North Korean Pak Jong-suk apologized for defecting during a new conference at Pyongyang’s People’s Palace of Culture.
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/29/north-korea-defector-returns-south
By Ariel Chavarria
North Korean woman who claims she was tricked into defecting to South Korea finally returns home after her miserable life in South Korea where defectors are paid to bash North Korea.
Pak claims that South Korean’s had tricked her into boarding a boat bound for their country. However no one knows if Pak had agreed to speak publicly or if she was forced by the government. Many believe that her public apology was to counter claims that returning or caught defectors would face harsh punishment or death.Pak’s thank you to the Kim Jong-il was broadcasted on the state television.
Defectors to South Korea are very rare. Despite many defectors claims that they are happy in South Korea many are discriminated against, receive lower salaries and have higher rates of unemployment. However, in a recent survey, seven out of 10 defectors said they are content and happy with their new lives in South Korea.
Opinion:
After reading this article I was shocked to know that they would use the story of a 66-year-old woman as a form of propaganda to get defectors to try to return to North Korea. One thing I was astonished to read was that South Korean’s discriminate against defectors from North Korea. Despite a recent study that shows that North Korea’s have been proven to be harder workers they are still constantly discriminated against, have high unemployment rates, and have low salaries?On the other hand, they are living a better life then they would have ever had if they had stayed in North Korea.
Question:
Do you think the government used Pak Jong-suk for propaganda?
Why do you think South Korean’s discriminate against defectors from North Korea?
North vs. South Korea 
While I can’t say with absolute certainty that the North Korean government used Pak Jong-suk as propaganda, the situation does seem a little suspect. Particularly with the knowledge that North Korea operates under an authoritarian theory of the press, as well as an authoritarian government. I don’t think it would be shocking at all that the North Korean government used this woman as a way to persuade other defectors to come back. At first, I too was shocked to read that South Koreans discriminate against North Korean defectors, however the more I thought about it, the less shocking it seemed. Just as certain prejudices and stereotypes exist in the United States, so must they also exist in South Korea. People likely have preconceived notions about North Koreans that lead them to discriminate against them in their country.
At first glance, I assumed that Pak Jong-suk was being used by the North Korean government has propaganda. If the government had actually recently executed four defectors (as South Korea reported), why would they allow Pak John-suk to speak publicly about the care the government showed her, if not to try and make themselves look good?
However, if North Korean defectors are discriminated against, it is possible that she wanted to return to North Korea, especially given that her son remained in-country. I had no idea that people leaving North Korea would face lower employment rates and wages than South Koreans. Considering the countries’ history, I suppose it makes sense, and I still do not think it is enough to make most people want to return to North Korea (as shown by the statistics in the article).
North Korea isn’t known for its sympathetic government, and I’m not sure its political leaders would care about Pak Jong-suk’s reason for returning, only that she defected in the first place.
I am not sure why South Korea would discriminate against defectors. As I mentioned above, the two nations have a long, sordid history, so the discrimination could be leftover from that. Perhaps the country wants to make sure it takes care of its citizens first, before helping those coming from outside countries. I imagine that there could be some sort of stigma associated with being a defector, perhaps such a stigma prevents defectors from getting good jobs.
Although her intentions for returning probably had to do with her dislike of her new life in South Korea, I’m sure the government wanted to make themselves look like the better side with this story. Why else would they make her hold a press conference and give an apology? It might not be an effective propaganda message, and in my opinion it is a very easy one to see through, but they wanted to make an attempt at making South Korea look like the bad guy.
Discrimination towards North Korean defectors isn’t very surprising. It’s similar to the discrimination Americans give towards immigrants. They often get lower pay, below minimum wage, and are generally disliked because they don’t speak clear English or fit in to typical American culture. North and South Koreans also have past hatreds towards each other, which probably contributes to current day discrimination.
I definitely think this woman was used as a propaganda pawn. The North Koreans are incredibly effective at spreading the message they want, mostly because they hold a tight and violent grip on all aspects of their country. They may have trotted her out there in front of cameras to make a show, but there is no telling what happened after the cameras stopped rolling.
I was also surprised to hear about the South Koreans being discriminatory against North Koreans. I guess I had assumed that the people from the South were aware of conditions in the North and would be welcoming to people who attempt to flee to their country. That may still be the case, I just don’t know too much about how the South Koreans feel about the North.
Even if defectors are paid less than others in the country, I find it hard to believe that life in the South wouldn’t be better than in the North. Hopefully relations between the two countries will eventually reach some kind of amicable agreement.
It’s hard to say. Based only off the knowledge I got from your presentation, it’s pretty clear that there’s just plain bad blood between North and South Korea, so the discrimination in the workplace against defectors is, while unjust, easily explainable.
I think my understanding of the issue might be a little cloudy, too, because I’m only really guessing at what a “defector” is and you never gave me a definition other than that she was exiled. I don’t understand the implications of it–why was she exiled? Did she commit a crime, or speak out against the government, or what? And if she was exiled, why was she welcomed back? I wish you’d explained a little better–I feel like understanding this would clear up for me why she behaved this way after the fact.
In general, though, your presentation convinced me enough not to really trust North Korea ever, so I’m leaning toward the government using her for propaganda.