North Korea: Land Of Concentration Camps…And The Loveliest Moonlit Sky

Posted on June 12, 2014 by tdillmuth

SUSA-Korean

I hope you’ve read this month’s Voice of the Martyrs/US special edition newsletter on which we were honored to collaborate. Make sure especially to check out the Voice of the Martyrs online article on the 30,000 Christians who are in North Korean prison camps, and then sign the Letter of Confession to join underground Christians in confessing only Christ to Kim Jong Un.

Given the unspeakable atrocities in the camps and in North Korea in general, it can come as a huge surprise to Westerners to hear that North Korean defectors in South Korea actually love and miss their country. How could anyone miss a place like North Korea?

To truly understand North Korea means understanding not only its prison camps and police state culture but also learning about the sights, smells, tastes, and everyday life experiences of North Koreans. It’s only then that the love makes sense.

For example, you may have seen the satellite photos of North Korea at night. It is as black as the sea, bordered on one side by the blinding light of China and on the other side by the blinding light of South Korea. It is possible–and accurate–to describe that darkness with words like “energy bankrupt.” But North Korean defectors will tell you that it is also the most breathtaking night sky in the world, and they have stories about moonlight walks underneath it.

Barbara Demick, in Nothing to Envy, retells the story of two young lovers in Chongjin, North Korea. Set against the backdrop of a city without electricity, Demick says,

The night sky in North Korea is a sight to behold. It might be the most brilliant in Northeast Asia, the only place spared the coal dust, Gobi Desert sand, and carbon monoxide choking the rest of the continent . . .

The young couple would walk through the night, scattering ginkgo leaves in their wake. What did they talk about? Their families, their classmates, books they had read – whatever the topic, it was endlessly fascinating. Years later, when I asked the girl about the happiest memories of her life, she told me of those nights.

You might be thinking, “The happiest memories of someone’s life happened inside of North Korea?” Surprisingly, we have heard that sentiment expressed many times by North Koreans. They abhor the camps, decry the political system…and still miss their home.

That’s why we should not read about the prison camps and think of escape as the solution. In fact, South Korea is the deadliest place in the world for North Koreans. 16.3% of all North Koreans who die in South Korea, die by their own hand: suicide. Many more admit to feeling lonely and depressed due to culture differences, language differences (the two dialects are about 40% divergent), and guilt due to the family members they left behind.

It may not be surprising to learn that NK defectors are depressed, but it is utterly surprising for Westerners to see that North Koreans defectors have happy memories of North Korea, and that many even wish they could go back!

North Korean defectors’ perspective on life in NK is markedly different than we might imagine. They have lived, breathed, tasted and felt North Korea in ways that we never can. As a result, we should let our outrage over the prison camps and our action in signing the Letter of Confession lead us to continue to walk alongside North Korean defectors, hearing their stories (sad as well as happy) and joining our hearts with theirs. The Barbara Demick book is a great place to start in gaining insight into everyday North Korean life. Pastor Foley’s These are the Generations provides a related glimpse, only this time into the everyday life of North Korean Christians.

And next time you see the photos of North Korea at night, don’t think only of energy bankruptcy. Think of two young lovers strolling under the moonlit Chongjin sky.

 

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Sign Voice of the Martyrs’ Letter of Confession to Kim Jong Un On Behalf Of North Korean Christians

Posted on June 10, 2014 by Pastor Foley

Voice of the Martyrs in the United States has launched a North Korean letter writing campaign with a creative twist:

This man, Kim Jong Un, leader of North Korea, is guilty of the imprisonment and torture of 30,000 of your brothers and sisters in Christ.

He demands their confession.

What would you confess to him?

They have prepared a letter of confession that you can sign and send electronically. They will then print and deliver these to the United Nations.

I was honored to consult with VOM on this campaign, and I would certainly encourage your participation and the participation of your congregation. I do not believe it is ever harmful to let the North Korean government know that the treatment of Christians inside North Korea matters to Christians around the world, and that despite their efforts at secrecy, Christians around the world are more and more learning the truth.

I think silence on the matter is the real harm for North Korean Christians.

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On Not Allowing North Korean Defectors To Fall In Their Graves Like Old Dogs

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Pastor Foley

SUSA-KoreanPeople often ask me what I would do if I was provided with unlimited time and resources to devote to North Korea work. Would I send more Bibles by balloon? Add another shortwave radio broadcast? Expand Underground University?

My answer clearly disappoints them. I tell them that if I had unlimited resources I would research and write a proper obituary for each of the North Korean defectors who have died in South Korea.

Dr. Foley and I were visiting the apartment of a North Korean defector couple with our staff and Underground University interns one night. As we waited for the elevator, some of the staff were chatting lightly. But beyond their soft talking I thought I could detect the very faint, hoarse sound of a man’s voice coming from the adjacent darkened stairwell. When I poked my head into the stairwell, I could make out the shape of an old man sprawled out on the stairway. It was clear that he had tripped and fallen quite some time before our arrival and was unable to get up.

My Korean speaking is shamefully limited, so I simply regarded the man through the darkness with an expression of curiosity and concern, looking for some kind of signal from him. In return, he remained a motionless sprawl and regarded me with a look of serene defeat. We lingered in our mutual regard for a few moments, unmoving. Then, simultaneously, I reached out to lift him up from under his shoulder and he spread his arms out for me vaguely, like a helpless infant. I motioned for our only other male team member, a North Korean defector UU intern, to brace the man on the other side.

We three walked to the elevator together, wordlessly, clumsily, the fallen man leaning into me heavily. When we entered the elevator he pressed the button for his floor, and the three of us stared straight ahead in silence, as if transfixed by the floor numbers ticking by on the LED display. When the bell dinged, we stepped out and he nodded in the direction of his apartment down the hall.

We reached his apartment door, whereupon he promptly willed himself up straight on his own two feet, worked the keypad entry to open the lock, shuffled into the apartment, and closed the door quietly behind him, embarrassed, without looking back at us at all.

There’s a scene in Death of a Salesman where Linda Loman says of her husband,

I don’t say he’s a great man. Willie Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. He’s not the finest character that ever lived. But he’s a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He’s not to be allowed to fall in his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must finally be paid to such a person.

 

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