Casey Lartigue Jr. is co-founder of Freedom Speakers International, a Seoul Honorary Citizen, and co-author of Greenlight to Freedom.
Many North Koreans are still searching for freedom in South
A scene from “Squid Game” / Courtesy of Netflix
By Casey Lartigue Jr.
Jang Yoo-rim is a senior at the Korean Minjok Leadership Academy in South Korea and a member of the Freedom Speakers International Global High School Union (FSI-GHSU). She prepared this text for the second FSI-GHSU International Youth Forum on Oct. 30. ― Ed
By Jang Yoo-rim
I am not a politician, nor am I a policymaker of any kind. At least not yet. I am a teenage girl born and raised beneath the border of Gangwon Province, who nurtured her curiosity of the world while being surrounded by the remnants of war. I am a proud student of the Korean Minjok Leadership Academy who was taught to speak out on my beliefs. Most importantly, I am one of the rising generation in our society that has the potential to change what is wrong.
I have been inspired to speak out after I saw the newly released Netflix series, “Squid Game.” I enjoyed the whole series in one sitting. Above all, I was particularly interested in one of the sub-characters, Kang Sae-byeok, a North Korean refugee teenager about my age. I am not the only fan of hers; in a recent survey on Netflix, she ranked number one in popularity among all of the characters in the series even though the actor who played the role didn't have any prior acting experience. Maybe it was because she was one of the few North Korean characters to play a prominent role, or maybe she introduced us to the dark side of our society that many of us were ignorant of ― the reality of North Korean refugees in South Korea.?
Our ignorance and misconceptions start from the very moment of seeking refuge. While the majority may generalize the reason for this as due to famine or poverty, the reality is much more complex. Many seek something beyond their basic needs ― pursuing their dreams and upholding their ideologies in a democratic environment. Recently a man claiming to be a former government official of North Korea had an interview with BBC Korea. He stated that even one of the most powerful political and economic positions cannot seal the discrepancy between his belief and that of the nation. Regardless of one's status, North Korean society was not a suitable platform for their thoughts and abilities to be appreciated, whereas South Korean society was portrayed as the land of milk and honey through K-media penetrating the border, he said.
However, South Korea is rarely the paradise of their dreams.?
One North Korean refugee stated in a newspaper interview in 2020 that he is one of the very few refugees that earned certificates to live a securely employed life. He further stated that among ten of his refugee friends, two of them committed suicide while the rest are either alcoholics, unemployed or mentally ill. They were again robbed of their aspirations of being engineers, teachers or scientists ― and had no other choice but to work in part-time positions.
According to a study conducted in 2019 by researchers at Ewha Womans University, 37 percent of North Korean refugees said they have experienced discrimination, bullying and sexual assault in the workplace. Two-thirds of them believed it derived from the fact that they came from the North.?
In almost every aspect of living, our society tends to treat North Korean refugees as third-class citizens due to their innate and subconscious hostility toward North Korea.??
As a result, in 2019 alone, among 33,000 refugees, 749 of them fled to other nations and 28 of them returned to North Korea. The refugees are again pushed toward a second journey seeking refuge.
We say that we are brothers and that we share the same bloodline, but then why don't we treat refugees as our brothers? Our society's attitude towards refugees is a prophecy of what will happen after the unification of South and North Korea. Without sufficient action, the two will never intermix.
What exactly does “sufficient action” mean? I don't have the specific answer, and I am hesitant to speak the answer for I have a lot left to learn. Maybe enforcing anti-discriminatory policies specific to North Korean refugees. Maybe investing billions of won in job mentoring once more.?
Yet, what I do know is that people must be sensitive and creative. Open your eyes and ears; there has to be something that you may have not noticed. For once, think about how our nation can be inclusive of what seems invisible to you. Under the mask of familiar Korean faces, there may lie the most tragic stories you could have never even imagined.
Casey Lartigue Jr., co-founder of Freedom Speakers International and a lecturer in public speaking at Seoul University of Foreign Studies, edited this text for publication.