 of North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity |
Staff Reporter
A North Korean democracy fighter here found a striking difference before and after the currency reform in the North through phone conversations with citizens carrying out the clandestine mission of reporting what's going on there.
Seo Jae-pyong, a North Korean refugee working for bringing democracy to the secretive nation, predicted simmering public anger in the wake of the failed reform, along with the residents' awareness of the outside world, would have an effect on change there in the future .
"Previously, they used to be upset at us when our activists at North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity (NKIS) called their leader simply Kim Jong-il without using his official position there," he said.
Seo, secretary general of the NKIS, and others were advised to call the North Korean leader "Mr. General."
After being elected as chairman of the North's National Defense Commission, Kim was re-elected in 1998, 2003 and 2009.
"When we pick up the phone recently, these freelance correspondents were irritated as the pain they had to deal with has grown since the currency reform. They began conversations by pouring out harsh words against Kim," Seo said in an interview with The Korea Times in Seoul last Wednesday.
NKIS has run a news outlet service based on mobile phone conversations with the secret correspondents since 2008 to raise awareness of the reclusive nation.
The North Korea watchdog run by refugees from the secretive state provided the stringers with cell phones with an international roaming service. International phone rates between South Korea and China are applied when North Koreans call NKIS people.
These correspondents are based in almost every large city in North Korea and receive a "risk allowance" in the Chinese currency yuan in return for their reports.
Declining to give information about how much exactly they are getting paid, Seo said their allowances are high enough to feed their families.
Asked if the NKIS staffers could hear them clearly during the phone conversation, Seo said the cell phones work excellently.
"When we have conversations with people, especially from the border area between North Korea and China, we hear them as clear as our phone conversations with our colleagues in South Korea," Seo said.
He declined to share any extra information about the freelance reporters because he was deeply wary of the consequences that the possible leak of their personal information would bring.
These North Koreans involved in the "dangerous mission" are exposed to tight and constant surveillance by security and intelligence forces.
Perilous Journey to Freedom
Seo, an engineer, escaped North Korea back in April 2001 in search of freedom and democracy. He first arrived in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, northeastern China, and moved to several other cities in China, including Sichuan, for fear of being discovered by North Korean security agents.
He said North Korean refugees usually team up in groups of six or 10 during the risky journey for freedom.
On his way to South Korea, his six-member team crossed the Gobi Desert in Mongolia and was finally handed over to the South Korean Embassy there by the border security.
The three-month journey for freedom took the life of one of his teammates. He was shot dead.
A sigh of relief came after the rest of the team members received interim passports and airplane tickets for South Korea from the embassy.
After settling in the South in July 2001, Seo realized that there was a role that he and other educated North Korean refugees, whom he called intellectuals, could play in bringing change in the North from outside the nation.
In North Korea, Seo said, intellectuals are people who have four-year college degrees and their own professional areas of specialization such as medical doctors, computer scientists, pharmacists and engineers.
Out of approximately 20,000 North Korean refugees that settled in South Korea from the 1990s, he said, about 600 are college graduates.
About 300 of these educated people have joined NKIS to let people outside North Korea know more about it.
Generation Gap
Seo said a generation gap between people of a younger generation who were born after the mid-1990s and their elders sheds light on the fact that the North has been on an abnormal pattern over the past 15 years, when it comes to its economy.
During the so-called March of Tribulation from 1995 and 1998, about 3 million North Koreans, 12 percent of the population, died due to malnutrition and famine caused by the devastating floods.
"The era of state-sponsored rationing has passed since that time in the North. Therefore, young people who were born after the March of Tribulation found it difficult to grasp when their parents talked about the days when they were getting paid and received food from the state," he said.
"In my opinion, North Korea is not a communist state any more. Only people involved in the infrastructure sector, such as railway workers, soldiers, party officials and mining workers, receive rice and salaries from the government. More people in the North lead their lives through a market economy."
Eight of 10 North Koreans, he said, make ends meet through the market.
"Brainwashing has made it possible for North Korean residents to endure the harsh reality facing them over the past 15 years. The currency reform last November was a turning point that made them question the role of the government as they are suffering severely from the failed policy," he said.
Korean Wave in N. Korea Seo said North Korean residents can access the latest South Korean dramas at home without difficulties, despite the government imposed strict ban on the circulation of made-in-South Korea cultural products.
"Once these dramas first air in the South, two or three weeks later they are copied on to CDs in China and then these CDs are sold to distributors who deal with North Koreans. I understand that many North Koreans are watching South Korean soap operas," he said.
He forecast the culture will effect change in North Korea in the future.
"Through the programs, North Koreans came to be aware that South Koreans lead very different lives. They could see that South Korea is rich and affluent and their awareness will have a crucial effect on change in the North in the long run," he said.
If current social unrest and distrust of the government meet with North Koreans' awareness of the outside world, he predicted, the authorities' brainwashing will not work, paving the way for "change" in the North.
Deepening Social Unrest
North Korea watchers here said the North implemented the currency reform last year in order to put "unbridled" middle-class and business people, who made their fortune by following the capitalist way of money making, under control.
The North directed its residents to turn in a limited number of old bills in exchange for the new currency.
The top-down measure ended up with hiking prices, resulting in growing difficulties among North Koreans.
In February, North Korean Premier Kim Yong-il reportedly apologized that the ill-prepared reform caused problems for North Koreans.
Sources said Kim read a statement that was prepared for his public apology for an hour before government officials.
The NKIS said the public apology delivered by the high-ranking government official is rare in the North.
"Previously there was a case where party officials made apologies before grass-root people when rationing didn't work in North Hamgyeong Province. The apology was directed by then leader Kim Il-sung for party officials responsible for the duty tried to curry favor with Kim with false information," the NKIS statement said.
"The major difference from the previous case and the premier's apology is that this time the government admitted its failed policy."
The statement went on to say that social unrest in the North is so deep that the government felt the need to do something to calm the angry citizens.
hkang@koreatimes.co.kr
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