On April 24th I was able to attend an event called Shall We Talk Concert at Space Noah, a creative and collaborative meeting space in Seoul. There I heard the testimony of a young North Korean defector Kim Minsoo. The event was hosted by Joseph Park, also a North Korean defector, and South Korean Yoon-Hyung Choi. During a time when international headlines are focused on the belligerent rhetoric and the very real threats of nuclear weapons and missiles standing ready in the North, this event was an opportunity to get beyond the headlines and hear about the actual people behind those walls that the DPRK puts around itself.
The evening started with a 20 minute musical set performed by Gilganeun (Walking the Road) Band’s songs with messages about peace, reunion, and an undivided and stronger Korean future. A short intro by Joseph and Yoon-Hyung who welcomed Minsoo and facilitated as Min retold his story. This was followed by a Q and A time. Over 30 Seoul residents came and participated in the event.
Prior to hosting the event Joseph had spoken with Minsoo and heard his story. Minsoo recently graduated from Yeomyung school and Joseph, also being from North Korea and an alumnus of Yeomyung School, felt Minsoo’s story should be shared. Joseph interviewed Minsoo and asked him to share his story through the talk concert platform. Joseph requested that I translate Min’s story (below) in hopes that it would shed light on survival, markets, and reality of the people's struggles in North Korea. His story also raises many questions, which I attempt to answer with notes following each separated section of Minsoo's story.
Minsoo’s Story
Water Seller in Sariwon
I traveled to my relative’s home with my mother. It was 1998 and I was eleven. After my father passed away my mother immediately remarried and my father’s family disliked her for it. The new family did not want me as a son either. My mother took me to a relative’s home and promised to meet me at a certain time and place. I obeyed her and stayed there. That was how we separated.
I waited for her at the meeting place but she never came. That was how I came to be on my own. I survived by scavenging and begging for food in Sariwon*. I saw people selling water near the train station. I needed to do something to survive, so I began to collect and sell water as well. I probably sold around twenty bottles of water a day. 1 Won per bottle, so I made about 20 won per day. A small bread was about 5 Won, so it was enough to get by. After some time, I saw soldiers start taking away the homeless children near Sariwon Station, so I decided to stop selling water and to go back to my hometown.
Notes - Sariwon is a small town of about 307,000 (according to a DPRK census) in North HwangHae Province, about midway between Kaesong and Pyongyang. “During the 1990s, a famine in North Korea killed between 600,000 and 1,000,000 people, 3 to 5 percent of the population. As the state proved unable to provide food through the socialist distribution network, the economy underwent a process of marketization from below. Small-scale social units—households, factories and cooperatives, local government and party offices, even military units—engaged in entrepreneurial behavior in order to survive. Much of this behavior was technically illegal," (Haggard and Noland, Economic Crime and Punishment in North Korea).
In those desperate times people were not able to receive the proper food rations that the socialist North Korean government was supposed to provide through its distribution system. Many families became desperate and people had to find other ways to obtain food and survive.
Pickpocket
After leaving Sariwon I went around the whole country. Beside Wonsan in Kangwondo, I probably went everywhere in North Korea. My main method of transportation was train. I did not have much money but I did like many people and just held onto a railing. Sometimes I would travel by holding on to the railing of a truck or car as well. I traveled this way for two years. Picking pockets, robbing houses, catching clams, I did anything I could to survive. After that, at the age of 13, I went back to Bukchong in South Hamgyong, my hometown. I survived by working near the marketplace. In Shin-Bukchong I picked pockets at the train station. In Bukchong I picked pockets at the market. In Bukchong I also started working at a restaurant making noodles.
After work one day I went to the house of Ko Eunyoung, a girl I had had a crush on since elementary school. I brought noodles for her mother and her. Eunyoung brought chopsticks and gave them to me so we could eat together. I was happy and felt so good that day. Eunyoung did artistic gymnastics. Every holiday, she would perform at the school's gymnasium and so later I went to see her perform.
One day later on, I was at the seafood market. Like any other day I picked someone’s pocket and took their wallet. At that moment, I could sense someone's eyes following me. When I looked over I found Eunyoung watching me. I can't explain what it felt like at that moment. I probably had a million thoughts go through my head in those short moments. I walked to the street and went home.
I was lost in my thoughts at home for a couple days. I contemplated deeply about what I would do with my life going forward. I was ashamed. I couldn't face Eunyoung again. I decided that in the future I had to stop doing dishonorable work, and to work and live through my own strength. But before I could do the honest work I needed some startup money so I could make a business. So I went to a district called Doksong for one last job. Within some time I was able to gather a few thousand won and was ready to start my own sales business.
Fruit Seller
For 1 Won I could buy ten apricots. I bought a sack, wrapped up the fruit and put them in. At first I tried going to Shin Bukchong station and selling inside the train, but I couldn't board the train properly. If I tried boarding the train with the large crowd of people the fruit would get bruised. Fortunately I was able to catch the train as it was moving and enter through a window without harming the fruit. Once on the train, I should have said, “Apricots, buy some apricots.” But my tongue was stuck in my throat and I couldn’t speak a word. The smell of the apricots started to fill the car, and people asked, “Are you selling apricots?” So I answered “Yes,” and was able to start selling this way and got my first real taste of sales. From then I became more confident and continued to sell and learn about sales. I would ride the train to Hyesan with some fruits and on the way back to Bukcheong I would bring batteries, flour, and goods from China. As I was doing this I went to Rajin-Sonbong* and was able to meet a kind woman who I began to work with as a business partner.
Note
Rajin-Sonbong is the special economic zone on the North East end of North Korea that is now abbreviated and called Rason SEZ. Special railways connect China’s landlocked provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang and give these provinces a closer port from which to export. China reportedly exported 80,000 metric tons of coal through these ports in 2011.
“From 2002 onward, the government allowed ‘socialist commodities exchange markets’ and ‘imported goods exchange markets’ to operate.” (Haggard, Measuring Marketization in North Korea). As the government was not able to produce and distribute necessary daily goods for the people of North Korea, business minded people took the opportunity to find and move these goods to where they were needed and would supply them to, or sell themselves, at a ‘jangmadang’ open market. Many items such as batteries are easier to import from China than to produce for itself, and many other items are sold in this way in these markets.
Tire Salesman
In Rajin Sunbong I began first by moving plastic household goods. The woman's son was doing tire distribution and I started to work with him by getting tires from him and taking them down to Phyongsong and Sunchon. On bike, people sell rice, transport goods, and go to and from work. Bicycles are the main form of getting around instead of cars, so bicycle tires sold extremely well. They sold so well we would often run out and not be able to fill the demand.
There were five or six tire brands imported from China and among them I was able to have control over three of them in the Pyongsong and Suncheon area. In Rajin Sunbong there was the “Railway Revival” company, The woman I had met had connections with the company and was in charge of distributing the goods brought in through the company. As far as tires going to Phyongsong and Sunchon went, she would only sell to me, which gave me a monopoly over the market there.
At that time I began to gain the trust of the woman, and as my relations with the rail attendants from Rajin-Sunbong to Phyongsong were good, there were no issues transporting the goods. After some time the woman entrusted me with all the products she received for distribution in the Phyongsong area. As the amount of goods being transported grew, it was no longer possible to manage going back and forth and distributing on my own. After that, I would stay in the Pyeongseong market and just send money over to Rajin and receive the goods.
I had a dream - I would buy an apartment near the market, put a phone there for business. Import and distribute goods from Shinuiju and Rajin, and eventually propose to Eunyoung. That time when I had gone to see Eunyoung, her mother had asked me if I had my own home. From that point on I had thought about buying my own home. When business started to go well I thought one day I would really be able to do it. I was 18 then and I wanted to accomplish the dream by the time I was 23.
Note - Railway Revival (Cheoldo Buheung) was also the railway company that managed transport from Rason to Chinese border cities. The rail system did not get continuous funding from the central government, but had license from the government to import and sell goods from China for a profit. The railway company would bring in the goods deemed necessary and in demand, the woman would find distributors who would go sell, and this continuing cycle allowed a profit to fund the rail system.
Haggard describes the “imported goods exchange market,” a wholesale market that “sells the resources, material and facilities imported from China by the Central Import Commodities Company under the Ministry of Trade of DPRK, including to companies in need of inputs not provided through the plan." He also describes his research finding where 62 percent of refugees leaving China describe the markets as their primary source of food. These markets are thus playing a central role in the lives of many North Koreans for survival. People buy and trade for food, as well as most products they need at home. Joseph relayed that one can find anything and everything in these market, including dvd players, digital cameras, SD cards, Korean Soap/Drams. “There is a saying that they sell everything but cat’s horns,” Joseph said, an expression to say that they have everything that can be found.
As these markets are a place for bartering as well, wood can be bought and sold at these markets for heating and light - as most of the country is energy deprived and faces long cold winters. Some refugees describe chopping wood in their youth, and selling the wood at the markets. Joseph also described North Korean nature as being a treeless nature, mainly due to all this tree chopping. As there are no more trees, this is probably what leads to the land erosion, mudslides, flooding, and food shortages when monsoon seasons come every summer. For North Korea to be fixed from its food deficiency, it will have to invest in and develop its own energy sector as well as try to restore the trees and nature so that it can hold steady when rain seasons come.
Refugee and Student
I sent a good friend with the money as usual, that time 7 million Won, but he ended up running off with the money. That was enough money to probably by two or three condominium homes to live in. After that I went to Bukchong to find that friend. In the end I was able to get back 3 million won and repay most of my debt and go back to Rajin. I went back to find the woman and get some tires to bring back with me, but the woman’s posture to me had changed. She said she could no longer sell to me. After that I was blacklisted and there was a rumor that I had planned it all along with my friend and had wanted to take some money for myself. So no one would sell to me. All my good relations were broken, and I experienced everyone I thought was close to me leaving me. Trying to make money fast, I bought a small boat and took it out near Shinchang. After paying for gas, nets, and everything else I had no money left. Usually I would catch some octopus but could barely make profit.
I went to back to Phyonsong and spoke with an older girl I knew and borrowed money to travel to Chonmagun in North Pyongan Province. I would dig for gold but after the cost of mercury used to extract the gold and the cost of finishing the gold, there was little to no profit. On top of that I caught Scarlet Fever. I tried to wait it out as long as I could until one day it felt like I would die in a few days time. Anything I ate I would throw up and I couldn't go to the bathroom, so for a couple weeks all I had was water. I became anemic and couldn't stand.
I couldn't take the pain so I went to the hospital. When I got there I grabbed a railing and went over to the room where the doctor and nurses were sitting down. I told him I came because I was sick and it was too painful. He told me go into the next room. As I opened the door to the next room, I could see it was filled with bodies. As soon as I realized that it was all dead patients bodies, and people just waiting to die, I was startled back to my senses. I even became angry at the doctor who basically told me to go and die. I decided I would get through it no matter what. I left the hospital and bought some medicine to bring down the fever. Soon after my fever went down and I started to get better. The next year in March I decided to leave.
Note - Min later commented that he had bought his fever medicine at a market as well, as most North Korean cities have no concept of a pharmacy. Even anesthetic medication for surgeries are usually bought in advance at the market by the patient who then brings it with them. According to U.S. State Department there are approximately 300,000 North Korean refugees in hiding throughout China. Min lived in China for 4 years and tried to move on from his past. He learned Chinese and tried to blend in and be as Chinese as he could. One day he was at a PC cafe and saw a link to the South Korean search engine Naver in Hangul (Korean lettering). He realized he didn't want to run from his past, and that he wanted to to live freely and with a better future.
Minsoo recently graduated from Yeomyung School, an alternative school for North Korean youth in Seoul, and is currently preparing to enter university. During his last year at Yeomyung, he was was student body vice president. He plans to study business at a university in Seoul. Minsoo has had a broad spectrum of experiences, occupations, and titles. He has traveled North Korea more than any of the North Koreans I have personally met. Minsoo hopes to set up a business and eventually work with North Korea again.
No comments:
Post a Comment