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A nutritional expert and bearer of North Korean culinary tradition, Dr. Lee Aae-ran has become the first female defector from North Korea to obtain a Ph.D. from a Korean university. |
By Do Je-hae
Staff Reporter
Lee Aae-ran became the first female defector from North Korea to earn a PhD from South Korea.
She successfully defended early this month her dissertation on dietary challenges of North Koreans at the Department of Nutritional Science and Food Management, Ewha Women's University, making her only the third North Korean to get a PhD here.
Out of 15,000 defectors as of last September, women accounted for 66 percent, or 9,500. Lee follows in the footsteps of Ahn Chan-il and Dr. Hyun Sung-il, two male defectors to obtain PhDs from Konkuk University and Kyungnam University.
``I found that North Koreans desperately need education on food and nutrition upon arriving in the capitalist South. I hope that my thesis can serve as a realistic reference for assisting North Koreans cope with dietary issues caused by abrupt changes in lifestyle and food intake,'' Lee told The Korea Times in an interview.
Her thesis, titled ``Dietary Changes of North Koreans Around 1990'' explores questions central to understanding the current state of North Korean health. While probing the nutritional status and growth rate of 353 North Korean defectors, she concluded that those born between 1971 and 1980 are the shortest. ``This is because the final stages of their adolescence coincided with the North Korean food crisis in the 1990s,'' she said.
Through the research, Lee hopes to make a point that the poor health of North Koreans is quite alarming, suggesting that the Seoul government should be more attentive to the particular physical conditions of North Koreans per age and income group when determining types and amounts of food supply. ``Current domestic policies regarding nutrition in the South place heavy emphasis on preventing an excessive intake of food to prevent diabetes, obesity and other ailments. They are not applicable to North Koreans suffering from chronic malnutrition,'' Lee said.
As is widely known, North Koreans have little access to dietary benefits that are taken for granted outside their closed borders. Lee's findings showed that in 1973, the food ration per person was 700g and declined to 540g in 1987. By the time famine swept the North in the mid-1990s, those in the lower income brackets subsisted on porridge and noodles rather than rice, the staple Korean food.
More than 70% of the communist state's rations consist of corn, instead of rice, which is more nutritional and readily digestible. ``Studies show that one of the most prevailing ailments of North Koreans is indigestion. Therefore, they need more rice and other cereal grains for better digestion,'' Lee added.
The devoted scholar has been promoting North Korean dishes inside and outside Korea through her 2008 establishment of the Institute of North Korean Food and Culture. ``It is my firm belief that for North Koreans to maintain an edge as professionals in the Korean food market, they need to be more knowledgeable of their dishes,'' Lee said.
A graduate of Sinuiju University in North Korea and a former food inspection officer, the 46-year-old defected with several family members in October 1997. She cleaned hotel rooms and worked as an insurance agent before pursuing her studies at Ewha, obtaining a master's degree in 2003. Her future plans include publishing her findings in journals related to inter-Korean relations or nutritional studies, as well as promoting North Korean culinary traditions.
jhdo@koreatimes.co.kr
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경찰, 이태원 등 외국인 밀집지역 특별관리
