Interview with Ms. Fatone Concerning LiNK

North Korea & LiNK

    North Korea is a Communist country.  After invading non-Communist South Korea during the Korean War of the 1950s, North Korea was completely separated from South Korea.  As the Cold War illustrated, Communist countries do not permit any freedoms of speech, press, or other basic human freedoms.  Any questioning of the policies of Communist countries would question Communist doctrine, which is not accepted.  Just as the Berlin Wall kept East Germans trapped in their Communist country during the Cold War, North Korea has taken great pains to keep its people within its country today.  
    
Communism is an economic and political policy that was created by Karl Marx.  Marx emphasized the class struggle in his Communist Manifesto.  A Communist country redistributes property and wealth to the proletariat after a revolution of the proletariat.  (The proletariat is the urban working class.)  After many years of suffering within a capitalist system, the proletariat is supposed to overthrow the wealthy middle class.  Then, the working class will own all of the land and factories.  Everyone can work for the good of the state.  However, time has shown that this is just not practical.  In Russia, the USSR was created on a Communist model.  Prior to becoming Communist, Russia was a mainly agrarian country, but Vladimir Lenin argued that Russia could skip the capitalist stage and go straight to Communism.  He overthrew the government with his Bolsheviks, created a totalitarian state (which was more prominent during Stalin’s reign), and took away the freedoms and property of his people.  When someone takes away people’s freedoms and property they are taking away that person’s individuality.  It is very difficult to have an identity when one cannot have freedom of speech, his/her own property, and is working for the good of the community rather than oneself.  
    
Korea, after being freed from Japan in 1945 (at the close of WWII), was divided between the United States (South Korea) and the USSR (North Korea).  The USSR influenced a Communist government in North Korea.  As Communism has grown stricter over the years in North Korea, the government has forced its people into obedience.  The people are brainwashed into thinking that their “Dear Leader” is wonderful.  In school, the children have to repeat how great “Dear Leader” is, and the government continues to impose such recitations and strict policies throughout the North Koreans’ lives.  In America, we believe in the idea that one can pursue his/her dreams.  In North Korea, people’s dreams are pushed aside so that the people can work to benefit the state.  A person’s identity can be reflected in his/her interests and dreams, and this is not allowed in Communist North Korea.  
  
 In addition to the lack of freedom, North Koreans also have to face financial difficulties.  There have been food shortages and job difficulties the North Koreans have had to overcome.  
    
To try to escape these difficulties, many North Koreans have tried to leave North Korea.  Of course, there are fences and guards to stop them.  However, the prospect of a better life and more freedom inspires many North Koreans to try to save their families by going over the border.  The families risk being shot to death or sent to prison when trying to escape.  Most people choose to cross through China.  Usually, the North Koreans try to get to South Korea, and because going through China is the safest way (though none are really safe), most North Koreans pass through China.  If they successfully cross the border and are in China, they are not out of the woods yet.  China has agreed to send any North Korean refugees back to North Korea if they catch the North Koreans on Chinese land.  Because of this, the North Korean refugees are constantly in fear of being sent back to North Korea where they will face punishment for their disloyalty.  However, the benefits of freedom, economic opportunity, and basic human rights that these people will receive outside of North Korea outweighs the risks for some families.  
    Some families end up spending some time in China so that they can earn enough money to go to South Korea or for other such reasons.  The families have to adapt to the new culture and remain hidden from the attention of the Chinese government.  Often, mothers and their children are the ones escaping to China.  The mothers try to get a job in China and fit into the Chinese culture, while still holding onto their Korean culture.  However, the children have a new problem: they cannot go to school.  In order to go to school, these children would need the paperwork and their transcripts from their schools in North Korea, which their parents could not have obtained because the North Korean government would have become suspicious.  In addition, if the North Korean refugees presented a Chinese school with North Korean paperwork, the Chinese school would have to report the families.  Therefore, the North Korean children cannot go to school in China.  Additionally, if the families need to go to a doctor or get medical care, they have no health care.  They also cannot present medical records that are from North Korea.  Even though these families have an opportunity for a better life, they still have some obstacles to overcome.  
    Sometimes, a North Korean woman will meet a Chinese man.  If they have a child together, the child is stateless.  This is because the parents cannot tell the Chinese government for fear of having the mother sent back to North Korea with the child.  This child also cannot get health care or other benefits, as he/she has no rights as a citizen because he/she is not a citizen.  The child has no passport, and he/she cannot travel anywhere.  In order for this child to go to school, the father has to report that the mother abandoned the family.  In that case, the baby would be Chinese because his/her father is Chinese, and his/her mother has left.  There must be two witnesses to sign the paperwork for this child, affirming that the mother did leave the family.  Sometimes, the mother will leave her family to give her child a better life.  Then, she is on her own in a foreign country, knowing her child will grow up without a mother.  
    With all of these political problems, the children and adults who have escaped are forced to keep their true identities hidden.  They have to adapt to the Chinese culture and keep their North Korean identities a secret.  The North Koreans are not allowed to celebrate their culture or embrace their true identities.  In school, if they are able to go to school, or at work, the people are not allowed to speak Korean, for that would put them in danger.  Essentially, they have to hide their culture and their past from all of their friends.  
    When they were in North Korea, their culture revolved around “Dear Leader”.  Now, in China, they know that they have been hiding from and running away from “Dear Leader”, so they do not know what to do with their culture.  Of course, this has to be hidden, but everyone needs a cultural identity.  If the families do succeed in reaching South Korea, they hope to develop the Korean culture that they share with the South Koreans.  The South Koreans welcome the North Koreans, and when and if they reach South Korea, the refugees can finally enjoy freedoms and feel safe in their true identities.  
    
There is an organization that strives to help these refugees.  The organization is called LiNK - Liberty in North Korea.  LiNK tries to provide help to these refugees and tries to inform the world about the struggles the North Koreans face.  To see this website, click here.
 

Works Cited

Human Rights Watch, comp. “China: Educate Children of North Korean Women.” Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch, 2008. Web. 14 May 2011. http://china.hrw.org/‌press/‌news_release/‌china_educate_children_of_north_korean_women.

LiNK. “LiNK: Our History.” Liberty in North Korea. LiNK, n.d. Web. 14 May 2011. <http://www.linkglobal.org/‌who-we-are/‌our-story.html>.

US Department of State. “Background Note: North Korea.” US Department of State. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2011. <http://www.state.gov/‌r/‌pa/‌ei/‌bgn/‌2792.htm>.