[Book Review] A deeply personal love story, “Living with a North Korean Migrant.”
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Hello, I’m Eunbi Kim, a 16th generation reporter from the Unification Ministry’s Unicorn Press Corps, back with a North Review. If you’re someone who finds the term ‘books related to North Korea’ difficult and unfamiliar, this is especially for you!
△ ,Living with North Korean Defectors> Book cover (©Kyobo Bookstore)
In April 2023, a relatively fresh new book titled ‘Living with North Korean Defectors‘ was published. Isn’t the cute cover on a yellow background adorable? This book is a romance essay by author Kim Isak, who is married to a North Korean defector. It’s a light read about the love and settlement story of a South-North couple, but the experiences and values of the author contained within provide plenty of food for thought. Let’s take a look at the story of one North Korean defector’s family in an era of 50 million people in South Korea, with over 30,000 North Korean defectors.
▶ About the Author
△ Screenshot of an interview with author Kim Isak (©Hashion Channel)
The author of this book, Kim Isak, is a novelist and translator. The end of the author’s introduction reads, ‘She entered university to pursue her passion for Hong Kong movies, Chinese dramas, and Taiwanese singers, and majored in Chinese culture and journalism at Sogang University and Chinese drama in graduate school.’ This is also the starting point of the essay. Kim Isak and Mr. Min, a North Korean defector, met in the Chinese department of their university. Their relationship attracted a lot of attention, and because Mr. Min was a North Korean defector and Kim Isak was a South Korean woman, they had to go through unique experiences. From their dating process to their married life, they humorously unfold the life of a defector family that lives similarly but sometimes differently.
▶ In Korea, North Korean Defectors are …
There’s a saying among North Korean defectors that ‘magpies stick with magpies, crows stick with crows’. Here, magpies represent South Koreans and crows represent North Koreans, reflecting the reality that there are many magpies and few crows, and it’s hard for North Koreans to blend in with the South. Kim Isak and Mr. Min were just dating, but the author speculates that their relationship must have seemed like a union that transcended boundaries. The expression that metaphorically describes the situation where both sides perceive each other as unfamiliar was quite saddening.
In this way, the book often features metaphors of North and South Korea often used for North Korean defectors and stories about their unique experiences. The episodes calmly written about the lives and difficulties of North Korean defectors, which are hard to know unless you are a North Korean defector or related person, provide a variety of understandings about the lives of North Korean defectors. It will be an opportunity to take more interest in North Korean defectors as you learn about North Korean defectors’ holidays, community, support systems, and current forms of discrimination against North Korean defectors that you’ve never thought of before.
The way North Korean defectors spend holidays in Korea would be different for everyone, but on Korean holidays, Mr. Min’s house often invites North Korean defectors who live alone to eat and chat. Holidays are naturally thought of as days when families and relatives spend time together, but for some, there may be no lonelier time than holidays. Seeing the episode of Mr. Min’s family enjoying the holiday atmosphere together by meeting North Koreans and eating North Korean food on holidays, you can realize that what you thought was obvious may not be obvious.
△ Illustration of Education Support for North Korean Defectors (©South-North One Foundation)
Religion was also one of the cases where such understanding could be made. For some, religion may be a peripheral aspect of life that you can believe or not believe, but for others, it may be a part of life that provides a strong sense of belonging. According to the author, for North Korean defectors, Protestant churches or Won Buddhism are a kind of community center. Religious organizations often run separate centers for North Korean defectors, establish alternative schools, and help North Korean defectors settle in various ways. Of course, North Korean defectors also have the freedom to choose their religion, but the community function, one of the good functions of religion, is interesting in that it is a great strength for North Korean defectors.
