Seoul, South Korea
cnn
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In the shadow of Seoul’s towering Chrome Area Station, the Dongdaemun Design Plaza, scores of North Korean defectors gathered Sunday for lively celebrations marking the first national North Korean defector moment.
The opening ceremony, which the federal government has announced will be held every July 14, commemorates the approximately 34,000 North Koreans who escaped Pyongyang’s authoritarian occupation for resettlement in the South – leaving behind a legacy of fear, deep family ties. Days dedicated to resignations, and repressive regimes are often evident as frozen in time.
Independence Day celebrations were held at a birthday party on Sunday, with huge drums banging out a spirited independence message from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
North Korean songs celebrating friendship echoed throughout the neighborhood, as houses filled booths serving North and South Korean dishes such as deep-fried desserts. yakgwaand fruit punch, or Hwache.
The life-filled celebrations in the center of South Korea are especially important because defectors often face difficulties once they are initiated – many take pains to assimilate, and some exceptional people even go so far as to return to the monk family. They risk their lives for. Some of the problems they face are the financial crisis, discrimination, and deep stigma among South Koreans against defectors.
Activists and the government hope this new annual birthday party will help change that.
“This is something we should all celebrate,” said Ground Daehyeon, a defector who fled North Korea in 2006.
Defectors flee the North and are available in the South, he said, “to be very meaningful to society, and also contribute to this South Korean society, and also support their friends and family left in North Korea.” Are.”
“So, it’s a date (where) we all get to embrace and support each other, recognize each other, and appreciate the diversity and different experiences that we have.”
Since the Korean War ended with an armistice in 1953, North and South Korea have been separated by a nearly impenetrable border, preventing anyone from crossing to the other side.
Over the next several years, South Korea modernized and became one of the wealthiest and most technologically advanced countries in the world. North Korea, meanwhile, has turned to a growing number of sovereign people, with the vast majority of the electorate subject to popular poverty and restricted decorous freedoms.
Over time, thousands of defectors have fled – often hiring agents who arrange their shipping and direction around tight borders, traveling through China and other parts of Asia before reaching Seoul and other final destinations. .
This is a dangerous development. Many North Korean girls are trafficked and sexually exploited in China, where gender imbalance has created a tepid market for brides. And there are some strategies for those victims: China treats North Korean refugees as financial migrants, and forcibly deports them back – where, as alleged defectors, they face imprisonment, possible torture, or worse. , activists say.
Even those who reach South Korea safely face an uphill struggle – particularly in finding jobs and earning a living, even with vocational training and financial assistance from the federal government. also with. According to government data, about 6.1% of defectors became unemployed in 2022, more than double the national rate.
The tradition subsequently met with blowback – and sometimes hostility – from South Koreans.
“In online information stories, you can find people saying, ‘Hey, you need to go back where you came from,'” said Ground, Voorien’s founder.
“I want society to be more open to new turncoats. There may be hundreds of thousands of North Korean defectors who want to come to (South) Korea and live a prosperous life. “If society doesn’t[welcome]them… then they are kind of lost.”
At a birthday party on Sunday, Kwon Ji-hwan, who fled North Korea in 2015, held separate portraits for guests and told CNN he was “very grateful” for the development.
“(If I were still in North Korea) I think I would have a hard life working as a laborer, probably at a construction site,” he said. “But since coming to South Korea, I can live freely, painting what I like, so that’s what makes me the happiest.”
On the other hand, he said, he wanted newcomers to receive more extensive schooling so they could become self-reliant rather than relying on government benefits.
On Sunday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol invited a group of defectors to the Blue Space, the former president’s residence, where they offered encouragement and support to the family.
“We express our respect and appreciation to the 34,000 North Korean defectors who are living new lives (in South Korea) every day,” he said. “You are all living witnesses of the great journey towards freedom.”
Yun promised to increase the resettlement budget for defectors and encourage government companies and state-run companies to hire more defectors by providing tax benefits.
Alternative defectors attending the contest on Sunday had mixed reactions – some applauded the officialdom, others reminisced about their home near the militarized border, and others undecided whether the development would really benefit the community. Will help to unite.
A defector, whom CNN is not naming for his privacy and security, ate rice muffins at a booth at the Seoul festival. “They tasted just like what I used to get in my hometown,” he said. “It’s been 10 years since I came to South Korea, but I still miss the taste of my hometown and am having difficulty getting used to South Korean-style food.”
He feared that the once-a-year Defectors Moment “created a divide between us and South Koreans and made it feel like we were not being accepted as fellow Koreans.” Again, she said, she understands the federal government’s intentions, and is hoping this can become “an opportunity for goodwill and understanding each other.”
One attendee, Han Bong-hee, told CNN that she was not sure whether she would still be alive if she had stayed in North Korea. Since coming to the south 24 years ago, she now practices as a traditional medicine practitioner.
She said, “I am very satisfied with my life now because I came to South Korea, got a job, and am living happily, enjoying the freedom.”
Every second female defector who left North Korea in 2016 expressed gratitude for the birthday party. He said, “I didn’t know there would be such a day as Defection Day, but now that it has been established, I feel I have to work harder.” “I want to live and work hard knowing that there are people in government who are trying to help us.”
There are plenty of luck stories of defectors who have turned marketers, lecturers and professionals, said Ground, CEO of Voorien. He gave himself as an example, saying he had struggled when he was young – but “now I’m able to talk to foreigners and experience different cultures and travel around the world.”
“This is something that all of us North Korean defectors want and the 25 million North Koreans want,” he said. “This is the freedom we enjoy, and it should be given to everyone.”
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