NK student beats stereotype

Kim Chul-soo (an alias) is pictured studying in this photo taken Wednesday at Hansung Science High School in northwestern Seoul. Kim became the first North Korean defector to gain entrance into a science high school. / Korea Times photo by Kim Bo-eun

By Kim Bo-eun

The children of North Korean defectors are often associated with stories of how hard it is to adjust to an alien environment. But one such child, identifying himself with the alias Kim Chul-soo, 16, has made a dent in this stereotype.

He is the first North Korean defector to be accepted into a science high school in South Korea. Kim is anxious to start his freshman year at the highly-rated Hansung Science High School in northwestern Seoul in March.

“I don’t think achievement is so much about beating my competitors, but more about testing my own limits,” Kim said, during an interview at the school.

Kim’s family was well-off in the North, but in the South he could not afford to take private lessons.

“I received some tutoring at the welfare center in my neighborhood,” he said.

The freshman’s biggest dream is to attend the prestigious Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology (KAIST) — and eventually to become a professor.

“I can feel the gap between other students and myself,” said Kim, one of 143 incoming freshman selected from 100 middle schools.

Young defectors often struggle because of gaps in their education and language differences, activists say. This is often because they spend prolonged periods hiding in China, before traveling to the South.

Kim was five when his parents crossed into China. They left him with his grandparents for a year until he could join them. His grandfather arranged for a border guard to carry Kim across the Tumen River on his back.

He spent a year at a Chinese school in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture. His teacher knew he was North Korean, but did not report him to the authorities, which Kim’s family attributes to his strong academic performance.

Kim’s family eventually met a South Korean missionary, who helped them defect to the South in 2006.

Once enrolled in the South Korean school system, Kim whizzed through elementary school. In middle school, he was among the top 10 students out of several hundred, with math and science as his best subjects.