The bridge of sorrow
25.11.2008
The Tumen River runs south and is about 50kms from the city of Chanji, the capital of Jilin Province in north- eastern China. It's famous for many things, but mostly because it marks the border between China and North Korea.
The Bridge straddling the river at Tumen connecting the two countries is about 300m long and 5m wide. In places the river narrows to 50m from bank to bank. Both banks are inhabited by Korean people and it seems for a lot of the last century neither the Chinese nor the North Koreans were able or indeed willing to control the border area completely. With the mountain terrain and the narrow crossing it is easy to see why it is a popular crossing point for North Korean refugees making a break for freedom.
During the 1990s this area has seen a massive exodus of North Koreans fleeing the famine years, crop failure and natural disasters. It was a time of death, starvation and misery for the people of the North and despite tight border controls neither the Chinese nor the Koreans could prevent the flow of people. It's estimated that during those years between two and three million people died in the famine.
It's no surprise that many North Koreans, desperate to survive fled across to the Chinese mainland. It has been said the northern parts of the country were the hardest hit, with those in the border area among them. The regime in Pyongyang applied harsh penalties for those trying to escape, the border crossers as they were known, facing years in jail or certain death for many.
In winter, snow on the hills around Tumen and ice on the river add to the harsh reality of the place. At times the below-freezing temperatures, the effort and fatigue of the journey is too much for some trying to escape. Others are caught by the North Korean or Chinese border troops. Those lucky ones who make it into China, could end up in the odd looking concrete building with matching turrets, sitting atop of a Chinese hill some distance away. It is the Yanbian Border Defence Military Detention and Inspection Centre where China detains North Korean refugees, before bussing them back across the river to almost certain imprisonment. These days while the United States tries to restrain North Korea's nuclear ambitions, China isn't only busy with the Olympics but also keen to work with North Korea to stem the flow of refugees trying to escape the repression and starvation there. Those who reach China also face a difficult and uncertain future, a life spent in hiding and always the chance of being caught by Chinese or North Korean agents.
International human-rights groups protest China's actions arguing that the North Koreans are escaping political repression and should be given protection under international agreements on asylum seekers. The Chinese, however, reject this and say the North Koreans being repatriated are illegal immigrants crossing into China as economic migrants not because of political oppression and don't merit special protection.
However, China-watchers say their main concern is to preserve the stability of the North Korean regime, lest a collapse would cause chaos and open the flood gates for refugees.
As we stood in the centre of the bridge over the Tumen river looking into North Korea we said a prayer for its people and their struggle to survive. Fr Hank Beninati now in his 80th year has served in the area for 13 years ministering to all who come his way. He has been there with the Maryknoll Mission since he left Korea in 1985. He spoke of his hopes for new beginnings as he looked at the hills in the distance, and he sealed it with a few steps of a dance, in full view of the Korean security guards to show that ‘hope springs eternal.'
Fr Malachy Smyth was a missionary in Korea from 1981, he now works in St Columbans Navan, Ireland.
