TREE PLANTING DAY ORDERS

• North Korea ordered citizens to plant trees to commemorate the annual Tree Planting Day, which first began when the country’s founder, Kim Il-sung, planted a tree at Munsu Peak in 1947.

• Ahead of Tree Planting Day, the authorities called on its people to mobilize workers, housewives and even students throughout North Pyongan province to ensure there is enough saplings for people to plant trees on that day.

• According to a North Korea official, the Union of Agricultural Workers planted about 4,000 trees of nine species this year around the Mangyongdae Revolutionary Site, which was also the birthplace of Kim Il-sung.

• The country used to celebrate Tree Planting Day on March 2 (North Korea’s equivalent of Arbor Day), but the Standing Committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly issued an ordinance last year changing it to March 14. The ordinance explained that the historical date marks the day when Kim Il-sung called for a pan-national effort to restore forests destroyed by U.S. bombings during the Korean War.

Source:
https://www.dailynk.com/english/n-korea-calls-on-people-to-actively-engage-in-springtime-tree-planting/ 
https://www.scmp.com/video/asia/3213761/north-koreans-celebrate-annual-tree-planting-day-capital-pyongyang 

SOUTH KOREA AND JAPAN MENDS TIES AFTER NORTH KOREA FIRES LONG RANGE MISSILE

• South Korea’s Yoon Suk-yeol arrived in Tokyo to meet Japan’s Fumio Kishida hours after Pyongyang fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (“ICBM”) that flew about 1,000 kilometers landing in waters west of Japan.

• North Korea last fired an ICBM less than a month ago and experts commented that such missiles are particularly worrying due to their long range that could potentially reach mainland United States.

• Yoon’s trip marks the first visit by a South Korean leader to Japan in 12 years.

• The two countries pledged to set aside their long-term disputes and work together to counter urgent regional security challenges, namely the nuclear threats posed by North Korea.

Source:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-64972944 
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/15/world/asia/south-korea-japan-relations.html 
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-15/north-korea-fires-ballistic-missile-ahead-of-yoon-s-japan-trip
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-koreas-yoon-seeks-friend-tokyo-amid-regional-tensions-2023-03-15/

20 Year Anniversary: Choosing to see Good

Mike Kim with a North Korean orphan.

When Mike Kim returned from his missions trip to Northeast China in 2001, I was deeply impacted by his stories. Neither of us could get the stories of North Korean refugees out of our minds. And with childlike naivete and a little pride, we thought we could do something to change the world. I was 24 years old and had a lot of growing up to do. We all did. The story of Crossing Borders as an organization has been about learning and growing. These are just a few things we have gleaned along the way.

Learning from the W’s and L’s

We have helped hundreds of North Koreans. For the overwhelming majority of refugees, the aid given has had a profound positive impact on their lives. But not everything in the field always went according to plan. Through the humbling moments to the greatest victories, God gave us the gift of wisdom and understanding. Starting an organization at the age of 24 with no prior experience or training also proved to be one of the most difficult and rewarding challenges of my life. Successes and failures have shaped us to become who we are today and we are grateful for both. 

Impact

The count of refugees we’ve helped doesn’t quite encapsulate the full breadth of the work because of the significant impact that a little help and care have had in the lives of many refugees. While providing people with vital resources like food, shelter and money, I have bore witness to the softening of many hearts. I have seen people who were hardened by the Great North Korean Famine and then human trafficking sing and dance with joy and freedom. It is this immeasurable impact that most motivates me.

The power of community amplifies our effectiveness. We do not help North Korean refugees in a vacuum. We try our best to help them in the context of a group setting. Human traffickers sold these women to men in targeted regions of China. We learned of these concentrated areas where they have done “business” which enabled us to minister to many more trafficked North Korean women. But before they met Crossing Borders, most were unaware that there were others like them nearby.

There is power in knowing that you are not alone.

We also have felt the power of community from our donors. This work would not be possible without your financial support, but most importantly, it is your moral support, faithful prayers and loving encouragement that keeps us going. You help us stay grounded and humble while challenging us to continue to fight the good fight.

Dan Chung at the North Korea-China border.

Laughter is the spice of life

I am prone to colossal accidents. My staff rarely passes up opportunities to tease me about them because, let’s be honest, it’s who I am. Here is an abbreviated list of my best “worst” moments during my tenure at Crossing Borders:

1. I lost my passport on my first trip to China and I was told I would be stuck there for at least six months. Fortunately, this did not happen. 

2. My six-foot, American-fed frame is not able to fit into a Chinese outhouse. There are pictures floating around internally that depict this. 

3. I once shattered my elbow while on a bike ride with a donor. I invited him for a ride because I wanted to cheer him up.

The nature of our work is heavy and the depravity we see can oftentimes bring us towards depression. There have been times over these years where the sadness and unfathomable suffering of the North Korean people has consumed me. I’m grateful that God clothed me with gladness (Psalm 30:11) in those seasons as he reminds me of his immense love for the destitute. There’s great joy in seeing even one life, one refugee’s eternity changed forever.

Through this work, I have learned to laugh. If you’re going to start an organization and be exposed to some of the darkest aspects of human behavior, I’d suggest that you do it with people who can make you laugh. It has been good for my soul to balance all of the heaviness with the lighter moments. It helps me to continue in this line of work. I also hope for the day when all of the refugees we help can experience unadulterated joy and laughter.

As an eternal pessimist (I am a Cubs fan, after all), I can easily focus on the cruelty and bile I see everyday in this line of work. Over the years, God has trained me to choose to see the good. Though there is much brokenness in the lives of the people we help, I choose hope, peace and love. While the darkness may seem unavoidable, I know the Lord is at hand!

Paul (a prisoner himself) addressed this so well in Philippians 4:8: 

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

This is how I can rejoice in any and every situation.

As we reflect on the twenty years behind us and look towards (hopefully) another twenty years ahead, I’m humbled by the beautiful work that God is doing. He works through us, in us and oftentimes in spite of lost passports, outhouse mishaps and even broken elbows for His own glory and for the good of the sojourner. I’m not the reason why Crossing Borders has been able to help refugees for two decades. He is. This is at the heart of what keeps me going with the same vigor that we started with many years ago. I am grateful for all of you who have journeyed with us.

Top NK Headlines - February 2023

NORTH KOREA GIVES OUT EXTRA FOOD TO BOOST BIRTH RATE

• Despite chronic food shortages, the authorities are offering families with three or more children extra food twice a year (on the birthdays of North Korea’s former leaders) to boost the country’s birth rate.

• Qualified families are given 20 kilograms of corn, two kilograms of fermented soybean paste and a bottle of cooking oil.

• However, a source told Radio Free Asia that, “It’s hard for most women to make ends meet just for themselves these days. So who in her right mind would have three or more children, like a fool?”

• A declining birth rate is detrimental to a country which heavily relies on raw manpower for its seven-year mandatory military service, as well as for construction, agriculture and mining work.

Source:
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/multiple-children-02142023184314.html 

NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS RECEIVE VACCINATION IN CHINA 

• Disease control agencies in certain areas in Heilongjiang (China’s northmost province) and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region are providing Chinese-made Covid-19 vaccines to North Korea defectors.

• The agencies are cooperating with local police to obtain personal information of defectors illegally residing in China.

• Local authorities are providing vaccine shots to female defectors living with Chinese nationals at known addresses and male defectors who have been hiding in the mountains and steppes.

• Chinese police reportedly told female defectors receiving the Covid-19 shots that they “must not abandon their husbands and children to run away to South Korea or engage in crimes while in contact [with people] in North Korea” and that they must “live well without causing problems.”

• However, the vaccination campaign for defectors is limited and many North Korean defectors in China do not have access to vaccines.

Source:
https://www.dailynk.com/english/china-begins-limited-campaign-vaccinate-north-korean-defectors/ 

Kim Jong Un’s daughter at a military banquet. (KCNA)

KIM JONG-UN’S DAUGHTER’S APPEARANCE FUELS SUCCESSION TALK

• Three months since the North Korean leader was seen at a public event with his daughter, Kim Ju-ae has made another appearance at a weapons parade in Pyongyang.

• The nine-year-old’s fifth appearance in less than three months has sparked speculations that she would become North Korea’s future leader.

• Analysts also noted that there are significant changes in the way she is introduced to the public.  For example, state media first described Ju-ae as Kim Jong-un’s “beloved” daughter, but has now elevated her title to Kim’s “respected” daughter.

• A recent photo showing the young Ms. Kim seated in the center of the lead table between Kim Jong-un and his wife, and surrounded by senior cadres at a military banquet also adds to an apparent growth in stature.

Source:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-64581465
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/08/asia/north-korea-kim-jong-un-daughter-banquet-intl-hnk/ 

NORTH KOREA FIRES MISSILE AHEAD OF US-SOUTH KOREA MILITARY DRILLS

• On February 17, Pyongyang threatened an “unprecedentedly persistent, strong” response to the annual joint military exercises by the U.S. and South Korea.

• North Korea confirmed launching a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (“ICBM”) against hostile forces on February 19.

• According to missile expert, Ankit Panda, “The important bit here is that the exercise was ordered day-of, without warning to the crew involved,” adding that “The amount of time between the order and the launch is likely going to be decreased with additional testing.”

• State media video footages suggest that North Korea may have created a military unit to operate new ICBMs.

Source:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/18/north-korea-fired-ballistic-missile-east-coast-south-korea

Assassination Attempt by North Koreans: 55-years Ago and Still Unbelievable

The Blue House in South Korea.

Border closures and economic sanctions did not stop Pyongyang from doubling its missile launches in 2022. Since 1984, the hermit kingdom has carried out over 270 missile tests, with more than 90 cruise and ballistic missiles fired last year alone. The current North Korean leader has repeatedly directed and prioritized the country’s nuclear development since he came into power in 2011 and had vowed to strengthen its nuclear forces at the “highest possible” speed. Experts suggest that the tests are no longer experimental, but rather a sign that “Kim Jong Un is dead serious about using nuclear capabilities early in a conflict if necessary.”

The aggressive acceleration in weapons testing has alarmed neighboring regions and led many countries, including South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, to conduct a series of military responses. However, the current tension between North and South Korea is no novel matter – in fact, provocations by the North have been a recurring theme that can be dated back to half a century ago.

THE BLUE HOUSE INVASION

Despite the end of the Korean War in the 1950s, the heavily guarded Demilitarized Zone (the “DMZ,” a strip of land that runs between the Korean Peninsula) and maritime boundaries remain highly sensitive to this day, particularly during periods of military tensions. In January 1968, 31 North Korean special force soldiers from Unit 124 – an elite troop handpicked by Pyongyang’s top military group, cut through a wire fence along the DMZ and slipped into South Korea undetected. Disguised in South Korean military uniforms, each of the commandos carried a submachine gun, a pistol, 320 rounds of ammunition, 14 grenades and a knife before heading for the Blue House in Seoul with one goal in mind: assassinate the then-South Korean President, Park Chung-hee.

The men managed to hide from nearby patrolling U.S. soldiers, who were stationed less than 100 feet away, and even rested in an area less than two miles from a U.S. Army Divisional Headquarters. Their tactic involved sleeping during the day and only moving at night, covering as much as seven miles an hour through the icy mountains. However, on the second day, the group accidentally stumbled across four brothers who were out cutting wood. Unable to deceive the brothers, the soldiers took them captive but ultimately decided against killing their witnesses because it was impossible to bury them in the frozen ground. Before letting the woodcutters go, they were lectured for four hours on the benefits of Communism and warned not to inform the authorities.

The brothers immediately reported to the police and South Korea was put on high alert in search of the infiltrators. The intense special force training back in North Korea proved to have been a success, as days went by, and the group remained at large despite thousands of soldiers and police dispatched to locate them. It was reported that military training involved running for dozens of miles while carrying as much as 60 pounds of gear in freezing temperatures at high altitudes and digging into graves to hide among bodies for concealment. For this particular mission, the group from Unit 124 even practiced assaulting a full-size replica of the Blue House.

It was not until the commandos marched directly past numerous police and military checkpoints and arrived less than half a mile from the Blue House, that suspicious policemen challenged the group for information. Instead of responding to the questions, the commandos opened fire and killed the police and his driver, along with 24 civilians on a passing bus. Recognizing that their mission had failed, the commanding officer ordered his troop to run for their homeland. 27 of the 31 North Korean soldiers were killed during the following 8-day manhunt. One fleeing commando committed suicide immediately after breaking into a house and eating a bowl of white rice. Another soldier, Kim Shin-jo, surrendered to South Korea upon being captured and was released with ROK citizenship in 1970. He later became a Christian pastor and continued to live in South Korea to this day, while his parents and siblings were executed back home. Only two DPRK soldiers escaped and safely crossed the DMZ into North Korea, one of whom was identified as Pak Jae-gyong, who later became a four-star general in the military.

DEPLOYING ‘HARMLESS’ DRONES

Even though Pyongyang no longer sends death squads across the DMZ, it continues to menace South Korean leaders with the help of modern technology. For instance, a North Korean drone entered a no-fly zone that protects South Korea’s presidential office in Seoul in December 2022, sparking criticisms of the South’s air defenses for its “insufficient readiness to defect, track and shoot down such small drones.” Even though drones are technically simple and appear to cause little direct harm, they pose a threat to South Korea’s national security as they could be used to spy or launch a future attack.

Remembering the Capture of the USS Pueblo and Crew by North Korea

The USS Pueblo crew members as they arrive in North Korea following their capture on Jan. 23, 1968 (KCNA/AP)

North Korea’s state media, Rodong Sinmun, recently celebrated the capture of the USS Pueblo (an unarmed U.S. Navy intelligence vessel) 55 years ago as a symbol that “victory always belongs to the DPRK and defeat always belongs to the United States in the confrontation between the two countries.” On January 23, 1968, 83 crew members aboard the USS Pueblo were captured and 82 were held hostage for 11 months in North Korea. The American ship had since turned into a war museum for local visitors in Pyongyang to admire their country’s resilience and combat readiness in eliminating invaders who attempt to attack their state integrity and internal affairs.

THE CAPTURE AND RELEASE OF SAILORS, BUT NOT THE SHIP

The USS Pueblo was embarking on an intelligence gathering mission as she sailed into the international waters off North Korea’s eastern coast. Unaware of rising tensions between the two Koreas following a failed invasion of the Blue House which killed 26 South Koreans only a few days prior, the USS Pueblo journeyed on and was attacked by North Korean military forces. The ship managed to contact U.S. forces in South Korea over the radio during a nearly three-hour standoff. However, upon realizing that they were abandoned and help was not coming, the USS Pueblo’s skipper, Lt. Cmdr. Lloyd “Pete” Bucher, made the unusual, but in hindsight the “right decision” to give up the ship, which ultimately saved their lives.

All hostages were tortured into falsely confessing that the USS Pueblo was a spy ship that had intruded in North Korea’s territorial waters. One crew member recalled that “My ear lobe on the right side was just hanging by a small part of the skin” after his head was beaten with rifle butts in one torture sessions. He also described sustaining lasting psychological impacts from hearing “every blow that every one of the sailors got” in the torture room next to his room. In the end, Lloyd Bucher confessed to espionage at a press conference in Pyongyang after being told that failure to do so would result in his crew members being executed one by one. The U.S. later signed a document drafted by North Korea, known as the three A’s: Admit wrongdoing, Apologize for it, Assure it will never happen again (later proclaimed by North Korea as the U.S.’s “instrument of surrender”), “to free the crew and only to free the crew.” On December 23, 1968, the 82 captives were repatriated to the U.S., leaving behind the USS Pueblo, along with ten encryption machines and thousands of top-secret documents seized from the ship.

Since the incident, crew members and their families have filed a lawsuit against North Korea for damages resulting from mental and physical abuse during their detention. In 2021, a U.S. federal district court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and ordered North Korea to pay over $2 billion USD or a minimum of $3.35 million USD for each crew member in compensation. However, North Korea was not represented in the case and it is highly unlikely that the victims could expect to recover any damages. Meanwhile, it is likewise improbable for the U.S. to expect compliance from North Korea with regards to its demand for the return of the USS Pueblo, especially when the ship is a token of triumph that echoes its vow to “wipe out the U.S. land” in response to intrusion.

NORTH KOREA’S STRATEGY

Since North Korea’s use of torture to obtain false confessions proved to be effective in the USS Pueblo incident, the same tactic continued to be used on detained U.S. citizens. For instance, Merrill Newman was forced to make a televised confession after mentioning to his tour guide that he fought in the Korean War on the “wrong side” in 2013. Similarly, Jeffrey Fowle was asked to “put some emotion into” his confession after being detained in North Korea for almost six months for leaving a Bible in a bathroom stall in 2014. While U.S. student, Otto Frederick Warmbier, who was arrested after attempting to steal a propaganda poster from his hotel begged for the DPRK’s forgiveness in a video released by state media, though he did not survive the ordeal and was “blind, deaf, and brain dead” when he returned home, passing away shortly afterwards.

While capturing U.S. citizens and collecting “declarations of defeat” might mark victory for North Korea over U.S. imperialism, it shows North Korea’s blatant disregard of not only its reputation on the global stage but more importantly, of human dignity.

Top NK Headlines - January 2023

KIM JONG UN’S MIDLIFE CRISIS?

• Bags of sweets were given to children at nursery and elementary schools as the North Korean leader celebrated his 39th birthday on January 8.

• It is an annual tradition to hand out sweets to commemorate North Korean leaders’ birthdays.

• Before the pandemic, imported sweets from China were readily available and North Koreans used to compare and criticize the difference in quality against domestically made sweets distributed by the authorities. However, a source told Daily NK that “these days it’s so hard to feed one’s family that everyone is saying, ‘We’re so grateful just to receive [the candy].’”

• Despite the seemingly joyous occasion, experts suggest that the leader is undergoing a midlife crisis and battling serious health problems as a result of his unhealthy lifestyle.

• According to Dr. Choi Jinwook from a Seoul-based North Korea academic, “I heard he is crying after drinking a lot. He is very lonely and under pressure” over his personal health and safety.

Source:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/08/kim-jong-uns-midlife-crisis-crying-drinking-lot/
https://www.dailynk.com/english/north-korea-distributes-sweets-children-celebration-kim-jong-un-birthday/ 

NORTH KOREA COWS ARE FED BEFORE ITS PEOPLE

• Sources told Radio Free Asia that caretakers received plenty to feed working cows in order to boost harvest production while annual rations for farmers were halved. “As a result, farmers complained that cows were treated more favorably than people, and that cows are more important than people.”

• According to the 2022 North Korean Crop Production Estimate, the country experienced a decrease in 180,000 tons of food from 2021.

• Cow managers were given 100kg, or 100 days’ worth, of grain on top of farmers’ year-end distribution, while regular farmers only received 200 days’ worth of grain for the 365 working days.

• As North Korea’s winter temperatures drop below zero, food becomes scarce and many missing people are believed to have starved or frozen to death.

• Homeless beggar children, also known as kotebji, are dying on the streets while the working population leave home to hunt or fish in remote areas as they otherwise cannot afford food.

Source:
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/cows-12282022181455.html

NORTH KOREAN MUSEUM WARNS AGAINST DRUG USE AND K-POP

• Despite various laws and campaigns that aim at preventing drug-related crimes, the use of meth and opium is common in North Korea, especially during Lunar New Year.

• North Korean state media recently showed a group visit to a government-run museum that addresses how drug usage and foreign media consumption are “schemes to collapse our society by spreading reactionary ideological culture.”

• Words like “drug use,” “smuggling” and “black market dealing” are exhibited along with photos of hard drives and other products that aid smuggling to educate citizens of what to avoid and report to the authorities.

• Most items labeled as dangerous carriers of foreign media are from the early 2000s, including discs and USB sticks that are nowadays replaced by SD cards due to their small size and higher storage capacity.

Source:
https://www.nknews.org/2023/01/north-korean-museum-targets-drug-use-k-pop-in-campaign-against-social-ills/ 

NORTH KOREAN GUARD CHOSE LIFE ON THE STREET OVER KIM’S LUXURIOUS VILLA

• A 19-year-old, Ri, who was tasked with guarding Kim Jong-un’s lavish Chamosan Villa in Pyongsong and deserted his post earlier this month was recently captured.

• During his interrogation, Ri confessed that he had planned to live as a wandering beggar, also known as kkotjebi, at markets in Pyongyang’s Unjong District just to get a good night’s sleep.

• The owner of a soup stall who sheltered and fed Ri for a week in exchange for labor and his military uniform was also called in for questioning.

• Ri testified that he tossed away the automatic rifle and shells he took on a hillside near his patrol zone, but his unit was unable to retrieve the weapons and the Supreme Guard Command is treating this as a direct threat to the personal safety of Kim Jong-un.

Source:
https://www.dailynk.com/english/guard-deserted-kim-jong-un-pyongsong-villa-turns-up-wandering-beggar/
https://www.dailynk.com/english/a-guard-at-kim-jong-uns-pyongsong-villa-deserts-with-weapon/

Elim Community: January Update

January is off to a great start at Elim Community! Community classes offered in January include weekly fitness/strength training, art and conversational English classes. We’ve had participants join us from both Elim House, the Incheon Hana Center and also those who heard by word of mouth. 

Most classes have been taught by our Crossing Borders and Elim House staff and we’ve also had outside instructors brought in for specialized classes, such as art.

We’ve heard from our instructor and the Elim House team that the women work extremely hard during their fitness classes to the point where some aren’t able to make it to the next class due to being overly sore!

Recently, we also had an opportunity to visit a North Korean senior center. With outdoor activities limited due to winter weather, our missionaries blessed the center with a ping-pong table. As a result, our team was challenged to a friendly ping-pong tournament! Team Elim was not victorious but a great time was had by all!

Elim Community classes are held at a coworking space in Incheon, which is easily accessible by public transportation.

We are also looking for partnerships with local Korean and English ministry churches in the Incheon area! Our first need is for instructors. If the talented folks at your church have a heart to serve by teaching classes, please contact us at hello@crossingbordersnk.org. Secondly, if your church has space for us to use to teach classes during the week, we would love to learn more!

Thank you for your support of our work! Happy Lunar New Year!

Growing Defections from North Korea and China to Close out 2022

Despite the steep rise in Covid-19 infections in China and intensified security along the China-North Korea border, the number of defections recorded has also increased as North Korea continues to self-isolate. Earlier last month, a soldier in his early 20s who had reportedly been starving due to poor rations in the army convinced his cousin, who was unemployed and in his late 20s, to risk their lives and defect to China. The two young men were caught by a border patrol while crossing Yalu River into China. The older cousin was sent to a forced labor camp while the younger was punished more severely and sent to a political prison camp for initiating the defection as a military man.

COVID IN THE ‘OPENED-UP’ CHINA

Following China’s decision to lift its stringent zero-Covid policies, a leaked ministerial document from the National Health Commission dated December 20, 2022, revealed that around 250 million people (around 17.65 percent of China’s population) may have been infected since the beginning of December 1, 2022. An unprecedented number of deaths resulting from Covid-19 infections – as many as 5,000 per day – was estimated by U.K.-based research firm, Airfinity. According to a doctor in Shanghai, 70 percent of the Shanghai population has likely been infected as of the beginning of January 2023. Meanwhile, funeral parlors in Beijing were reportedly working around the clock and dealing with five times the usual number of cremations, with one employee telling Radio Free Asia that, “There is no space here … our cold storage is full and there is nowhere to put [any more bodies]. We’re cremating 180 people a day.”

Shortly after South Korea imposed mandatory PCR tests on Chinese arrivals, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency announced that 22.7 percent of all arrivals from China were infected with Covid-19. More notably, a Chinese national who tested positive for Covid-19 was found missing after arriving at Incheon International Airport awaiting admission to quarantine. Authorities began searching for the missing person, who could face up to one year in prison or 10 million won ($7,840 USD) in fines.

SUCCESSFUL DEFECTIONS

North Korean border patrols are specifically tasked with arresting anyone who attempts to defect or smuggle into China. However, collusion between guards and brokers help explain the many successful escapes in the China-North Korea border region. A source from Daily NK described a defection case of a woman in her early 40s from Hyesan, Yanggang Province, who managed to reach Changbai in Jilin Province last November after bribing her way out of an arrest by the authorities. The source added that an average bribe amounts to around 5,000 RMB ($718 USD), but soldiers sometimes accept less as they also face financial difficulties during the lockdown.

It is worth noting that North Koreans are not the only ones fleeing their country due to economic hardship resulting from draconian Covid-19 prevention measures. According to the Panamanian government, at least 1,300 migrants from China entered in 2022 to trek through the dangerous, roadless Central American rainforest up to the U.S. southern border in search for a better life.

SMUGGLING ACTIVITIES ON THE RISE

North Korean smugglers are known to trade a variety of goods to China, including medicinal herbs and even expensive minerals like copper and gold, for as little as RMB 2,000 ($286 USD).

Amidst rising smuggling activities along the coastal regions of the border, a Chinese patrol boat had reportedly fired rubber bullets on a North Korean boat carrying five or six North Koreans as it fled back to the North during a smuggling operation in late November 2022. A source told Daily NK that the involvement of a North Korean patrol boat suggests that border guards, who should have been cracking down on the very activity they were performing, attempted to deal smuggled goods in their own capacity. All crew members received punishments and the captain would likely face a severe sentence as a result of this incident.

New Year, New Bribes – Bribery Season in North Korea

Crowned as the most corrupt country in the world three years in a row, North Korea was ranked 194th out of 194 countries for the capacity of civil society oversight and expectations of business-to-government bribes. Even though its leader, Kim Jong-un, has repeatedly called to toughen up measures against corruption and ordered a “stern penalty system” to weed out abuses of power among party members during his administration, bribery has been an inalienable part of North Korea since the famine that devastated the country in the 1990s. It is interesting to note that, according to Chris Carothers of the European Center for North Korean Studies, Kim’s anti-corruption campaigns merely targeted mid-level officials to ensure resources could reach the upper tier of the regime.

DECEMBER IS BRIBERY SEASON

Every December, as the rest of the world prepares for a busy holiday season, North Koreans are also kept occupied ahead of their bribery season. Corruption is an integral part of life in North Korea. As described by Carothers, it “pays the bills” and “helps the regime politically because private citizens with enough money can bribe their way out of onerous government rules and restrictions – enabling anything from commerce to travel to changing your ‘songbun’ status,” which determines one’s social status based on their actions and the actions of your ancestors.

According to a source from Radio Free Asia, state-owned companies systematically hand over bribes along with their budget proposals to treasury officials at the end of each year to avoid fund reductions in the coming year. As institutions, including schools and hospitals, solely depend on government funding to run their facilities, it is essential that the authorities accept the bribes and allocate extra funding in order to settle wages or deliver vital services to the public. This is of particular importance where resources are scarce – Pyongyang’s annual budget is less than approximately 1/40 of its southern neighbor.

“It is rare for a budget submitted without bribery to be passed as is”

The source further explained that, since authorities prefer receiving commodities that can be used or readily converted into cash over the actual handing over of cash, his organization offered 20 kilograms of alcohol and 10 gasoline coupons each (worth about $160 USD) as bribes. Another source added that, “It is rare for a budget submitted without bribery to be passed as is,” and if funding is cut, “the damage is passed on to residents.” For instance, ordinary citizens would have to volunteer and step into the shoes of workers to maintain roads and parks, run water treatment facilities, and even clean out sewers.

NEW YEAR, NEW BRIBES

The bribery season does not end as people countdown to the western calendar but carries over to meet the second wave of bribes ahead of Lunar New Year. A source told Daily NK that brokers who facilitate remittances between defectors and their families back in the North are under immense pressure to satisfy excessive demands for cash by the officials guarding the China-North Korea bordering regions. Another source confirmed and added that agents from the Hoeryong branch of the Ministry of State Security visited the homes of brokers and other families to demand cash. 

Border securities are likewise pressurized by their superiors to pay their portions of bribes at the end of the year and during Lunar New Year. It has always been a custom for North Koreans to surrender bribes under the pretense of visiting and delivering holiday greetings to their superiors or agency heads. In particular, officials who wish to keep their jobs or seek promotion would be seen paying visits to the homes of high-ranking cadres and gifting expensive liquor, cigarettes or even cash. As a result, security officials have reportedly been asking residents and brokers within their jurisdictions to raise funds for their New Year visits.

Before the pandemic, jobs at the border regions were extremely competitive, but security officials have lost their stable income from smugglers for the past three years due to the closing of borders from COVID-19. Nevertheless, as China and Russia began trading with North Korea again, smuggling activities are expected to resume in 2023.

Top NK Headlines - December 2022

Kim Jong Un with his daughter. (KCNA/Reuters)

NORTH KOREAN LEADER REVEALS DAUGHTER TO THE WORLD

• Kim Jong-un appeared with his daughter, Kim Chu-ae, at an inspection of North Korea’s latest intercontinental ballistic missile launch.

• The leader’s personal life is considered state secret and is rarely revealed to the public.

• State media declared that the father-daughter appearance showed Kim’s devotion to his country and family.

• Some analysts speculate that the surprise appearance suggests she may be the chosen successor.

• Even though North Korea has a deeply patriarchal political culture, Michael Madden, director of North Korea Leadership Watch, told the Guardian that this does not automatically disqualify women from becoming leaders as Kim has already promoted his sister to senior positions and appointed Choe Son-hui as the country’s first female foreign minister.

Source:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/23/symbolism-or-succession-clues-kim-jong-uns-daughter-debut-sparks-speculation-over-north-koreas-future

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63685497

NORTH KOREAN BORDER CITIES IN STATE OF EMERGENCY AFTER 200KG GOLD STOLEN

• Authorities in Hyesan and other border cities declared a state of emergency after 200 kilograms of gold bars (worth U.S. $12 million) were stolen.

• The three masked bandits who appeared to have had special military training overpowered two soldiers on guard duty and rode off into the countryside.

• North Korea produces between two and four metric tons of gold annually, with part of the gold entering its central bank and most of it given to the Kim family.

• There is no market for gold in North Korea so the authorities are desperately searching for the robbers to prevent the loot from being smuggled to China.

• All former special force soldiers in North Pyongan province, home to North Korea’s main gold production facilities, were put on the list of suspects and interrogated.

• A source told Radio Free Asia that many people secretly support the theft as the gold would otherwise be used to fund the government instead of helping the people with their financial struggles.

Source:
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/gold-12012022142916.html 

The Simpsons (Fox)

U.S. SANCTIONED COMPANIES FOR TRADING WITH NORTH KOREAN FIRM THAT ALLEGEDLY ANIMATED THE SIMPSONS, LION KING AND POCAHONTAS

• SEK Studio was founded by Kim Il-sung in the 1950s and has been an ideal choice for subcontract work due to North Korea’s low-cost labor.  

• The U.S. Treasury designated seven companies based in China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Russia for doing business with Pyongyang’s SEK Studio.

• The U.S. imposed sanctions to target North Korea’s animation industry by freezing U.S.-banked assets of those targeted, blocking U.S. entities from transacting with them and revoking or denying their U.S visa.

• The animation studio has been involved in at least 1,200 films and TV shows, and may have helped animate The Simpsons, The Lion King, Pocahontas, and even the extremely popular South Korean children’s TV show, Pororo.

• SEK Studio had previously been sanctioned by the U.S. in December 2021.

• New sanctions were also made against North Korea’s border control authorities for their efforts to stop defectors from escaping, including planting landmines and imposing shoot-on-sight orders.

Source:
https://www.nknews.org/2022/12/us-sanctions-north-korean-border-guards-for-stopping-people-from-escaping/ 

https://www.nknews.org/2022/01/the-north-korean-studio-that-has-animated-a-christmas-film-and-italian-cartoons/ 

NORTH KOREA DIRECTS QUARANTINE EFFORTS TO FIGHT BIRD FLU

• Authorities launched measures near Pyongyang to stop the spread of Avian influenza with a focus on migratory bird habitats.

• Provincial quarantine offices also began slaughtering birds at ostrich ranch and chicken factories, which supply side dishes to residents and the military.

• This will likely result in rising meat prices and impact on the country’s worsening food crisis.

• Some officials took bribes to sell infected poultry at lower prices.

• A source told Daily NK that “Many people are worried because there are lots of other diseases going around as we enter the winter season.”

Source:
https://www.dailynk.com/english/north-korea-suffers-avian-flu-outbreak-ostrich-ran-chicken-factory-near-pyongyang/

North Korea Broadcasts World Cup for the First Time After South Korea’s Loss to Brazil

Just days after North Korea publicly executed two teenagers for distributing South Korean movies, state television broadcasted the Brazil vs. South Korea FIFA World Cup match in Qatar in an attempt to humiliate South Korea’s 1-4 loss to Brazil.

ANY OPPORTUNITY TO HUMILIATE SOUTH KOREA

As the world congratulated South Korea for its historical win against Portugal and reaching the round of 16, Pyongyang’s Korean Central Television also made a historical move by airing its first ever football (soccer) game featuring the South Korean team and even naming the ROK players at the start of the match. Images showing the devastated looks of South Korean players after the team’s loss to Brazil and elimination were also included in the footage.

Stimson Center fellow, Martyn Williams, described the North’s move as petty and told NK News that “It’s obviously not by chance that the one South Korean game shown is the one that put them out of the World Cup.”

A HISTORY OF NORTH KOREA’S WORLD CUP WINS?

Since its leader, Kim Jong-un, is known to be a football fan who supports Manchester United, it is no surprise that “foreign influences” like the World Cup could be broadcasted on national television, even if it involves receiving its feed from South Korean networks. The North Korean leadership has also historically made an exception for sports despite risks concerning outside influences. For instance, its founding leader, Kim Il-sung, had emphasized the role of physical culture and sports and their development during the Sixth Congress of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea in 1980. A North Korean company had also launched a 3D football simulation game in 2017 which featured top football stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo.

North Korea had previously participated in two World Cup games in 1966 and 2010. In 2010, North Korea declared a 1-0 win against Brazil when in fact, Brazil defeated North Korea 2-1. According to North Korean state television, the hermit country’s football players made it through to the games during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. A video even showed Kim waving to fans in Brazil as they celebrated North Korea’s rounds of victory against Japan 7-1, the U.S. 4-0 and China 2-0.

TV CENSORSHIP IN NORTH KOREA

According to Williams, “North Korean TV is tightly controlled and programmed, to the extent that most programming aligns with directives from the Propaganda and Agitation Department.” Therefore, live television is rarely an option, particularly after its failed experimental live broadcast during the 2010 World Cup. State television aired North Korea’s match against Portugal live after the team performed better than expected against five-time champion Brazil, which turned into a sporting humiliation when the country witnessed the DPRK team lose 7-0 in real time. The game brought so much shame to the nation that the entire football team, their coach and 400 sports personnel received an official reprimand for losing and “betraying” their leader.

Similarly, other major international tournaments such as the Olympics and Wimbledon are often aired weeks or even months after the games take place to allow time for internal editing and censorship. The much shorter delay in airing South Korea’s game this time shows how desperately Pyongyang wishes to shame and embarrass its neighbor.

Pyongyang Fashion Week?

North Korea held its Women's Clothes Exhibition from October 27 to November 9 this year in Pyongyang “amid expectations and interests from the people of the whole country,” according to state media. Ri Song-hak, Chairman of the Korean Garment Industry Association, gave an opening speech and addressed the Workers’ Party’s intention to promote modern Korean-style clothing and “make the Korean-made clothes fashionable and pioneer a socialist, cultured way of life.”

Images and videos show a range of locally made luxury handbags and clothes targeting women in their 30s and 40s that were produced by over 540 production shops, including the Unha Trade Bureau, the Ponghwa Trade Bureau, the Pyongyang City Garment Industry Management Bureau and other garment producers and tailor shops from across the country. Cosmetics from dozens of suppliers, including the Pyongyang Cosmetics Factory and Sinuiju Cosmetics Factory, showcase North Korea’s ability to domestically manufacture “highly effective and functional” beauty products, without the need to rely on imported goods from China.

NORTH KOREA AT THE CUTTING EDGE OF FASHION?

Perhaps due to conflicts between the high demand for foreign luxury products among Pyongyang's affluent women and the country’s frequent crackdowns on “capitalist fashion,” the exhibition hall featured apparent counterfeit goods including scarves with Chanel’s iconic double-C logo. Toys and Handbags showing minion characters from Universal Pictures’ “Despicable Me” also earned a spot in the exhibition hall as part of North Korea’s proud locally branded products.

Modern technology such as virtual fitting mirrors were offered by the Yanggwang Exchange Company, which allowed visitors to virtually try on their outfits in 3D. During the two-week exhibition, there were reportedly technical exchanges and sharing of advanced clothing design and processing techniques between experts in the apparel industry and consultations held between the production units and customers to conduct reviews for improvements. As an event to show-off the new developments of Korean-style clothing culture, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un pledged to “ensure that the people enjoy the best civilization at the highest level,” according to state media.

Outside Pyongyang, North Korea gains “international” recognition as it expands its clothing industry to bring in foreign currency. For instance, Russia expressed an interest in importing clothes and shoes from North Korea, having reportedly bought winter uniforms, underwear and footwear for Russian soldiers in Ukraine in violation of UN economic sanctions that prohibit countries from importing North Korean textiles. A source told Radio Free Asia that at least three garment factories in Pyongyang, each employing between 500 to 1,000 workers, have been utilizing Russian raw materials to supply Russia with military uniforms in large quantities for about a month.

NORTH KOREA’S FASHION FREEDOM

Even though state media praised Kim Jong-un for driving fashion developments and setting a trendy and modern standard of beauty in women's clothing, these so-called “developments”  ironically reflect products that feature national symbols such as the country’s flag, pine trees, magnolia flowers and other designs with social and cultural sentiment, which were reportedly popular among visitors at the exhibition. The authenticity of this newfound popularity in patriotic fashion appears particularly questionable following punishments ordered against a number of high school and university students who used worn out T-shirts with the North Korean flag to polish statues of the Kim family ahead of North Korea’s National Foundation Day in September. A source further told Daily NK that the authorities ordered that if clothing emblazoned with the country’s flag becomes entirely frayed, they should be sold to special state-run agencies in each district as waste fabric.

North Korea is known for shunning foreign influence and using state propaganda to dictate how one should look – no jeans, dress conservatively and apply minimal or no makeup. Not only do current policies restrict how citizens are to dress, the party strictly controls fashion options and requires manufacturing companies to receive approvals from the Central Industrial Art Bureau before creating their own designs. Pyongyang’s decision to hold a fashion exhibition just weeks after Paris Fashion Week appears to be an attempt for the government to convey an image of fashion freedom to the rest of the world, as well as how self-sufficient it remains despite the almost three-year Covid-19 lockdown. This facade portrays that citizens are somehow able to afford high-end products despite reports of severe poverty and nationwide starvation following the pandemic.

The Women of Elim Community

North Korean refugee women at a retreat.

We heard many stories from North Korean refugees that joined our events over the past six months. The common thread in most of the stories is that life in South Korea is difficult and many live in isolation or without any sort of a community.

That’s what led us to focus on Elim Community this Giving Tuesday. The aim of our classes and retreats is to foster a safe and loving community for North Korean refugees who often have little support.

A New Visitor

A volunteer from the US taught workout classes to refugee women during her time in Korea this past summer. Since she’s returned home, many women have longingly asked when classes would resume as they truly enjoyed both working out and socializing together. After much searching, we were able to find a local yoga/pilate instructor to teach classes in November and December. A refugee woman brought a friend. This is the feedback we received from the friend:

“Hello. Since God, in his grace, brought me to South Korea, this is the first yoga/fitness class I’ve ever participated in. I want to thank the Elim House team for considering and loving refugees in this way and look forward to more classes like this. Have a wonderful night.”

Jenna’s Summer Retreat

Rail bikes are four-wheeled pedal bikes that are built on railroad tracks. We had an opportunity to enjoy this activity before arriving at our retreat site this past summer. The wheels sound like actual trains slowly passing over tracks. As two North Korean refugee women rode with a couple of our team members, one woman who we call Jenna let out a sigh and reminisced about how that sound reminded her of home. As she soaked in the ocean air, Jenna quietly murmured “Thank you, God” and smiled.

Jenna was one of the four women that joined our first overnight retreat. The retreat was designed as a getaway and a chance for these women to find rest and healing. The refugee women spent the weekend confiding in one another, laughing and crying together. Jenna shared with us about living in the tension between the guilt of family members still left behind in North Korea while trying to thrive in South Korea. The burden she felt for her family back north was palpable. Acknowledging the challenges they all shared of living in this constant tension, Jenna  encouraged the other women that they should all help each other and be there for one another.

Meeting Ellie for the first time.

Ellie’s Time at Elim House

This fall we welcomed another refugee into Elim House. We call her “Ellie.” Ellie moved to South Korea in 2005 and scratched out a living as a restaurant worker. Her husband recently became abusive as a result of a mental illness, according to Ellie. She was so miserable that she attempted suicide. Finally, she asked around if there was any other place for her to live.

“I don’t want to divorce him. I just need a break,” she told our staff when she entered Elim House for the first time. Elim House was the resting place she needed.

Ellie has also been enjoying the conversational English classes that were offered by our team. She remembers when she first moved to South Korea and how it took about four to five years for her to fully understand the language.

She has been doing Bible studies with our social workers. Ellie’s curiosity about Christianity has grown and she’s even wondered why she didn’t consider the Bible more seriously in the past.

Looking ahead at 2023

Elim House continues to be a place of physical, emotional and spiritual respite for our refugees. We hope that Elim Community will extend this respite to many others.

The new year is just around the corner and we are so excited to see how God will use our teams and gifts to build Elim Community. Having broader reach enables us to serve more people, including through Elim House and local churches.  Thank you for being a part of our journey.

Why Elim Community is Needed for Refugees

North Korean refugee women painting verses from Psalm 23 during our 2022 Fall Retreat

For the better part of 2022, Elim House housed one resident. It wasn’t from a lack of marketing our safehouse to our network in South Korea. In speaking with other organizations and government workers involved in helping North Korean refugees, it was the broader trend this year.

As the entire world recovered from the pandemic, South Korea took several steps to relax their stringent travel restrictions. This enabled our US team to make four separate trips throughout the year. Our missionaries are on the ground at the time of this writing. Having such a low number of residents gave us new opportunities as teams started to arrive in South Korea. With added manpower, we were able to test new ideas to bring refugees together, both past residents and those who were new to our network.

classes and retreats

Refugees joined us for free exercise classes, conversational English classes and overnight retreats. It started out as a means of providing access to classes and getaways that North Korean refugees typically wouldn’t go to on their own. We were overwhelmed by how grateful participants were, not only in being able to attend, but in just being able to spend quality time with other refugees. People shared about their lives to one another and we witnessed the depth of pain and lingering trauma in them. Many of the refugees stepped up to encourage and build one another up. But it didn’t end there. Retreats gave all of us more time together, and there, we all shared, listened, cried and prayed together. We saw community start to form and healing start to happen.

A woman we call Mary attended one of our classes this fall. During a meal after class, Mary opened up about how she suffers from long term effects of trauma. Any loud noise or the sound of sirens triggers panic attacks and her condition is so severe that she can no longer take care of her child. We were touched by her vulnerability with this group but even more amazed when another refugee consoled her and shared about how counseling had helped her deal with her own trauma.

The more events we put on, the more our eyes were opened to the reality that North Korean refugees in South Korea lack community. They are a people who feel like they don’t belong and therefore, stay out of situations that might draw attention to themselves. This includes not going to a local fitness studio or a Subway sandwich shop because they don’t know the right questions to ask. A refugee woman shared after a retreat that she had wanted to try a cafe latte for a long time but never knew how to properly order one and so she just went without. Many have also been burned by religious groups including cults and simply avoid organized religion altogether. 

elim community

We are excited at this unique and wonderful opportunity that God has given us. Elim House will continue to house women in need of shelter and protection. We are thankful for two new  residents this fall and many other inquiries. ELIM COMMUNITY, which is what we’re calling our community events, will invite North Korean refugees into community by way of classes, workshops and retreats. As we reach more refugees through Elim Community, we hope to create the time and space that encourages friendships to be kindled and a loving and supportive community to be built.

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. - Galatians 6:2

Would you prayerfully consider helping us build this community where North Korean refugees can heal from their trauma and Christ’s love is shared?