China’s Facial Recognition Technology Drives Up Costs of Defection

Even though China has announced plans to restrict businesses’ use of facial recognition technology, it remains a dominant global player in selling this technology business that empowers the Chinese authorities to monitor and keep track of the population with little restrictions. It is a widely known fact that public cameras are purposefully placed on street corners and train stations in order for photographs and identity information to be generally gathered for the purpose of maintaining public security. Indeed, this facial recognition tool has been proven effective in aiding the police in identifying missing persons or locating wanted criminals in crowds as every Chinese resident is legally obligated to register their face in a government database. However, this is particularly problematic for North Korean defectors hiding in China as they are unregistered and unrecognizable by the system.

According to Seo Jae-pyoung, head of the South Korea-based Association of the North Korea Defectors, North Korean escapees do not show up with a matched profile when scanned by the cameras, and the police are quick to check on the person to determine why, thereby exposing their illegal immigration status. In effect, facial recognition technology in China significantly increases North Korean defectors’ risks of being caught, and as a result, drives up fees charged by smugglers who assist their defections. For instance, it cost about $2,000 USD per defector to escape through China with the help of a broker in the past. However, the price has skyrocketed since the facial recognition system was launched, costing about $10,000 USD to $15,000 USD per defector due to the increased risks taken up by brokers.

SURVEILLANCE LEADS TO ARRESTS?

There is a notable increase in facial recognition operations across Chinese cities, particularly in northern cities near the North Korean border where most defectors first arrive in China. In March 2023, five or six North Korean defectors and a local broker who assisted their move within China were caught by Chinese police near the northeastern city of Dalian. Seo suggested that the surveillance software played a major part in their capture, “It seems that those North Korean escapees were already tracked down.” 

Meanwhile, data from the South Korean Ministry of Unification showed a sharp decrease in the number of successful North Korean defections in recent years. Although the rapid decline could be explained by the prolonged border closure during the Covid-19 pandemic, experts indicated that China’s growing facial recognition advancement also contributed to the fall in numbers. As noted by Ethan Hee-seok Shin, a legal analyst from the South Korea-based Transitional Justice Working Group, “The AI-based facial recognition program has made the North Korean refugees’ internal movement by public transportation within China almost impossible while the authorities have been using surveillance technology to monitor and intercept the escapees attempting to flee China.”

FEARFUL DEFECTORS

Although there is currently no conclusive evidence indicating that North Korean defectors in China are arrested as a result of facial recognition technology, the increased surveillance is spreading fear among the North Korean community in China. As Hanna Song, director of the South Korean-based Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, explained, “China’s increasing use of emerging technology is being used as a tool of repression that affects the most vulnerable groups including North Korean refugees. … Many North Koreans spoke about how the advanced surveillance capabilities, such as facial recognition and biometric systems, are used to monitor and track the movements of those in China.”

The system not only targets defectors, but also actively identifies those who aid their defections and subsequently alerts the authorities. Kim Sung-eun of Caleb Mission, a U.S.-based Christian group that assists defectors in China, added that a number of staff from his organization were arrested before the pandemic as they were passing through facial recognition machines in front of train stations.

Given Beijing has long maintained a diplomatic relationship with Pyongyang, it is suggested by Choo Jaewoo, a professor at Seoul’s Kyung Hee University, that the Chinese authorities would be able to surveil escapees at North Korea’s request. As a result, a streamline process of using facial recognition technology to spot and arrest defectors and associated individuals might soon be developed to speed up the course of forced repatriation pursuant to the 1986 bilateral agreement. In the past, repatriated defectors faced torture, imprisonment, sexual violence, forced labor in prison camps and even public execution.

U.S. Soldier Defects to North Korea: Detained and Might Never Return

A 23-year-old American soldier, became the first U.S. citizen to cross into and be detained in North Korea in nearly five years, triggering a new wave of diplomatic complications between Pyongyang and Washington amidst tensions over the North’s nuclear ambitions. According to U.S. and United Nations officials, Travis King illegally crossed the Military Demarcation Line while he was on a civilian tour of the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom.

Witnesses who also joined the tour described being confused as to what was happening as King “gives out a loud ‘ha ha ha,’ and just runs in between some buildings,” thinking “it was a bad joke at first, but when he didn’t come back, I realized it wasn’t a joke, and then everybody reacted and things got crazy.” 

TROUBLED SOLDIER

The private second class soldier served nearly two months in a South Korean prison for assault. South Korean media reported that King, having received three medals while serving in the military, allegedly punched someone in the face repeatedly while drinking at a club in Seoul last September and broke the door of a police patrol car last October. He was released from the detention facility on July 10 and scheduled to return home to Texas to face additional disciplinary actions. However, after King was escorted to Incheon International Airport, he somehow managed to escape and leave the terminal to join a group with 43 tourists at the Demilitarized Zone (“DMZ”). Since the military escort had no ticket and could only enter as far as the customs checkpoint, King continued into the terminal alone before leaving Incheon altogether. Dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt, King bolted across the border at the end of the DMZ tour before soldiers standing guard on the South Korean side had time to respond. A witness, Sarah Leslie, commented that she did not see any guards on the North Korean side and was told by her tour guides that the army there had decreased its presence at the DMZ since the beginning of the pandemic.

Although it remains unclear if King planned to defect or if he escaped to North Korea on a whim, experts say that the DMZ trip to Panmunjom takes days of planning and tours require participants to submit their passports in advance in order to secure a permit prior to the day of the tour.

WHERE IS HE NOW?

Not much is known about King’s current state or what sort of consequences he might face in North Korea. Nevertheless, U.S. Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, confirmed the incident and stated that, “We believe that he is in [North Korean] custody and so we’re closely monitoring and investigating the situation and working to notify the soldier’s next of kin.” In particular, Austin said that “I’m absolutely foremost concerned about the welfare of our troop” as there has yet to be an announcement made by the North regarding the incident. King’s mother, Claudine Gates, told ABC News that she was shocked when she heard her son had crossed into North Korea as she had last heard from King “a few days ago” when he told her about his imminent return to his base in Fort Bliss, “I can’t see Travis doing anything like that.” Gates pleaded that “I just want him to come home, come back to America.”

Interestingly, four American soldiers – 19-year-old Larry Allen Abshier, 21-year-old James Joseph Dresnok, 19-year-old Jerry Wayne Parrish, and 24-year-old Charles Robert Jenkins – voluntarily defected to North Korea in the 1960s. They managed to survive custody and were eventually used as propaganda puppets in the North, including some of them as actors playing American villains in films. It therefore “wouldn’t be surprising if North Korea tries to score some propaganda points or makes demands in exchange for handing over the soldier,” commented NPR’s Greg Myre, who opined that Kim Jong-un may endeavor to leverage the incident for political gain.

CAN THE U.S. BRING HIM HOME?

Although Peter Ward, a senior researcher on North Korea at Kookmin University in Seoul suggested that “Americans who are detained by North Korea generally get out eventually, whereas South Koreans who are detained generally don’t,” returning to the U.S. from North Korea is no easy matter. Given that North Korean officials “haven’t been engaging with the outside world” in the last few years, any form of negotiation between the two countries, even with the use of captive Americans as bargaining tools, would be deemed a diplomatic challenge. As of today, Washington’s efforts to contact Pyongyang and secure the return of King are met with silence as the nation awaits North Korea’s response.

Top Headlines from North Korea - July 2023

US SOLDIER WILLINGLY CROSSED THE DMZ INTO NORTH KOREA

• On July 18, 2023, American soldier Travis King, who was recently released from military detention in South Korea and was being escorted out of the country for disciplinary reasons, somehow managed to join a tour group at the border and crossed into North Korea

• King has been taken into custody by North Korean authorities

• The White House, Defense Department, State Department and United Nations are working to get more information and resolve the situation

CBS News 
WSJ

RISE IN OVERSEAS DEFECTIONS LEADS TO INCREASED SURVEILLANCE

• In response to two alleged defections of North Korean diplomats in Russia and Europe respectively, North Korea is ordering diplomatic consulates to make changes to the management system for overseas personnel to ascertain their locations at all times and respond immediately to problems.

• According to a source from Daily NK, Pyongyang is issuing two or more orders a week regarding policies aimed at preventing defections. As a result, “Overseas personnel are always under an atmosphere of insecurity when these kinds of orders or policies are issued because they never know when they’ll get called back home.”

• The new orders also include increasing inspections of overseas personnel from once to three times per day.

• North Korean authorities further discussed the deployment of more Ministry of State Security agents overseas to investigate and monitor its citizens living abroad.

Source:
DailyNK
NK News

JAPAN’S FUKUSHIMA WATER RELEASE CONDEMNED BY NORTH KOREA

• Pyongyang issued a statement accusing the United Nations nuclear watchdog after the International Atomic Energy Agency (“IAEA”) approved Tokyo’s plan to release around 1.2 million tons of treated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean this summer.

• North Korea’s Land and Environment Protection Department stated that, “The just international community must not sit and watch the evil, anti-humanitarian and belligerent action by the corrupt force that is trying to disrupt humanity’s home of the blue planet – and must unite to thoroughly stop and destroy them.”

• In particular, the North claimed that the IAEA has no legal justification for discharging the nuclear-tainted water.

• North Korea’s statement came after neighboring countries such as South Korea, China and the Pacific Islands raised concerns relating to potential harm to the environment and public health.

Source:
SCMP
CNN

Far Eastern State Transport University in Khabarovsk, Russia.

NORTH KOREAN STUDENT MISSING IN RUSSIAN FAR EAST

• A 25-year-old North Korean student studying at the prestigious Far Eastern State Transport University in Khabarovsk, Kim Tae-sung, was found missing in a possible defection attempt on July 8.

• Sources told Radio Free Asia that Kim might have escaped when the overseas North Korean community was mourning on July 8, the anniversary of the 1994 passing of Kim Il-sung.

• Kim appeared to have resided in Russia for many years, and as Pyongyang has maintained a strict border closure since the pandemic, many North Koreans living abroad have been unable to return home for years.

• A poster published on Russian social media platform that helps locate missing persons stated that, “We received a paper copy of the police’s missing person notice and now are working with the police, providing information support.”

• Although the DPRK consulate’s office in Khabarovsk did not reveal any detail concerning the incident, it appeared to confirm its awareness of the case.

• Russian public security authorities are continuing to search for Kim.

Source:
RFA
NK News

Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile launched in North Korea on July 13, 2023. (KCNA)

NORTH KOREA ADMITS AND DEFENDS MISSILE LAUNCH

• North Korea recently launched a Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile which flew for more than 70 minutes before landing in waters near to Japan.

• Despite being under United Nations sanctions for its missile and nuclear programs since 2006, Pyongyang claimed to have exercised its right to self-defense “to deter dangerous military moves of hostile forces and safeguard the security of our state.”

• North Korean state media reported that the launch was conducted “at a grave period when the military security situation on the Korean Peninsula and in the region has reached the phase of nuclear crisis beyond the Cold War era as the US and its vassal forces’ unprecedented military provocations against the DPRK have been intensified.”

• China and Russia blamed the United States and South Korea for provoking the North with their joint military drills.

Source:
Reuters
CNN

China’s Expanded Spy Law - New Risks for Foreigners

Crossing Borders has been operating in China since 2003 and we have been doing so without the permission of the Chinese government. Short of China changing its laws to accommodate foreign NGOs, we will continue to operate under the radar. While we have not been directly impacted, we have witnessed China’s shifting stance on foreign organizations doing work in China in recent years. Many companies and workers have been forced out and banned from ever returning to the country without explanation. China also recently changed their laws in order to justify the arrest and detention of foreign workers. 

China revised their spy law that significantly expanded Beijing’s definition of espionage on July 1, 2023, in ways that would include the activities of aid workers like Crossing Borders’ missionaries and local staff. In particular, the new law empowers the current administration to conduct extensive investigation into suspected espionage activities and punish what China interprets as a threat to its national security. 

WHAT HAS CHANGED?

Even though China’s pre-existing espionage law already imposed harsh punishments, including life in jail and execution in extreme cases. The broadened provision now recognizes an espionage offense that is “non-criminal” in nature. This can be a simple meeting with the wrong person or being at the wrong place at the wrong time. According to Jeremy Daum, a senior research fellow at Yale’s Paul Tsai China Center, this expansion in power will likely have a “chilling effect on Chinese citizens who have contact with foreigners and foreign organizations.

Additionally, compared with the existing anti-espionage law in 2014, the 2023 update authorizes state security entities to detain a suspect for up to 15 days and fines for non-criminal acts of espionage. This means that any act can be construed by the Chinese government as espionage if the Chinese government has reason to see it as such. Under this expansion, there is now a clear legal basis for additional administrative measures like suspending businesses or revoking licenses.

The new law also expands the investigative powers of state security arms in investigating espionage activities to inquire into “the relevant property information of persons suspected of acts of espionage,” which could include data and information on personal smartphones and laptops. Moreover, Article 33 allows the authorities to impose exit bans on suspected individuals deemed a potential national security risk, regardless of their nationality. In short, it gives the Chinese government the right to seize, search and even detain with what they deem as probable cause.

WHAT CONSTITUTES ESPIONAGE?

The definition of espionage has also been expanded under the new law. While the previous law mainly focused on state secrets and intelligence, the revised law encompasses any document, data, materials, or cyberattacks related to national security and interests. However, China's national security and interests are not specifically defined, allowing authorities considerable discretion.

Due to China’s holistic view of “national security” and “national interests,” the overall ambiguity of the new espionage law would increase risks for foreign organizations working near the North Korean border. The increased ambiguity and broad scope of the law raise concerns about the potential targeting of individuals and foreign organizations operating near the North Korean border. The true impact of this law on foreign citizens and organizations in China is yet to be seen.

HOW ARE CROSSING BORDERS OPERATIONS AFFECTED?

Throughout our time serving in China, their political and legal reach has only increased in both scope and power. While this latest move may have implications on our ability to reach and help refugees in China, it does not come as a surprise. By God’s grace, Crossing Borders has been able to maintain operations in spite of the ever-evolving landscape in China.  As with any situation, ours can change without notice in China. Our contingency plans try to keep up with China’s fluid laws but our primary objective is to protect North Korean refugees, even if that means walking away. But for now, we are grateful for the work that continues in China.

From the very beginning in 2003, we have taken each day as a gift from God. To think that we have been allowed to continue in this environment is a miracle.

Rare North Korean Defection by Sea

A group of North Koreans who crossed the heavily patrolled inter-Korean maritime border in the Yellow Sea, the Northern Limit Line, boarded a fishing boat earlier last month and defected to South Korea on May 6, 2023. South Korea’s navy patrol boat located and intercepted the North Koreans, including two families with children expressing their intention to defect, as they headed to Yeonpyong Island toward the west of Incheon. If confirmed, it would mark “the first time [a family has defected] since four North Koreans crossed the border on a fishing boat in July 2017.” 

Official data shows that the number of defectors fleeing to the South has significantly decreased from over 1,000 per year for most of the 2000s to around 100 since the pandemic in 2020 due to the closure of the North Korean border. Moreover, the Center for Strategic and International Studies stated in its report that propaganda in the North that publicizes and highlights how difficult life in South Korea is also contributed to the drastic decline in defection figures.

CROSSING BY BOAT

While the South Korean authorities did not disclose the exact number of defectors in this isolated incident, they confirmed that the number did not exceed 10. The group is currently undergoing a joint interrogation by the National Intelligence Service, South Korean military, police and Ministry of Unification in Seoul to verify whether their defection was voluntary. The National Intelligence Service revealed that “In an interagency questioning, the defectors said they had admired our society while watching South Korean television and decided to defect as they grew exhausted of the North Korean regime amid tightened social control stemming from the pandemic.” Once the spy agency verifies their voluntary defection, the group is expected to undergo a 12-week resettlement education program to adjust to life in the South. The current government under Yoon Suk-yeol’s leadership emphasized the principle of accepting all North Korean defectors. Former Moon Jae-in’s administration notably repatriated two North Korean fishermen against their will in 2019 after they were suspected of murdering 16 fellow crew members before crossing the East Sea to South Korea.

It is worth noting that not all crossings are intentional. There had been instances where North Korean fishing boats drifted into the South after experiencing engine trouble or running out of fuel, and it is standard practice for South Korea to return North Korean fishermen in line with their wishes unless they express a desire to defect or are suspected of espionage.

NORTH KOREANS EXPRESS ENVY

News of the group’s defection was reportedly spreading rapidly in the Chinese-North Korean border regions of Hoeryong and Hyesan, as many people who faced tougher crackdowns since the pandemic expressed envy toward those who defected, “People are now facing hard times comparable to the hardships suffered during the Arduous March. Some people might want to defect, but border guards will shoot anyone even approaching the border area, so dreams of defecting stay nothing but dreams.” 

Meanwhile, this recent defection by boat sparked excitement and gave hope to many border residents, “We have heard plenty of rumors about people who risked their lives to cross the border following the outbreak of COVID-19. These attempts were unsuccessful, and those involved were either dragged off to political prison camps or shot and killed by border guards. Everyone was relieved to hear news about not just one or two people but an entire family escaping here successfully.” As expressions of envy like “I feel so happy about it, almost like I was the one who defected,” “I hope we’ll get that kind of opportunity, too” and “For an entire family to go all together, and directly to South Korea at that, makes people quite jealous. Some people are saying they’d be happy if they could even send just their children” span across the region, Daily NK’s reporting partner suggests that many North Koreans may wish to defect.

A Mother's Love - Elim House Summer Retreat 2023

Last summer, we piloted our first summer retreat for current and past residents of Elim House. God graciously provided the group last year with a time of rest, delicious food, hours of laughter, vulnerability and shoulders to cry on. Our team returned to Korea this June for two weeks to serve at Elim House and Elim Community. They taught English and workout classes, spent time cooking for and ministering to the women at Elim House and finished the trip with our second summer retreat. 

This is the second year for Jacob, one of our team members, and his family to make this summer trip. The main difference this year was having his mother-in-law, Hannah, join the team. Hannah has faithfully followed Jesus for many decades and through many trials. She had always wanted to experience being on a missions trip and the Lord finally allowed that to happen this summer. 

Hannah’s presence was immediately felt, not just by the women at Elim House but by our South Korea team as well. She was quick and constant with her words of encouragement and affirmation with everyone she encountered. As a first generation Korean American, Hannah had no trouble communicating with everyone at Elim House. She lovingly held the hands of our Elim House residents and as she heard their stories, prayed over them and consoled them. As an experienced restaurateur while living in the States, Hannah blessed the women by cooking and sharing meals with the women of Elim House.

Eight North Korean women attended this year’s summer retreat. Though it was her first time at one of our retreats, Hannah was intentional in getting to know the women and was often seen spending one-on-one time with many of them. She had heard about North Korean refugees through Jacob and Crossing Borders in the past. But now face to face with this group of women, she was hungry to learn about each of their stories. As she listened, she cried with the women, encouraging them to hope in the Lord with their own lives and with the fate of their loved ones still in China and North Korea.

The second day of the retreat started with Hannah’s home cooking and visits to a few key locations along the Northern Limit Line, which divides the North Korean coast from South Korea’s five coastal islets near Incheon. As the group visited these sites that look towards North Korea, one stop included an unexpected chorus of a well known reunification song while another stop finished with raising hands towards North Korea as the group cried out to God to heal the land.

Looking towards North Korea, the women who attended the retreat prayed together for their homeland.

As their time in Korea drew to a close with the ending of the retreat, with tears in their eyes, each of the women took turns embracing Hannah to say goodbye and insisted that she come back next year. We knew God would use Hannah to show love and compassion to the North Korean women on this trip. Yet, we were still amazed to see how deeply the women were impacted by her loving presence and her steadfast faith.

Elim House Summer Retreat, June 2023

A mother’s love is precious and irreplaceable. We’re so thankful for God’s providence and provision in sending Hannah to Korea this year. We pray Hannah and other moms will bless future trips to Elim House.

Top Headlines from North Korea - June 2023

Looking across the water at North Korean farmland from South Korea

NEW FAMINE STRIKES AS NORTH KOREAN FAMILIES STARVE TO DEATH

• Latest reports and interviews gathered in North Korea suggest the country is facing the worst food crisis since the 1990s due to a shortage of supplies amid border closures during the pandemic and Kim Jong-un choosing to invest in developing nuclear weapons.

• Pyongyang had always relied on importing grains, fertilizers and machinery from China to feed its 26 million citizens and recently fortified borders have made it impossible for people to smuggle in food to sell at black markets.

• “At first, I was afraid of dying from COVID-19, but then I began to worry about starving to death,” described a construction worker, who claimed that food supplies were so low that five people from his village had already starved to death.

• A resident from Pyongyang told the BBC that she heard of people who killed themselves at home or disappeared into the mountains to die in their sleep because they could no longer make a living.

• North Korea economist, Peter Ward, expressed concerns that “middle-class people are seeing starvation in their neighborhoods.”

• The government used the past three years to pass new laws to further control people’s lives, particularly in relation to defection. A resident commented that “If you even approach the river now you will be given a harsh punishment, so almost nobody is crossing,” while another said, “We are stuck here waiting to die.”

Source:

The BBC

The Independent 

KIM JONG-UN BANS SUICIDE AS NORTH KOREANS CHOOSE TO END THEIR LIVES

• North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, defined suicide as an “act of treason against socialism” and secretly issued a suicide prevention order during an emergency meeting with party leaders after media outlets revealed that families committed suicide due to hunger and poverty.

• An official mentioned that there were 35 known suicide cases in Chongjin and nearby Kyongsong county this year alone, most of which involved whole families ending their lives together.

• According to the South Korean National Intelligence Service, suicides in North Korea had risen by about 40 percent compared to last year.

• Violent crimes in North Korea are also on the rise as people struggle under extreme hardships.

Source:

Radio Free Asia

Hindustan Times

UCA News 

NORTH KOREA VOWS TO FULLY SUPPORT RUSSIA AGAINST UKRAINE

• Kim Jong-un pledged to “hold hands” with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in a message to Moscow marking Russia’s National Day.

• Kim defended Putin’s stance in the Russia-Ukraine war, stating that “Justice is sure to win and the Russian people will continue to add glory to the history of victory.”

• The North Korean leader sought to deepen ties between the two countries after calling for “closer strategic cooperation” in their common aim to build “a powerful country.”

• Pyongyang has been accused of providing weapons to Russia in exchange for food in violation of security council sanctions. Reports also suggested that North Korean workers were sent to Russian-occupied Ukraine to help in construction.

Source:

The Guardian

Reuters 

USS Michigan, a nuclear-powered submarine, approaches a naval base in Busan, South Korea, Friday, June 16, 2023. (Source: Gang Duck-chul/Yonhap via AP)

NORTH KOREA TALKS DEFENSE STRATEGIES AS U.S. SENDS SUBMARINE TO SOUTH KOREA

• According to state media reports, Kim Jong-un attended a Workers’ Party’s Central Committee meeting to discuss improving the country’s struggling economy and reviewing defense strategies to “cope with the changed international situation.”

• The Committee convened the plenary meeting after the U.S. sent a nuclear-powered submarine to South Korea.

• Pyongyang denounced the U.S. and South Korea for their joint military exercises, which were labeled by the North as invasion rehearsals.

• Meanwhile, North Korea used the U.S.-South Korean drills as a pretext to develop its own weaponry, including test-firing around 100 missiles since the start of 2022. 

Source:

Al Jazeera

Taiwan News 

Seoul Awakened by Wartime Alerts

It was 6:32 am on Wednesday morning when South Korea’s capital was awakened by high-pitched air raid sirens followed by a wartime alert that urged residents to prepare for an emergency evacuation. South Koreans, who have over many years become desensitized to frequent provocations from the North, were startled as news that Pyongyang had fired a rocket spread like wildfire across the city of 10 million. Accompanied by North Korea’s prior warning that it would launch its first military reconnaissance satellite between May 31 and June 11 and at a time of heightened tension in the region, the rare government alert left citizens worried about an imminent attack and so terrified that a Seoul resident even “thought of the situation in Ukraine” and told NK News that “I panicked with fear of possibly losing my husband in a war. I held onto him and cried.”

FALSE ALARM

The Korean-language notification was short and abrupt. The message warned residents to give priority to children and the elderly during evacuation, but made no mention of what triggered the alert, how people should prepare, or where the evacuation areas were. Lee Ju-yeon, a resident from Seoul, described that “I was so panicked. 911 lines were busy and the internet was slow … So without knowing what was really happening, I was about to head down to a basement wearing a wrap carrier with my baby.” Foreigners visiting Seoul also complained that they were confused as the evacuation order was in Korean, “I didn’t get it of course, but I was nervous,” said Blake Fuentes Glibert, a Mexican tennis player visiting South Korea for a tournament.

It took the South Korean government 22 minutes before recalling the warning as an “error” and reassuring Seoul residents that the city was safe. Upon learning that the alert was triggered by North Korea’s failed attempt to launch its spy satellite into space to monitor U.S. and South Korean military activities, which Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, later announced plans to relaunch the satellite in the “near future,” the public’s confusion and anxiety soon turned into anger and exasperation. Seoul resident, Chung Sung-hee, described the chaotic experience of realizing that the loudspeaker broadcast denoted a “real situation,” rather than a drill. “They should’ve said what was happening, and where to go … Who would evacuate with a message like that,” she added that she could not help but curse the authorities when the second alert explained that it was a false alarm.

UNPREPARED FOR WAR

While Yoon’s administration was criticized for championing a tough stance against Pyongyang on the one hand, yet failing to handle major crises and assure its people of its safety on the other hand, this false alarm also highlighted the fact that modern day Seoul is unprepared to respond to a real emergency. As Ahn Byong-jin, a political scientist at Kyung Hee University in Seoul commented, “there has been little training for the general public on how to live with it. The commotion we had this morning encapsulates how the government is failing to understand and respond to this new normal with North Korea.”

Moreover, repeated alerts falsely triggered by its nuclear-armed northern neighbor over the years have conditioned many disinterested South Koreans to ignore both real and apparent threats of war. “One of my colleagues told me that she heard the alert while washing her hair, but just dismissed it thinking it’s just another one of many news alerts about North Korea missiles,” explained an apparel company worker from Seoul. Meanwhile, keywords relating to “alerts” and “evacuation” became the most searched topics on Twitter in South Korea, with a user tweeting “Hey guys, given Twitter is still working, I guess it is not war.” Even though air raid sirens and wartime alerts are rare, false alarms akin to Wednesday’s alert could potentially further desensitize people to disregard future evacuation orders, which are widely expected to normalize going forward, as the country remains technically at war seven decades after the Korean War ended.

Top NK Headlines - May 2023

CRYPTO HACKERS STOLE BILLIONS - FUNDING HALF OF NORTH KOREA’S MISSILE PROGRAM

• North Korea allegedly targeted crypto assets in other countries to obtain foreign currency to fund its missile program.

• According to U.K.-based blockchain analysis provider, Elliptic, hacker groups affiliated with North Korea have stolen a total of $2.3 billion USD between 2017 and 2022. Of that, $721 million USD was stolen from Japan alone, which equals to 30% of the total of such losses globally, followed by Vietnam ($540 million USD), the U.S. ($497 million USD) and Hong Kong ($281 million USD).

• Although Pyongyang employed two main types of cyberattacks: hacking and ransomware, Elliptic’s analysis mostly uncovered hacking (stealing directly from cryptocurrency exchanges).

• A White House official suggests that about half of North Korea’s missile program has been funded by cyberattacks and cryptocurrency theft.

• U.S. intelligence agencies are still trying to identify the culprits behind the cybercrimes and the Biden administration is said to be “putting a lot of time and thought” into the problem.

Source:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/10/politics/north-korean-missile-program-cyberattacks/index.html
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Cryptocurrencies/North-Korean-crypto-thefts-target-Japan-Vietnam-Hong-Kong 

SOUTH KOREA BEGINS TO TEST NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS FOR RADIATION EXPOSURE

• According to Seoul’s unification ministry, voluntary radiation exposure tests have commenced for North Korean defectors who came from areas near North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear testing site.

• South Korea had previously carried out similar tests on 40 North Korean defectors in 2017 and 2018.

• 796 former residents from Punggye-ri and nearby areas defected to South Korea since the first nuclear test in October 2006.

• This round of tests come three months after the Transitional Justice Working Group released a report claiming that tens of thousands of North Koreans may have been exposed to radioactive materials and concerns grew over defectors’ health risks.

• 89 individuals who used to live near the nuclear facility, in which all of the North’s six nuclear weapons tests in the past were carried out, have begun undergoing the testing.

• The medical tests include whole-body counting (the measurement of radioactivity) and chromosome analysis. Participants would also be asked about the source of their drinking water while living in North Korea.

• The radiation testing is expected to be completed by November and its outcome likely to be publicized by late December.

Source:
https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20230516003700325
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/05/103_351012.html 

North Korean soldiers use former South Korean defence minister Kim Kwan-jin’s image as the target for gunnery exercises. Image: KCNA

YOON NAMES ‘SOLDIER MOST FEARED BY NORTH KOREA’ CHIEF OF NEW DEFENSE INNOVATION COMMITTEE

• South Korean President, Yoon Suk-yeol, named Kim Kwan-jin the de facto chief of a newly established committee tasked with reforming the South Korean military to counter the North’s missile and nuclear threats.

• Kim is one of the eight experts appointed to deter North Korea’s “provocative mentality in advance."

• A former defense minister, the retired four-star general has earned a reputation for his uncompromising and aggressive posture toward North Korea. For instance, he ordered the military to take the approach of “shoot first, report later” in face of provocations from the North.

• Yoon also called on the committee to enhance the South’s reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities and establish a more effective defense system against drones.

• While one of the most qualified, his appointment was met with controversy due to multiple criminal charges on political meddling and abuse of authority he faced during his time in office.

Source:
https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3220288/soldier-most-feared-north-korea-returns-seoul-military-yoon-talks-tough-nuclear-threat
https://www.nknews.org/2023/05/yoon-hires-hawkish-ex-defense-minister-whom-north-korea-wanted-killed/ 

A new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile is shown at a North Korean military parade held in Pyongyang on Feb. 8. Image: KCNA

NORTH KOREA PREPARES FOR NEXT MILITARY PARADE

• Satellite images appear to show North Korean soldiers gathering at the Mirim parade training ground in Pyongyang to prepare for a military parade.

• The training base shares the same ground pattern as Kim Il Sung Square, and hundreds of possibly troop-carrying trucks arrived after May 12.

• The apparent rehearsals are speculated to prepare for a potential parade to be held on July 27, which marks the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War. Another possible date is September 9, known as “Republic Day,” which celebrates the establishment of the regime.

• Researchers described military parades as Pyongyang’s low-cost method of garnering attention that also serves to “bolster internal solidarity by putting a spotlight on the armed forces, which is the only sector where the Kim Jong-un regime can claim to have achieved progress.”

• Satellite images also show a new hotel under construction at Mirim which is intended to house soldiers during extended military parade training in the future.

Source:
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2023/05/16/national/northKorea/Korea-North-Korea-Mirim-parade-training-ground/20230516152046726.html
https://www.nknews.org/pro/north-korea-appears-to-start-major-training-for-next-military-parade-imagery/

Mental Health Awareness with North Korean Refugees

May is Mental Health Awareness Month in the US and as an organization that has taken a close look at the mental health issues of North Korean refugees, we cannot express enough the urgency we feel to raise awareness of the state of mental health of North Korean refugees.

North Koreans arrive in South Korea seeking job opportunities, freedom, and a fresh start. Slowly but surely, their trauma gets in the way of all of their ambitions. From recent interviews with mental health practitioners in South Korea who focus on North Korean refugees, we are learning the extent of the mental health crisis that is occuring in this population. These problems are often related to the traumatic experiences they have had in North Korea, such as food shortages, political oppression, and family separation. The journey to South Korea can also be traumatic, as refugees often have to travel through dangerous and unfamiliar territory.

A study by the World Health Organization found that 40 percent of North Korean refugees in South Korea had PTSD, 30 percent had depression, and 20 percent had anxiety. These rates are much higher than the rates of mental health problems in the general population of South Korea. Many turn to alcohol, sex and drugs to numb their pain.

The mental health problems of North Korean refugees have potential to significantly impact their lives. These issues can make finding work, building relationships, and participating in society difficult. They can also lead to physical health problems, such as chronic pain and sleep disturbances.

We feel that the first step in addressing the vast crisis at hand is to educate North Koreans themselves that mental health care is essential. From our conversations with the refugees we’ve helped through Elim House, most North Koreans think mental health care is for those with serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. There is also a stigma attached to seeking mental health services. It is seen as a weakness to admit one's problems.

Here are some specific examples of what can be done to help North Korean refugees with their mental health:

1. Provide access to mental health services: North Korean refugees should have access to mental health services that are culturally appropriate and sensitive to their needs. These services should be provided by trained professionals who have experience working with refugees. Currently, mental health care is not covered by insurance in South Korea, though free services are available for North Korean refugees at specific locations.

2. Offer support groups and other forms of social support: Support groups can provide a safe space for North Korean refugees to share their experiences and connect with others who understand what they are going through. These groups can also provide information and resources about mental health and help refugees to develop coping mechanisms. Many of the counselors we speak to think this is a great way to introduce the concept of mental health to North Korean refugees.

3. Advocate for and work to improve the living conditions of refugees in South Korea: thankfully the South Korean government has turned its attention towards improving their resettlement services as the number of defectors arriving in South Korea has dramatically dropped in recent years.

Crossing Borders is considering strategies to improve the mental health of North Korean refugees. We have a trained counselor on staff in South Korea. We are communicating with mental health professionals in South Korea to coordinate the best interventions for those under our care. We are also communicating with leaders and officials to come up with better solutions for the care of North Korean refugees and their mental health.

By taking these steps, we hope to help improve the mental health of North Korean refugees and provide more stability as they work to rebuild their lives.

North Korea’s Most Beloved Princess

Credit: KCNA VIA KNS/AFP

Kim Ju-ae: North Korea’s Princess Daughter

The North Korean leader’s 10-year-old daughter, Kim Ju-ae, first appeared in public for the first time during a missile launch in November 2022. Although her name was previously revealed by former NBA star, Dennis Rodman, after his visit to Pyongyang in 2013, Kim Ju-ae remained to be the only one of Kim Jong-un’s children to have appeared in public, sparking widespread speculation that she might one day rule over the hermit kingdom. Since then, Princess Kim has made a number of public appearances as Kim Jong-un’s most “beloved” and later “respected” daughter by February 2023, which is an adjective reserved for the highest-ranked members in North Korean society. While state propaganda has attempted to promote female status and use Kim Ju-ae’s public profile to modernize the Kim family’s image in the male-dominated, monarchical society, frequent TV appearances exposing the princess’ lavish lifestyle have led to growing resentment among starving North Koreans.

WHY KIM JONG-UN WANTS YOU TO MEET HIS DAUGHTER

According to Soo Kim, a contributor for Australian-based think tank Lowy Institute, Kim Ju-ae’s public debut was “an impeccably timed distraction to keep the international community from focusing on seeking an enduring solution to Pyongyang’s rapidly advancing weapons system.” Indeed, the world has temporarily shifted its attention from North Korea’s ballistic missile testing to explore meanings behind the image of a strangely relatable scene showing a loving father walking hand-in-hand with his young, innocent-looking daughter.

However, bringing Kim Ju-ae’s out in public spotlight has generated extensive resentment toward the well-dressed princess, who was seen wearing expensive designer outfits while “the recent food crisis in North Korea is serious enough that some people are starving to death,” described Lee Seo Hyun, a North Korean defector. For example, the Christian Dior coat she wore during a missile launch at Pyongyang International Airport this year costs $1,900 USD according to the company’s website.

Another source also criticized the privileged daughter for looking “so different from the children of common people who are punished for following ‘capitalist culture’ when they dress up in fashionable clothes” and whose “cheekbones stick out from their faces.” Others expressed anger seeing Kim Ju-ae who “must be eating so well, her face is so white and plump like the moon” appearing “on TV in her fancy clothes so often.” As a result, it appears that North Korean websites began censoring "Kim Ju Ae" and deleting all related posts that referenced someone with the same name, perhaps as a way to protect her declining reputation.

HOW JU-AE FITS INTO THE ROYAL KIM BLOODLINE

Even though North Korea enacted the “Men and Women Equal Rights Act” in 1946, which advocated for gender equality, it remains a deeply patriarchal country. To this day, it is difficult for the average North Korean to accept women as leaders. In addition, the Mount Paektu bloodline, which consists of a three-generation lineage of leadership descending from the nation’s founding leader Kim Il-sung, is a fundamental ideology rooted in the country’s ruling Workers’ Party. North Korean state media often praised its former leader, Kim Jong-il, for establishing the “blood theory” that guarantees the preservation of the Kim’s sacred bloodline and strengthens the Juche ideology to prepare for the country’s next leader. 

A brutal selection process is deployed to protect the Kim family’s bloodline. For instance, Kim Jong-un’s uncle and the only adult male in the family, Jang Sung-taek, was mercilessly killed in 2013 after being found to have proposed a plot to overthrow Kim Jong-un and replace him with Kim Jong-nam. Kim Jong-nam, Kim Jong-un’s older half brother, was later assassinated in Malaysia in 2017. 

Playing out Kim Ju-ae’s potential succession to her father’s throne does, however, risk putting an end to the Kim dynasty as the leadership may be subsequently handed over to a descendant who is not a “Kim.” Kim Jong-un is believed to have three children: an elder son (born in 2010), Kim Ju-ae, and possibly a third daughter (born in 2017), and there is no compelling reason to defy North Korea’s long standing succession traditions and crown a daughter as his successor. Nevertheless, by increasing Kim Ju-ae’s public appearances during important state events and addressing her as Kim Jong-un’s “respected daughter” and “beloved daughter,” Pyongyang highlights the unspoken rule that only direct descendants of the leader are eligible for succession regardless of age or even gender.

Another potential heir to the throne, Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of Kim Jong-un, enjoyed her time in the limelight during the 2018 Winter Olympics held in Pyeongchang, South Korea and several months thereafter. While her public appearances generated quite a buzz of her potential line to future reign, aside from speculations of takeover during Kim Jong-un’s health scare in 2020, there has been very little mention of her name since. The world will continue to watch members of the Kim clan closely, including the latest publicly profiled darling daughter Kim Ju-ae.

Is It Ethical to Travel to North Korea?

While North Korean defectors are prepared to risk everything and even die just to escape to freedom in South Korea, among other countries, it is ironic to learn that tourism in North Korea has been booming, with around 100,000 Chinese visitors and 5,000 western tourists flocking to Pyongyang each year before the pandemic. Even though most governments recommend against traveling to the DPRK following the arbitrary arrests of foreign citizens in the past decade, North Korea received 1,800 tourists every day in July and August 2018 alone. According to 38 North, North Korea’s tourism revenue rose around 400% between 2014 and 2019, while several tour agencies added that demand to visit the reclusive North never waned even during the pandemic, “I receive emails daily from those asking if North Korea has reopened and if they can go.”

As rumors about North Korea reopening its borders to welcome tourists from mid-June 2023 begin to spread, Chinese tour agencies are starting to post advertisements on social media promoting five to six-day government-approved itineraries priced between 2,980 RMB ($430 USD) and 4,280 RMB ($618 USD). Perhaps driven by the huge source of revenue generated from Chinese tourists, the country with the strictest pandemic border restrictions to this day appears to even allow visitors to enter without a negative COVID-19 test and travel mask-free.

DEMAND FOR TOURISM SURGES

Visitors to North Korea must travel as part of a guided tour, where state guides monitor and restrict tourists’ movements throughout the journey. Trips to North Korea are not cheap. The cost of a four-full-day shared tour offered by Young Pioneer Tours in July 2023 exclusive of flights, costs of visas, among other things, is 995 euros ($1,100 USD). Apart from the extortionate costs, tour agencies are selective of their customers. The China-based travel agency that sent 22-year-old American student Otto Warmbier, who was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor and later died in a hospital after returning to the U.S., announced that it would no longer take U.S. citizens on for similar tours, as the “assessment of risk for Americans visiting North Korea has become too high.”

While human rights groups have argued that the North Korean tourism industry serves only “to fund and legitimize the regime,” it is not surprising that the heavy restrictions and slogans describing “the places your mother wants you to stay away from” used by tour agencies like Young Pioneer Tours help spark interests and gather momentum among adventurous travelers from the west. After all, the fact that freedom is mostly the global norm nowadays and dictatorship sounds like fiction makes North Korea an intriguing destination.

However, reviews have not always been positive. American blogger, Benjamin Young, told NK News that “I thought I was being adventurous … looking back on it, I was just naïve. But I got out of North Korea healthy. Warmbier was not so lucky.” He added that “You cannot truly engage with the North Korean people. You can only engage with the regime … who simply operate on a different level.” This was confirmed by North Korean defector, Ji Min-kang, who described that “Outsiders can’t communicate with the citizens and the guides control all that they see … You cannot see the real North Korea as a tourist.”

TOURISM CASH COW

Tourism is vital to North Korea in two folds. Firstly, it offers a dependable and stable source of foreign currency, a commodity that is widely in demand that the regime struggles to obtain due to international sanctions restricting its exports. Secondly, it supports the country’s goal to accomplish the Juche aspiration of self-reliance. Although there is no official data available, it is estimated that tourists who visited North Korea in 2019 generated as much as $175 million USD in earnings from tourism alone that year.

Conventional options include tours to national vacation spots like the Masikryong Ski Resort, the Wonsasn-Kalma Beach Resort, the mountain resort of Samjiyon and the Mt. Kumgang tourist area. There are also unorthodox and off-the-beaten-path activities such as the Pyongyang Marathon and medical tourism aimed at offering foreign visitors with treatments including cataract surgery, dental implants and therapy for tumors. The North Korean government has also been creative with the way it fabricates the image of inclusion while exploiting foreign talent. For instance, a one-month volunteer program was offered by Pyongyang Tourism College, which sought English-speakers to teach North Korea’s prospective tour guides English and foreign etiquette in exchange for “unparalleled levels of interaction and engagement with local Koreans,” cost each volunteer 1,000 euros ($1,105 USD). Although it claimed to be running on a not-for-profit basis with excess funds spent on the tourism library at the college, a former British volunteer recalled being driven around in luxury cars during his visit and not allowed freedom of movement.

Meanwhile, tourists are conveniently used by the government as propaganda aimed at brainwashing its own people. According to Hyeonseo Lee, a North Korean activist who escaped the country in 1997, “They are required to bow to the large statue of our first dictator, Kim Il-sung,” and these images are used by “propagandists to show North Koreans that foreigners come from all over the world to pay homage to the Dear Leader … North Korea’s supremacy must be true.” Consequently, visiting North Korea as a tourist in a nutshell essentially involves participating in an expensive crash course to learn about lies the leadership projects through an enterprise that profits all parties involved.

Is it ethical to visit a place like North Korea where revenue generated from tourism is fed right back into the totalitarian machine? There’s no denying that the mystery of North Korea is a draw to the outside world. But we’re reminded of the reasons why so many countries have imposed sanctions against North Korea and why the inhumane treatment of their own people should not be tolerated.

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.