The faces of North Koreans

Lee Jeong-cheol (front center) speaks at the Freedom Speakers International (FSI) office on Jan. 29, 2021, at an online conference organized by the Master of Human Rights Students Association at Manitoba University in Winnipeg, Canada. Courtesy of FSI

By Lee Jeong-cheol

When you think about North Koreans, what image comes to mind?

I would guess that most people would say Kim Jong-un or probably North Korea's nuclear weapons.

But I think of North Koreans who have been suffering in North Korea. I think about their sad-looking faces.

I have lived in South Korea for 14 years and one of the things people used to tell me was, "Jeongcheol, smile!" Whenever I took pictures with friends, they would remind me that I needed to smile.

I would tell them, "I am smiling."

However, later, I realized that I was not smiling. My face looked depressed.

When I was in North Korea, there was nothing much that made me smile. My greatest memory of childhood was about hunger. I think I was always hungry when I was in North Korea.

I have learned to try to smile. When I would wake up in the morning, I would go to the bathroom to practice smiling. And I learned from practice. I learned how to smile.

Now that I have learned how to smile, some people tell me, "You don't look like someone who is from North Korea." They will also tell me, "It seems you didn't go through hardship in North Korea."

Needless to say, my life in North Korea was difficult. When I was eight years old, my mother went to China. I never felt I was full, I was either always hungry or starving, but never full. I had to work on a farm, sometimes I went up to the mountain to get timber during the winter. When I was 14, I also left North Korea to join my mother.

For a while, when people in South Korea commented on my appearance, making it seem that I had not experienced hardship, I would explain how terrible my life was in North Korea.

But these days, I don't explain. I just enjoy my life.

It has taken me some time to get to this comfort level. I was born in Hyesan, Yangang province in North Korea. I came to South Korea in 2007 via Laos and Thailand.

If I could have driven from my home in Hyesan to South Korea, it would have taken about 8 hours. But because one of the most dangerous borders in the world is between South and North Korea, I couldn't do it. Instead of 8 hours, it took almost 18 months.

The North and South have been divided for decades.

There are about 25 million people in North Korea. Ninety percent of them are living like slaves under the dictatorship. They can't smile much. Ten percent of them are part of the regime's elite. Most of them live in Pyongyang.

When I was in North Korea, my dream was to live in Pyongyang because it meant my life would get much better.

But for me, moving to Pyongyang was harder than coming to South Korea.

I wish we could help more North Koreans to live in freedom. However, many people approach North Korean human rights politically. They focus more on criticizing or blaming Kim Jong-un and his regime rather than on helping North Koreans.

There are many North Koreans who need humanitarian help, such as rice and medicine. The sad thing is, some people first ask questions like, "Will Kim Jong-un change?" or "Will he give up his nuclear weapons?" But they don't talk about how to help North Koreans.

What can be done? If you want to help North Koreans, I think it's important to have dialogue with the North Korean regime, even though Kim is one of the most notorious dictators in the world. Otherwise, it's almost impossible to save North Koreans, because there is no reason to have talks with Kim Jong-un if we just focus on politics.

I wouldn't want to sit down at a table with Kim because he is a notorious dictator. But if it helps North Koreans, then I would work up the courage to engage in a dialogue with him. Kim Jong-un is already smiling and happy. Even if he continues smiling, we need to do something for North Koreans so that they can also smile.

Lee Jeong-cheol is host of the YouTube channel, "James from North Korea," producer at a media company based in Seoul, and a Keynote Speaker in Freedom Speakers International.

The article was edited by Casey Lartigue Jr., the editor of "Voices from the North."

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