Defectors 'amazed' by South Koreans' positive reactions to Kim's Seoul visit

On December 9, several North Korean refugees visited the Teach North Korean Refugees (TNKR) office at the invitation of a TNKR student studying in the organization. The refugees were in agreement in denouncing South Koreans for welcoming Kim Jung-un to South Korea.

Mikyung, female, escaped from North Korea in 2016 and arrived in 2016

I am amazed that South Koreans have high expectations that Kim Jung-un is seeking peace. It should be clear to anyone who understands the regime that it is seeking survival on its own terms, not to compromise. At last, more people are recognizing that he will not give up his nuclear weapons. The next realization needs to be that he won't give up control of North Korea, that he will continue trying to exert complete control over everyone within North Korean territory and maybe even the entire Korean Peninsula.

We can see that even though he seems to be opening up, he still isn't allowing North Koreans to talk with the outside world, to visit South Korea, or to even Skype with their elderly relatives in the South. It is a human tragedy, not just a North Korean tragedy.

South Koreans will be disappointed later when it is clear that he won't change, and hopefully they will start to recognize that soon.

Jong-kyu, male, escaped from North Korea in 2009, arrived in South Korea in 2012

The South Korean government is really baffling. I can't understand how it can allow Kim Jung-un to come here. He is an international criminal and murderer. He has continued oppressing people, treating North Korea like it is his private property and regarding North Koreans as his personal slaves.

I worked at one of the villas maintained by the Kim family, I witnessed the luxurious lives they have been living as North Koreans have struggled to survive. They dare not open the country. They have so many secrets about their lives that they cannot allow the people to learn about. A revolution would start, the country would implode just from the anger that people would have after learning the kind of lives that the Kim family has been leading, as they pretend to be so humble and caring.

Eunhwa, female, escaped from North Korea in 2003, arrived in South Korea in 2015

I had a miserable life in North Korea, I was sentenced to one of the harsh prison camps. Later, after I was released, I escaped North Korea, but I got captured and sent back, then my life in that living hell became even worse. I finally made it to South Korea. I'm so surprised to hear South Koreans saying nice things about Kim Jung-un. It means they really don't understand the evil to the north.

The peace movement is a mirage that surely will be revealed later. Kim Jung-un's goal is to dominate all of Korea and to stabilize his government, not to have a confederation or compromise with South Korea. I just hope this becomes obvious before the U.S. withdraws its troops or before South Korea disarms itself completely.

Eunji, female, escaped from North Korea in 2015, arrived in 2015

After I escaped to South Korea, I was shocked to learn that it was North Korea that had attacked South Korea in 1950. When I was in North Korea, I had learned the opposite, and so many other things that clearly were not true. There are some things that only North Korea believes. Sometimes it seems that South Koreans have been learning the North Korean version of history. I won't be surprised if some South Koreans start insisting that it was South Korea that attacked North Korea.

And the people who are welcoming Kim Jung-un? They are crazy people. Some of my South Korean friends and colleagues have asked me about this, some of them even believe that I should welcome Kim Jung-un. I tell them, "Kim Jung-un's supporters need to go to a mental hospital to have their brains checked. They need to live in North Korea, then they can learn what a real dictator is like."

South Koreans hated Park Geun-hye, she was removed through the constitutional process and even jailed, so she was not a real dictator. But now the people who held candle-light vigils against President Park are now welcoming a real dictator? When I was in North Korea, I had an excuse for being ignorant about the outside world because I was taught only the truth according to the Kim family. If you live in South Korea, with so much information available everywhere, then you have no excuse.

You can read articles, books and even see videos showing both sides of an issue, instead of the situation of North Korea where only one side is presented. If Kim Jung-un truly changes and North Koreans can become free, then even I would welcome him. Before we can welcome Kim Jung-un, there needs to be truth about North Korea, there needs to be freedom for North Koreans. A murderer and dictator should not be welcomed as a hero.

Casey Lartigue Jr., co-founder with Eunkoo Lee of the Teach North Korean Refugees Global Education Center, is the 2017 winner of the "Social Contribution" Prize from the Hansarang Rural Cultural Foundation and the 2017 winner of the Global Award from Challenge Korea.