Professor combs through trash for clues about North Korea

Professor Kang Dong-wan shows various packaging he collected from five islands in the West Sea at his office located in Dong-A University, Busan. Korea Times photo by Kim Kang-min

By Lee Yeon-woo

Busan ― Kang Dong-wan, 48, a professor of political science at Dong-A University based in the southern port city of Busan, carefully takes out product packaging each kept in plastic bags, just like an enthusiastic archeologist handles newly excavated artifacts.

Bags of different sizes and miscellaneous marine debris that he collected from different seaside areas, as well as the border area between China and North Korea, such as paintings and pottery, are placed on the floor one after another.

With the various items on the floor, his office looks like a treasure trove of North Korean objects at an excavation site rather than a private space for an academic.

"These are my treasures," Kang says, beaming at his rare and unusual collection. He has a reason to value the haphazard items so enthusiastically. The trash offers him unique insights and clues into North Korea and its socio-economic life, which has largely remained a riddle, if not unknown, to most people.

Over the years, many North Korea experts gave their best efforts to figure out the realities of its society through various methods, including interviewing defectors, analyzing official government media reports, and a lot more. But few of them succeeded in presenting a clear picture of that society.

Professor Kang Dong-wan speaks during an interview with The Korea Times on Oct. 20. Korea Times photo by Kim Kang-min

As North Korea continued to remain an enigma, Kang tried a new approach.

In order to figure out what people's lives are like in the reclusive state, he collected trash washed away by the sea from North Korea and ended up gathering on the shores of five South Korean islands in the West Sea: Yeonpyeong Island, Baengnyeong Island, Daecheong Island, Socheong Island and Woo Island. These islands are right below the South-North Korean maritime border, known as the Northern Limit Line, which are so close to the North that people can see the isolated country on a clear day.

Most of the trash collected is everyday product packaging from North Korea, Kang explained. He makes records of the various names of the North Korean factories where the products were produced, the main ingredients and the industrial designs so as to find new clues about the secretive state.

Kang came to develop his own way of researching the reclusive state while studying the country in 2008.

Before 2008, he had taken pictures of the North Korean landscape at the border between China and North Korea. He also interviewed North Korean workers and defectors living in Russia and China.

"I had to go there for a field study. I believe that any research should begin in the field," Kang said.

One day in 2019, the immigration office at an airport in China refused to let him enter. Right after that, China closed its border due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Since then, Kang has not been able to enter China.

"They only told me that I did something which doesn't fit my visa purpose ― tourism. I could only guess that I may have been put on their blacklist because I met North Korean defectors and took pictures of North Korea while I was there. The whole experience felt a bit traumatic even when I think of the moment now."

To keep doing his research in South Korea, he visited Baengnyeong Island hoping to take some pictures of North Korea.

There, he ran into the first piece of trash which subsequently changed his life.

It was a piece of a packaging for a North Korean beverage. The packaging was written in Korean, but it looked strange.

"I have collected various North Korean goods while traveling along the border between North Korea and China. So I can immediately tell when a piece of trash is from North Korea."

From Sept. 2020 to Sept. 2021, Kang collected 1,414 pieces of trash along the seashores of the five islands. He even published a book last December aptly titled, "Picking up North Korean Trash at Five Islands in the West Sea."

"The most surprising thing was not only the amount of trash ― stacked in heaps ― but also the variety. If the types of packaging from North Korean products were limited or had monotonous designs, then this book would not have been published to the world," he wrote in the preface of his book.

Different types of North Korean ice cream packaging collected from South Korean beaches. Courtesy of Kang Dong-wan

People tend to think that North Korea would lack a wide variety of products. But this is not true, Kang said. All of the various types of packaging of snacks and beverages that Kang has found had a range of flavors, different designs, colors and fonts. Surprisingly, some products even had creative marketing slogans.

Kang has found 35 types of ice cream packaging which North Koreans call Eskimo. There was a variety of flavors such as chocolate, jujube, watermelon, peach, and many more. A yogurt-flavored Eskimo package stated that the product "improves intestinal bacteria and helps children to grow taller."

"If we had this ice cream bar in South Korea, it would be selling like hotcakes. I believe North Korea even has exaggerated advertising," Kang said with a chuckle.

Strawberry-flavored cream candy packaging featuring a feline character that looks very similar to Japan's Hello Kitty. Korea Times photo by Kim Kang-min

Some packaging that copied other countries' designs was also found. A cat used in a strawberry-flavored candy package looks very similar to the Japanese animated character Hello Kitty. The only difference is that the North Korean cat wears a strawberry in its hair, while Hello Kitty wears a ribbon.

"Many Koreans think North Korea refers to ice cream as 'eoreumbosung-i.' But nowadays they use English names. They just use the word ice cream," Kang said. Other products, such as mayonnaise, cream and chocolate-flavored snacks, were also found to use the original English words.

North Korean ice cream packaging collected by Kang Dong-wan. Korea Times photo by Kim Kang-min

Kang admitted that his approach to studying North Korea through trash has some limitations when it comes to making assumptions about the daily lives of its people. For instance, he said he was unable to identify how the products are distributed within North Korea, or how North Koreans consume them in their everyday lives.

To supplement his research, he asked North Korean defectors if they had seen or consumed the products he collected on the beaches. Most of the defectors, even the ones who had defected five years ago, said they had never seen these products.

"Beginning in 2016, Kim Jong-un highlighted the broadening variety of consumer goods. Even though it's political rhetoric, Kim's orders are the priority in North Korea. The country has produced a bunch of new consumer goods since then," he said.

"I talked to a teenager who moved to South Korea in 2019 from Hyesan City in the northern part of Ryanggang Province. She saw my collection and told me that she had eaten 10 types of Eskimo ice cream when she stayed there. That's how I find out these products are consumed in North Korea," he added.

Professor Kang Dong-wan collects trash washed down from North Korea at five South Korean islands in the West Sea. Courtesy of Kang Dong-wan

Kang's journey to collect his treasure of trash was nothing but a battle of strength and endurance. It takes five hours to travel from Busan to Incheon, and it takes another five hours to enter the five islands by ship. As ships do not operate when the winds are strong, he sometimes got trapped on the islands for up to a week.

"On some days, I spent two whole days rummaging around the beach but couldn't find a single piece of trash." Eight out of 10 pieces of trash often float down from China, according to Kang.

He even had to ask permission from nearby military units to enter such places, since there was a danger of encountering washed-up mines as the five islands in the West Sea are so close to North Korea.

"It's a shame but I often cried at the beach. I couldn't help but question myself if picking up trash is indeed meaningful," Kang said. There have been several times when he was mocked and referred to as the "trash professor" within academic circles.

However, Kang found new clues about North Korea every time he visited the five islands. The belief that he is getting closer to the reality faced and experienced in North Korea was his driving force that kept him coming back to the five islands.

Starting this year, he moved his worksite to the East Sea. He plans to compare types of trash discovered from the East and West Seas and figure out whether products are evenly distributed to both the eastern and western parts of North Korea.

"I hope my work contributes to creating a unified peninsula where people from South and North Korea can live in harmony. And I believe the first step toward unification comes from understanding each other," Kang said.