The Aquariums of Pyongyang
Malachy Smyth
For many the Inter-Korean summit that took place in Pyongyang from October 2-4, 2007 was summed up in the body language as captured in a photograph showing the North Korean strongman, Kim Jong-il, dour and unyielding. As the South Korean President, Roh Moo-hyun, walked across the line of separation between the North and the South at the Border area, the hopes and good wishes of many went with him. Still, the symbolism of the step across the forbidden line, the first in over 50 years, seemed to pale against the image coming out of Pyongyang a few hours later.
The South has always tried to put a bright face on a bleak situation as far as the North is concerned. For the most part there seems to be a complete lack of appreciation by the regime in Pyongyang of the efforts the South Korean people are making and have made in the past, to help their brothers and sisters in the North.
The meeting generated some cautious optimism but the topic of Human Rights was downplayed or not discussed at all. It seems the price of getting the North to the discussion table is to keep the Human Rights issue off the table. For years the "Sunshine Policy" so called under the former President Kim Dae-jung, soft pedalled the issue of Human Rights in the North to try and keep them engaged in peaceful dialogue. Yet stories of atrocious Human Rights abuses by the Pyongyong Regime on its own people, are relayed by refugees, escaping the Stalinist state.
The Tumen river marks the border between China and North Korea and in places it narrows down to about 50m across. In such places it is ideal for refugees to make a run for it under cover of darkness and to evade both the North Korean and the Chinese security guards.
For many the escape into China does not bring the dreamed-of freedom and food they longed for, but a new round of fear and destitution, because of the Beijing’s government crack down on them. Having escaped the brutal rule at home, they now face even more uncertain future in China. They are at risk of forced repatriation or human trafficking.
For many years voices have been raised in the International community calling on the Chinese government to grant "refugee status" to the North Korean refugees in China.
So far they have turned a deaf ear on such calls and continue their policy of sending back the refugees to face certain punishment or even death. It is known that many are sent to concentration camps to pay for their ‘crime’ of trying to escape. In this year of the Beijing Olympics some Human Rights groups are worried that China might round up more and more North Korean asylum seekers, and return them home before the Games.
It doesn’t want to be thrown into a diplomatic row with North Korea at this time. Whatever happens in Beijing or Pyongyang the refugee trail will continue across the Tumen River.
The handshakes and the political posturing must ring hollow to young people like Kang Chol-Hwan, who survived 10 years of hell in the concentration camp at Yodok in North Korea. His account of life in the camp in "The Aquariums of Pyongyong"* of terrible suffering and privation are indeed a stark reminder of the cruelty that continues to be inflicted on oppressed people by the Kim regime.
The book tells of how at the age of nine he and his family were snatched in the middle of the night and dumped into the concentration camp at Yodok, for what was to be a 10 year nightmare of survival. What is equally disturbing is that neither the South Korean Government nor the international community seem to be able to do anything about it. This entire family was rounded up for the unspecified crimes of their capitalist-leaning grandfather.
The story that Kang tells about life at Yodok is revolting and beyond belief. Those who try to escape are hanged in public and then other prisoners are forced to throw stones at the lifeless bodies. Part of Kang’s punitive chores was to bury the dead, and later he is horrified to see the graves being bulldozed with body parts scattered around to make way for a vegetable patch or other tillage to support the guards and their families.
He tells of his relentless search for food as a child to try and stave off starvation for himself and his family. He catches anything he can, including rats and crawling things to beat the hunger and malnourishment. He says rats were the most valuable, as the fur could be used to patch up the bits of rags the family had, to try and survive the biting cold of winter. In another place he tells of how a group of children working in a mine are buried in a sudden collapse and the other children are forced to continue working. While all the various episodes are spine-chilling in depth and detail, the abiding horror from the "The Aquariums of Pyongyang" that will stay with the reader may be the fact that a nine-year-old could be snatched in the middle of the night, along with his sister, father and grandmother and be held in slavery for 10 horrible years. It leaves one wondering about the so called "Sunshine Policy" from the South and the handshake in the North.
Fr Malachy Smyth was a missionary in South Korea for many years. He is now Columban communications co-ordinator in Ireland.
The Aquariums of Pyongyang (Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag) - (The Terrifying Memoir of Life in North Korea) published in Korean and English. Authors: Kang Chol-Hwan and Pierre Rigoulot. This book is an account of the imprisonment of Kang Chol-Hwan and his family in the Yodok concentration camp in North Korea. It shows how a powerful family with money and material goods has everything taken from them by the Workers' Party of Korea. Kang’s grandfather was imprisoned and taken away for suspicious activity against the state of North Korea. There they suffered and viewed many atrocities. It also shows his personal assimilative transition in a new society, both in his escape and arrival in South Korea. The newest edition in 2005, includes an account of his meeting US President George W. Bush. Originally published in French in 2000, and translated into English in 2001 by Yair Reiner and later into Korean, it is one of the first published accounts of the North Korean prison system, and earned Kang Chol-Hwan an audience with the President of the United States.
