Defector (탈북민) and Refugee

If I introduce myself to someone in Australia that I’m from Korea, 80% of them the response to me ‘Oh! Kim Jong-un?!’. Why should I receive the response with the name of ROCKET MAN A.K.A psycho? I don’t even care about him and I feel so bad that my friends in Korea have to suffer by their desire about attention. It sucks. It sucks that most of my schoolmates or others assume that I am a refugee from North Korea, even I am full South Korean. It’s not same even they and we have same last name of country ‘Korea’. What a shame that we share our history with Kim Jong Un regime’s country.

And there is another reason why I hate Kim Jong Un regime. In 2016, the number of North Korean defectors exceeded 30,000. They are innocent with their nationality, but they suffer from brainwashing, poverty, and exploitation of labour by the North Korean government. They exploit the human rights and liberties of North Koreans under the name of communism. If the North Korean caught by soldiers in the way of escape North Korea, they mostly can’t save their lives. Also, they cannot come directly to South Korea, so they usually go into other East Asia, such as China and Laos. If they came out of North Korea successfully at a low probability, they can’t relax because of the securities of the countries around North Korea. However, even though they’ve been through the whole life-threatening events, even though they can’t get a stable job in South Korea, they don’t say they want to go back. This is a fact about what Kim Jong Un regime has done to North Koreans and it is not the end, there could be crueller hidden facts. Honestly, if the detectors from North Korea are just in front of me, I would be on the lookout for them. I know it is bad and unjust, but I’ve been grown listening about only bad things of North Korea and their spies or something. When we learn about their accents or languages (different words, Grammar) in elementary school, we thought they are foreigners’. It is true that becoming as one ethnic ‘Korean’ is in far future.

 

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The book ‘The happiest refugee’ by Anh Do, reminded me about North Korean defectors. Well, Anh Do had escaped from Vietnam war and the North Korea detectors are escaping from the dictatorial regime, but they all had been through ‘brinks of death’. The city in Korea I used to live was not the place to meet and learn about defectors or refugees. But in English class of Australia, there is a unit learning about refugees. In the process of responding to the required questions, I felt that South Koreans need more attention about refugees and defectors.We, who complain about the weather, workplace boss, or broken phone, have to listen, show the respect to them and should know we are living a blessed life.

The city in Korea I used to live was not the place to meet and learn about defectors or refugees. But in English class of Australia, there is a unit learning about refugees. In the process of responding to the required questions, I felt that South Koreans and the world need more attention about refugees and defectors.We, who complain about the weather, workplace boss, or broken phone, have to listen, show the respect to them and should know we are living a blessed life. Even it sucks that everyone else can’t distinguish between North Korea and South Korea if I or we start providing them with the right information and asking for more attention, couldn’t the world change itself?

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