With the U.S. acceptance of North Korean defectors in the news, the Chosun Ilbo conducted a rather interesting phone survey of 100 defectors, asking them where they’d go—South Korea or the United States—if they could choose again? Some 46 chose South Korea, while 50 chose the United States. Four gave no response. Those that chose South Korea cited as reasons “being of the same ethnicity” (48 percent), “speaking the same language” (48 percent), “more economic opportunities” (2 percent) and “distrust of U.S. policies toward North Korea” (2 percent). Those that chose the Great Satan cited “dissatisfaction with South Korean policy toward North Korea” (44 percent), “more economic opportunities” (30 percent), “discrimination against defectors in South Korea” (12 percent), “political reasons” (6 percent), “relatives in the United States” (4 percent) and “insecurity in South Korea” (4 percent).
Said one defector quoted by Ye Olde Chosun, “I risked my life to come all the way here because I hated Kim Jong-il, but what the hell is this? It’s [so bad] you can’t tell whether it’s South Korea or North Korea. The government’s North Korea policies are wrong.” Said another defector, “From the position of someone who left North Korea because he disliked it, you can’t help but feel uncomfortable with the North Korea policies of the present government, which has since the Kim Dae-jung administration worked hard to curry favor with the North Korean leadership and is seemingly trying to silence defectors.”
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12 Comments
50 out of 100 is not a compelling number, but the comments about the Sunshine Policy echo what a lot of folks here have been saying all along:
“I risked my life to come all the way here because I hated Kim Jong-il, but what the hell is this? It’s [so bad] you can’t tell whether it’s South Korea or North Korea. The government’s North Korea policies are wrong.”
Somebody needs to step up and remind the ROK that it was on the right side of the Cold War and why it was on the right side of the Cold War.
Somebody remind me again of the ’successes’ of the ‘Sunshine Policy’ other than the fact that no war has happened? Are there any?
Even if there aren’t any, it all the fault of the Bush administration, which has been hell-bent on sabotaging intra-Korean relations from Day 1 in order to keep the two Koreas divided and justify its continued military hegemony in East Asia.
There are plenty of “successes” of the Sunshine Policy from the North Korean perspective. Perhaps they should change the name to the (Blowing) Sunshine (Up Your Ass) Policy.
Well, one of the “successes” of the Sunshine policy is that S. Korean businesses can profit from exploiting N. Korean workers at the Kaesong industrial complex with no worries that the International Labour Organization or any other international group will monitor the workers’ conditions because it is “an internal issue” for the Koreas. Besides, “there are no complaints from workers who are asked to work overtime” there, according to the Unifiction Ministry.
Prez Roh is so anxious about the status quo that he “vows to make lots of concessions to Pyongyang,” as the Yonhap headline puts it. There’s a lot of sunshine blowing out of Roh’s ass.
The success of Sun-Shine was to keep the North Korean regime intact as it teetered on the brink of collapse. South Korea itself perpetuates the division because it wants to keep the fat US welfare check for itself. Think of an overweight single mother on food stamps with starving kids. Foreigners are puzzled by South Korean policy which appears to play into the hands of the North; what they don’t realize is that this collusion is mutually beneficial to ensure both the survival of North Korea’s regime and the continued wealth of South Korea.
But anyways, I’m glad at least 50 Koreans at least are notionally on our side.
If those North Koreans think America is some kind of land of god mines, then they are sadly mistaking. North Koreans will have the same kinds of problems of not being able to adjust to capitalist system as they have in South Korea. Furthmore, those North Koreans will not enjoy the same settlement money that they get in South Korea. No. Wait. They’ll probably end up in welfare line, competing with other poor immigrants and generationally and perpetually poor Americans in government hand outs. So in that regard, they’d fit right in within the communistic system.
If the North Koreans want to be successful anywhere they go, they have to change their mindset and most of all, learn what a capitalist system entails. And it’s not about relying on the government to feed and house them, and then waiting to be get riched.
North Korean adults would be much worse off in the US since most speak little or no English and would be even more socially and economically marginalized, as CM points out. However, the attraction of the US for many immigrants is the prospect of better lives for their children. I teach kids whose parents came here as non-English speaking adults. The kids are growing up bilingual and most are doing very well at school. They have a bright future, and some may return to their native countries to take up lucrative employment as bilingual, well-educated adults.
Pro-US, politically-opinionated North Koreans have a fatalistic mindset. They want KJI’s regime brought down by any means necessary. That would include war. The reasoning is something along the lines of “well things cant get much worse than this….might as well have war and get it over with!” Nevermind that South Korea would be wiped out overnight. They also expect that the US would fight this war. So, of course they would want to come to the US. If there ever was war, well, at least they’d be nice and safe in the US! Ridiculous.
This is really odd, 50% of Americans (the defeatist democrats) want America to be exactly like North Korea. The irony!
Those that chose America cited as reasons “free entitlements provided by the U.S. government for do nothing but remaining alive and voting for democrats” (100 percent), “better pornography” (99 percent), “better bulgogi” (72 percent), “free government cheese” (53 percent), “Coca-Cola” (49 percent), “Apple’s iPod” (38 percent), “McDonald’s Hamburgers” (34 percent), “Papa John’s Pizza” (25 percent), “a chance of getting Michelle Wie’s and/or Grace Park’s autograph” (2 percent), and “distrust of North Korean policies toward America” (.000001 percent).
In light of this, I hereby nominate the current South Korean president as Admiral Yi Sun-Shine.
How do you know? What is your basis for saying that?
I would be very surprised if these few North Korean refugees did not get the same sort of generous support provided to Somalian and Hmong refugees, with whom they have some things in common.