Hey viewers. I plan on writing posts of interviews I watch and recommend for the week. I will still be posting recommendations of underground you-tubers weekly as well. So now to the first interview video of the week.
For those concerned:
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*The interview is for those who are interested in knowing what is going on with North Korean defectors in Asia. I also recommend this to those who already have a general understanding on the issue. It provides an update of current trends that are occurring now.
What to expect:
The interviewee is Sunna An. She formerly was a Chief of Staff for the Blue House of South Korea (Blue House meaning the executive office.) that worked on the North Korean refugee crisis. The information that she provides can be reliable by her past credentials.
Sunna An helps present the issue from an international perspective, local government perspective, and an individual perspective:
- An international perspective that helps depict the different hardships of North Korean defectors when traveling from one country to the next searching for freedom and stability.
- A local government perspective of how the defectors are treated in North Korea or when they are sent to South Korea, or other countries.
- An individual perspective of how the defectors' situation affects them from health to finances/means of resources.
You also will learn the trends that are happening currently around this time as I said earlier (The video was published at August 21, 2013. It may be last year but the information is still applicable to this year 2014).
A touch of history of North Korea and how the situation developed will also be covered to help explain the development of the current situation(s).
Reflections after watching:
Around the middle of the video, Ms. Sunna An shows a map of the annual rates of North Korean defectors leaving North Korea from 1990-2009. The map showed a dramatic increase of defectors leaving starting from 1999. Ms. Sunna An states that around 2012, the rate of North Korean defectors leaving has decreased possibly due to strict policing border patrol between North Korea and Northeast China. I then questioned myself, why was it only 1999 when more defectors escaped North Korea? I also asked myself, was life better in North Korea before 1999?
Ms. Suanna An states that famine in the late 1990's had to do with the increase rate of defectors leaving North Korea. So that answers my first question. For my second question I researched and found a few articles.
**Human Rights Watch Organization pointed out that food scarcity was a growing problem every decade in North Korea (1). Starting from around 1950's, there was a gradual decrease of food rations taken by official workers in North Korea almost every decade (2). Unless you were among of the elite class, most North Koreans would have the same rate of access to food rations. By 1980's, delayed access to food rations became a norm (1). So food insecurity was always a problem but it became even worse after the high increase of famine in late 1990's. This was due to a series of natural disasters occurring during the 1990's (1).
***Another thing I wanted to point out was the border. China and North Korea had some disputes over the territories that were along the border between them. Due to this tension, there was less strict patrol in the area which made it easy for North Koreans to move across the area (3). That explains why so many were able to flee North Korea despite life-threatening consequences: crossing the border was easy (Not to say that crossing was not life-threatening. I define easy as convincing border patrols to allow them to cross or not getting caught by them). Since more defectors left to China every year, both China and North Korea realized that border patrol had to be more strict. Sunna An argues that their realization for stricter border patrol can explain the decrease rate of North Koreans fleeing to China in 2012.
Sadly, this just comes to show that North Korea's population had suffered for many years and are still suffering today. And since border patrol has tightened, the issue has gotten worse. There's a lot of films out there that help explain about the issue and this interview is a great one. Hopefully, spreading the word out like this interview will spark a snowball affect in creating a solution to this issue.
A Heads Up:
Just to let you know, the interview will have about three commercial breaks promoted by their YouTube channel, Jay Fidell. I'll cover the YouTube channel at a later time.
Here's the link to the interview:
References:
(1) Human Rights Watch (Organization). (2006). A matter of survival: the North Korean government's control of food and the risk of hunger. Human Rights Watch, 18(3), 3. Retrieved from http://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/northkorea0506/3.htm.
(2) Lee, S. (2005, May). The DPRK Famine of 1994-2000: Existence and Impact. Korean Institute for National Institution, 7. Retrieved from http://www.kinu.or.kr/upload/neoboard/DATA05/05-06.pdf
(3) Daniel Gomà Pinilla, « Border Disputes between China and North Korea », China Perspectives [Online], 52 | march-april 2004, Online since 19 April 2007, connection on 12 July 2014. URL : http://chinaperspectives.revues.org/806
Picture references:
* http://media3.s-nbcnews.com/i/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-140214-north-korea-interviews/ss-140214-north-korea-interviews%20(2).jpg
** http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/08/05/article-2022821-0D1EBFC000000578-136_634x424.jpg
*** http://www.globalpost.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/gp3_small_article/photos/2013-February/nk_defector.jpg
Picture references:
* http://media3.s-nbcnews.com/i/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-140214-north-korea-interviews/ss-140214-north-korea-interviews%20(2).jpg
** http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/08/05/article-2022821-0D1EBFC000000578-136_634x424.jpg
*** http://www.globalpost.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/gp3_small_article/photos/2013-February/nk_defector.jpg
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