Is escaping North Korea really worth it? | Foreign Correspondent

A couple of you have commented asking for Chunmi's channel, you can find her channel here: youtube.com/@chootime4320

The defectors of North Korea should be treated with much respect for having the tenacity to escape. I have nothing but the utmost respect for you all.

My heart is breaking for that women suffering from depression alone in her apartment. Those volunteers are literal angels. I’m so glad they exist to help in the small way they can.

I used to manage a McDonalds here in the United States. For a few years, we had an elderly Asian lady who worked with us. She didn't like to talk much about her life, but one day she approached me and confided in me that she had defected with her parents from North Korea several decades ago. She told me that even back then, things were tough. She had family still there that she hadn't heard from for almost her entire adult life - she didn't even know if any of them were still alive. Sadly she's since passed away, but the things she told me broke my heart.

Trauma is something most people cannot imagine. Many N. Koreans come to S.Korea after having experienced agonizing violence and deprivation. Many N. Korean women and girls are forced into prostitution by the brokers who smuggle them out. You do not just shake that trauma off. You do not erase those psychological and emotional scars because you are physically safer. Many of these people live with PTSD, many have eating and sleeping disorders. Yet they are judged as lesser Koreans because of their ordeals, not stronger because they have survived them. A few years ago a N. Korean mother and her young son were found dead in their S. Korean apartment having starved to death. They were not found for weeks because no-one noticed they were missing. This is the loneliness that has driven some defectors to leave Korea altogether.

I feel so bad for the K-Drama woman, when she spoke of her family it was so clear that they are not safe and have likely either lost their lives or been imprisoned.

It genuinely breaks my heart every time when I hear defectors speak about their experience and how it had affected them in their lives. I really hope their suffering ends one day and they get to enjoy the beauty of life.

Seeing North Koreans helping other North Koreans try to adjust and survive in the South , is a beautiful thing. Empathy is a beautiful healer of both the receiver and the giver.

South Korea is a wealthy country. It's great that the authorities look after the refugees but more can still be done. Best of if luck to all who escaped and those who support them.

That young woman toward the end is so full of emotion. I am so glad she is in a place where she can freely express herself artistically. I am sure the world will be a better place for that and I hope she has a rewarding and wonderful life.

I know life deals us different cards, but I realized how lucky I have had it. I also realized being comfortable in a stable environment meant I didn't appreciate it that much. Chunmi's current predicament and her Mom's story hit me really hard. I'm a nobody with what I assume is a boring life, but man I would gladly give both of them half of my happy memories just for them to have something to smile about. Gut wrenched.

Several of my Korean in-laws have married North Korean defectors. It's hard for them, but not one wants to go back. One had never used an indoor toilet. All of them say that actually arriving in South Korea was an utter shock to them. They were told people were starving, that American soldiers were beating people on the streets - so seeing what it's REALLY like stunned them. On boy was amazed that even the poorest South Koreans he saw all had watches and cell phones. I can relate - after we escaped from the USSR we lived in Jugoslavija, which was such a land of freedom and plenty (to us) that just going to a supermarket would set us to crying. For North Koreans in the South, they literally have to learn new words for ones they knew in North Korea (the South has a lot more words borrowed from English, and the way of saying even mundane things like "ice cream" are different). There are also some spelling differences, which many South Koreans take to mean the writer is just badly educated & judge them poorly. The South is doing a lot for the escapees... but of course more can and should be done. Note: one of my escapee in-laws came to the US after being accepted by an American university. She returned to South Korea after being told by other students that she was "just wrong about North Korea, it's all bad propaganda" and were downright cruel to her when she tried to tell them how it really is. I pray for the North - and hey... when I left the USSR in the 1980s, nobody could imagine that just a decade later people would be able to travel to/from the country, that stores would suddenly be fully stocked... Pray and it can happen in the Koreas, too.

That was very moving to see what that mother and daughter have been through. I hope they can steadily find peace and happiness.

“ after my only son/only family member died, I became so lonely I couldn’t handle it so I then searched for people who could use my help and I think thats what made me a good volunteer”…. The reaction and attitude is completely different from what I would hear from the avg westerner if they were in her shoes.

Poignant story. I was touched by the great love and work of the volunteers. Angels to people struggling, and in the process they give themselves a reason to live.

I work in South Korea and my colleague who is in her 50s told me a cool story of an older North Korean woman here she knows who works at a market. That woman defected here during the famine in the 90s with her husband. In North Korea they were rich and they brought tons of money with them only to realize they couldn’t use the currency, and at that time there was no way to exchange it. They burnt the money while crying. Eventually they made their way from zero to owning their own business at the market and are wealthy once more. My colleague says North Koreans are well know as being hard working despite what this documentary seems to portray.

This was so sad, as someone else with no one else in the world I absolutely feel their pain and it was nice to know I am not the only one.

This program is heart wrenching. I feel so very sorry for these people. They risked their lives for freedom, but now they are so alone and lost. It lets one think how thankful you should be to be born and to live in a free society. 🇿🇦

People often ask me, "North or South?" When I say I was born in Korea. When I refuse to answer, they say, "But North is bad." I am not from North, but that statement really breaks my heart. North Korea has a bad leader but that does not mean North Koreans are bad people. They are same people dreaming of better lives; they are far from nuclear weapons. During COVID pandemic, I could not visit my mother living in Korea, then i could understand these people's sorrow - this let me doubt whether "it was really worthy to escape?" Probably yes for some but not for all

as a south korean, every other family has a bit far relatives in north korea. unfortunatly the close relationships have been faded out in these days since korean war. even though we do our best to understand and offer them with lots of provisions, still they may think it is not enough. honestly, we always welcome our north relatives any time due to the steep collapse of our population in south korea.