North Korean refugees discuss their lives in North Korea at special event
Three North Korean refugees shared tales about their lives in North Korea and their difficult journey towards freedom at a special event organised by DPIR’s Seunghoon Chae.
The event was held in a packed Bedingham Room at St John’s College earlier this month, with a rapt audience listening attentively to the refugees’ extraordinary stories.
The refugee speakers were Youngnam Eom, who escaped from the country after serving in the North Korean military for a decade; Eunju Kim who first escaped from North Korea in the late 1990s along with her mother and sister; and Taehee Kim, who escaped from North Korea in 1997 and escaped to South Korea in 2007.
The audience also heard from Casey Lartigue Jr., Freedom Speakers International Chairman and co-founder, who has two decades of experience empowering marginalised people. He explained how public speaking and writing can help refugees make peace with traumatic memories of the past
Through the refugees’ stories, the audience learnt about the realities of living in North Korea, about the abuses people suffer at the hands of the despotic regime. The speakers also discussed their terrible experiences of living as a refugee in China - which does not recognise North Koreans as refugees until they reach South Korea.
Two of the speakers had been repatriated several times; once captured, they were beaten and treated as “human garbage” in Chinese detention facilities and North Korean prison camps.
What I found helpful was that the speakers advocated two practical measures we can implement to do justice to the North Koreans who continue to suffer from such oppression.
“They were advised not to travel to North Korea out of curiosity; you are funding and legitimising a cruel regime, and also convince our governments to ask China to adhere to the Geneva Convention and stop repatriating North Korean refugees.”
