Defector Memoirs (and Hwang Jang-yop)

I’ve always wanted to compile a complete list of all the North Korean defector memoirs. There are currently 14 memoirs about defectors from North Korea published in English--I’m fairly certain about this but if I missed one please feel free to email me. Some of them are better known than others and have appeared on recommended reading lists for books on North Korea by some major publications. Below is the list of all 14 memoirs in the order of publication in English:

The Tears of My Soul (1993)
A Mig-15 to Freedom (1996)*

The Aquariums of Pyongyang (2001) 

This is Paradise: My North Korean Childhood (2005)

The Reluctant Communist (2008)*
Long Road Home (2009)

Escape from Camp 14 (2012)

Stars between the Sun and Moon (2014)

Dear Leader: My Escape from North Korea (2014)

The Girl with Seven Names (2015)

The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot (2015)

Under the Same Sky (2015)

In Order to Live (2015)

A Thousand Miles to Freedom (2015)

Every Falling Star (2016)

A River in Darkness (2017) 
*Added later thanks to readers' suggestion. Now there are 16.

There are many more defector stories published in South Korea and Japan that have not been (and may never be) translated into English. Hwang Jang-yop, the highest ranking North Korean ever to defect, wrote a memoir I Saw History’s Truth which was published in 1999 in South Korea--see below my translation of excerpts from his 1998 interview which is still relevant today. Oddly Hwang's memoir has not been translated into English but there is a book published in English based on it: Exit the Emperor Kim Jong-Il by John Cha. Odder still is the fact that Shin Sang-ok's memoirs have not been translated into English--though, again, there is a book published in English based on them: A Kim Jong-Il Production by Paul Fischer. I recognize that it may be a stretch to say Shin Sang-ok and Choi Eun-hee, arguably the most famous South Korean movie director and actress respectively, are defectors. They are in fact South Koreans who were abducted by Kim Jong-un's father Kim Jong-Il but “defected” from North Korea after 8 years of unusual captivity. For me their stories most certainly belong in this genre.

Typically the details of North Korean defector stories are hard, if not impossible, to verify. But as the defector ranks grow and more of them speak out through various channels and more defector accounts are published, it has become possible in many cases to examine or cross-check their stories. Author Blaine Harden wrote eloquently about this issue in a Washington Post piece.


I hope to blog about these memoirs in the order of their English publication. My postings will include my comments, musings, and personal memories evoked by these stories. Though not a day goes by where I do not think about the unknown fate of my family and not a day goes by where I do not open my computer every morning hoping that the day's breaking news is: The Kim Dynasty Finally Collapses, I have for the longest time tried to forget my own memories. So this would be an interesting amble down memory lane for me—it’s been a long time. I did not experience the life of suffering most defectors had to endure and most North Koreans are enduring daily there still; nor did I experience harrowing journeys through China and then the Gobi desert or through the crocodile infested Mekong and jungles of South East Asia, where many have perished. My life in North Korea was comfortable by North Korean standards and my escape was a comfortable plane ride to the West, not counting tense days and hours leading up to the flight. The heroes in these memoirs, like all other North Korean defectors, risked their lives to embark on their journey to freedom. But it also takes courage to tell these stories. For all North Koreans defection is the journey of a lifetime that culminates in our escape from the most unimaginable place on the planet but it never really begins until we speak up and stand up for all those who still remain in that "black hole of human souls."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before I get started, I would like to share with you my own translation of excerpts from Hwang Jang-yop’s 1998 interview conducted by Hagiwara Ryo and published by the Japanese monthly Bungeishuju (1999; Issue 2). I did not know Hwang Jang-yop personally but he was no stranger to me and most North Koreans, especially those born before the 1990s. Before my defection, I had always considered him the only decent man within the regime’s government and respected him accordingly. My grandmother, a widower since before the Korean War, had a huge crush on him, a little secret she shared with her favorite grandson--her words not mine. I was already in the US when Hwang defected in 1997 which was a huge and desperately needed morale booster for me, a "traitor." I felt justified in my own defection. He was the only other defector from North Korea I knew of at the time--Google hadn't arrived yet. Of course, I could not have been more wrong. 

HR (Hagiwara Ryo): There are various theories as to why you defected to South Korea…What was the real reason?

HJY (Hwang Jang-yop): …I couldn’t bear to watch it while Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il were ruining the country. I felt terrible leaving North Korea with things the way they were. But I thought shouting hurrah while millions were starving to death was not a human thing to do either...Another reason was Kim Jong-Il’s constant war preparations. I couldn’t bear it any longer watching him only focused on war preparation while people were starving to death en masse. The generals believed that the North would prevail even if American troops were still stationed in the South. They claimed that we had to go to war as soon as possible because winning the war would get harder down the road...Say [Kim Jong-Il] had several billion dollars in his Swiss bank accounts, I can categorically tell you that he would never touch them to alleviate people suffering…He is cruel. He takes more pleasure from seeing people suffering than living well. He has a sadistic personality…He is the absolute dictator who will kill anyone who is opposed to him whether it’s 100,000 or a million. That’s what keeps the system in place under the current circumstances. [It was said that Kim Jong-Il wanted to make sure to impart to Kim Jong-un his belief in the power of brutality in ruling the masses.]

…

HR: What does Kim Jong-Il think of Japan? Where does Japan fit into his policies? I don’t think he views Japan as a problem. I think he is more interested in engagement with the US because he believes that Japan will just follow the US's lead.

HJY: That’s right. I think his biggest goal for the North Korea-Japan relationship is compensation through the normalization of diplomatic relationships. But he believes that Japan won’t agree to it so long as the US is not on board. That’s why he is interested in improving relations with the US a little. North Korea does not want the actual normalization of diplomatic relationships with the US. They just want to improve the North-US relationship so that the US does not stand in the way of the normalization of the diplomatic relationship between the North and Japan. That’s one. Secondly, North Korea believes the improvement of the North-US relationship will be beneficial to their attempt to break free from international isolation.

HR: Do you think they would want to normalize their relationship with the US?

HJY: Kim Jong-Il is absolutely opposed to having the US embassy in Pyongyang. As of the time I left, he made sure that no US liaison office was stationed in Pyongyang either. He wanted it to be in Rason if at all.

HR: Then the prospect of the US-North Korea relationship improving fundamentally is dim?

HJY: I can’t say. It depends on how the US views North Korea. From what I’ve seen, neighboring countries do not know North Korea very well. Even China, one country that supposedly knows North Korea the best, doubts the situation inside North Korea could be that horrific. Imagine how little the US or Japan would know. South Korea, too, does not know North Korea very well. North Korea is so closed and so different from other countries that you can’t understand it with normal standards, which is the reason I wrote the book The Truth and Deception in North Korea. No outsider knows the truth about North Korea. I couldn’t remain silent.

HR: What can we do?

HJY: …There are those who believe that, because North Korea is destroyed economically, helping them economically and helping them break free from international isolation would bring them into the international community. I disagree. The regime is fundamentally maintained by the military and violence. The legitimacy of the regime’s existence is based on unification through the takeover of the South. That’s their nature. That’s why they keep emphasizing that there will be no democracy until unification and anyone who is opposed to unification will be executed. But in order to move toward reform, they need democracy. But can there be democracy in North Korea? They can't travel and have no access to foreign books, not to mention freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly...Would the regime take its coat off if we embraced them warmly with sunshine? They can't. Because their true identity will be exposed once they take their coat off. That's why even in today’s dire circumstances they uphold their superpower rationale.

HR: What is "superpower rationale"?

HJY: The superpower rationale means to gain economic benefits from South Korea and others by means of extortion through threats while striving toward the status of the "superpower of ideology," "military superpower," and "political superpower." The idea came about from the three reasons the regime attributed to the collapse of Soviet Union and the East European countries: 1) Weakening of dictatorship through the criticism of Stalin's personality cult, 2) Making concessions on human rights for the Helsinki Accords, a declaration reached during the conference on security and economic co-operation and human rights in Europe held in 1975, 3) Reduction of military spending by Gorbachev. The regime was asking why the Soviet Union reduced its nuclear weapons stockpile when they could have used it to force America to help them [economically]. That’s how North Korea sees it. They believe that big capitalists in America are fearful of wars and even more fearful of dying but those who have got nothing to lose are not afraid of dying. That’s why more nuclear weapons would have brought more economic aid from capitalists everywhere. That’s the lesson they drew. It’s too late for North Korea to develop its economy. That’s why they determined that they have no choice but to strengthen the personality cult for the superpower of ideology and rush in the direction of military and political superpower.

HR: What can we do to counter North Korea with that kind of rationale? Can we guide them to reform and openness?

HJY: …Kim Jong-Il or the regime has no reason to reform or open up. That would be suicidal for them.

…

HR: Any message to the people of Japan or Koreans in Japan?

HJY: ...We must end the Kim Jong-il regime as soon as possible. Once the Kim Jong-il regime collapses, there won’t be a second Kim Jong-il. Once the regime collapses, there will be reform and openness and then democracy. Market economy will be implemented and the doors will be open to the world. This way the malignant cancer that has been threatening the peace in East Asia will be eliminated.