Escape From North Korea

Though they begin as scared kids and wish to be invisible, the characters in “Refugee” must become more mature to protect their families by Stepping up when times are hard and difficult to accomplish what they needed to accomplish

Cultures around the world are divide by their distinctive characteristic of people, and how people interact within their society. Most cultures are driven by the way their environment has been set for them. Many of cultures have to adapt to the way their environment are due to the conditions that are set for them and the amount of resources that they are provided. The biggest drive for culture are the historical custom. Most countries continue to carry their ancestor custom so that the tradition may stay with them throughout their years, in which making other countries distinctive from one another. One of the particular country that will be discuss in this report is North Korea. In this report, I will be discussing the North Korean culture, with describing their living condition in the country, common issues that they face with on a daily bases, and common threat that they pose on other countries.

Refugees go through a lot when fleeing home, including leaving behind favorite food. According to the novel it states, “ Brother Quang forces a swallow before explaining we are used to fresh-killed chicken that roamed the yard” (Lai 120). In this quote it demonstrates that Brother Quang is missing the food, and like most of the refugees don't get adapted to the food from their new countries. Also, the refugees that are able to leave their home country, They leave behind family, friends, and love ones. In the text it states, “But i miss my friends in Sarajevo… Sometimes i wish I’d stayed there, watching the war, rather than being here, safe, but without friends”(Brice 26). In this quote it shows how the children that left home country are missing their loved ones and adults do so too. Furthermore, most refugees like Brother Quang leave behind their studies just to go to safety. According to “Ten Borders” it states, “I just want to get back to my engineering studies”(Schmidle 4). This evidence leads me to understand that the refugees were almost professionals and most were already professional but the war took away that privilege to become successful in their home country. These evidence shows that most of the refugees miss a trait from their home country that their new country just doesn't

“It was the last time I would see them for 14 years.” Uong, who is a Vietnamese refugee, fled his home at the age of 10—being separated from his family for 14 years (Uong). Being a refugee is rough as it requires one to leave his home country and to start a new life in a completely different world. According to Yen Le Espiritu, a "refugee" is described as a person who harbors "a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion" (Espiritu 209). There are many variations of refugee groups as countless minority groups have left their homeland due to reasons such as persecution. Cambodian Refugees and Vietnamese Refugees are both minority groups in the United States today whom have fled their homeland to escape communism and persecution. These groups have suffered many conflicts and overcome many obstacles in order to rid themselves of persecution and in order to gain the freedom that all humans should possess. Although Cambodian Refugees and Vietnamese Refugees are two different groups, they possess both similarities and differences. Cambodian Refugees and Vietnamese Refugees share differences when it pertains to the topic of war, when it pertains to the topic of hardships faced while fleeing one’s homeland and to the topic of adjusting to life in America—while also sharing similarities when it pertains to adjusting to life in America.

This is used to teach their citizens about why America is bad and that they should be happy living in North Korea. This is used to show other countries as worse than North Korea, making its citizens believe that it is simply how life goes, and there are flaws no matter where you live. While this seems negative, something very similar is happening in America. Many North Koreans are lead to believe that Americans are bad and view them from a negative viewpoint, but the same is done from the other side leaving many Americans thinking the North Koreans are bad, and have negatives views of

In writing Escaping North Korea Mike Kim brought to light the struggles North Koreans face in North Korea, then escaping, and seeking asylum. Kim, before working on the China-Korea boarder, had his own financial planning business but one trip to China changed his world drastically. After hearing the stories of North Korean refugees, Kim found his calling to help these refugees escape a tyrant leadership and create a new life for themselves. Kim in writing Escaping North Korea described his experiences in aiding these refugees escape a repressive country. Escaping North Korea addresses the aspects of life in North Korea that led for them to escape, the problems they face once crossing to China and the

Family traditions are passed on from generation to generation, however they are not always static rules. Tradition is like a living organism that adapts to change over time. In order to understand modern North Korea’s family customs, it is important to consider the tradition of the past. Before North Korea’s liberation from Japan in 1945, North Korean families operated differently than they do today. Their ideology was founded on Confucius’s principles of family, including “only a country where family life was harmonious could be peaceful and prosperous” (Asia Society). The family is an integral part of society the same way a cell is important to a body (Suzy, 264). The government is even considered “one family” that everyone is a part of (Monday). Every individual in a family has a role and every family has a role in society. The ideal family is modeled from Kim Il Sung’s nuclear family (Suzy, 268). It is clear that family is a fundamental priority in North Korean society.

When the Koreans are forced to change their family names to Japanese ones, their Korean identity is weakened. Going through this traumatizing experience is

When Simmons first arrived in North Korea she stated that “things went North Korea immediately,” (139) giving the reader an improved understanding of Simmons views on the country. Simmons experiences from her trip proved these notions wrong, and this made Simmons aware that she needed to change her notions. Once she was aware of this, she showed personal growth, by how she was able to alter her notions to fit with these new experiences. Coming into North Korea she never gave the country a chance to change her views, until forced to. What she first saw didn’t help North Korea’s case, “children are assigned their activity or skill,” forced into an “extracurricular-activity jail,” (141) and have no power to change it.

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea is a novel by Barbara Demick, the Beijing bureau chief of the Los Angeles Times. It is published by Spiegel & Grau in the United States. It was originally published in 2009, however this version that I had read was published in 2015, with a chapter put on the end of the tome to update it to more recent events. Demick starts out the piece in North-eastern North Korea, specifically the city of Chongjin, the third largest city in North Korea, a major part of the North Korean steel industry. The subject that the author pursues is how an average North Korean lived in the transition of regimes and the struggles that it came with.

Refugees go through many challenges when they are fleeing and finding home both in real life and historical fiction like the novel Inside Out & Back Again by: Thanhha Lai. All refugees real or fictional share the same universal Refugee experience. The universal refugee experience is revealed in Poverty and Lack of education for many refugees including the fictional narrator Ha in Inside Out & Back Again where she and her family must flee the war torn country of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Refugees lives are turned inside out and back again by poverty because in the Article Children Of War (Brice,25) one of the children Elma said “ One minute we had everything ,then we had nothing.” In the novel Inside Out & Back Again Ha remembers what her mother said before the war “ Hardly anyone buys anymore she says …

Refugees are everyday people who were forced to flee their home because of war. When they leave they feel pain because they leave meaningful things behind in their home country, however after a certain time they start adapting to their new life. An example of this is Ha from the novel “Inside Out and Back Again” (Thanhha Lai). She is a 10 year old girl who was forced to flee with her family because of war but it was complicated for them to leave since her father left for a mission when she was 1 year old and since then he never came back. Before leaving South Vietnam Ha was a different person, she was a stubborn ,selfish girl. On new year’s the tradition in her family is that the man of the house touches the floor before anyone else however

Understanding how North Korea as a country defines itself in a changing world. Where do they derive their customs and practices, political standings and military power? Define North Korea’s history leading into the modern age and define its culture and characteristics and how they interact with the world today. Understanding a subject as broad as the term culture begins where the culture began with the birth of civilization and the people that influenced it. There are many factors that play a role in the shaping of a nation none so much as turmoil and conflict and the Korean peninsula saw its fair share for the better part of a millennia. A complete statistical breakdown of North Korea shows a struggling nation that strongly depends on

In order to figure out what the problem is, the audience has to find out what a refugee and immigrant is. According to Aristide Zolberg, one of the authors of Escape from Violence: Conflict and the Refugee Crisis in the Developing War; “a refugee is someone who is compelled to abandon his home” which includes “victims of earthquakes, or a flood, as well as war or persecution,” (Zolberg). In his own words, a refugee from Syria in the documentary Salam Neighbor, describes a refugee as “someone who is forced to leave his country and his home. He has no money. All he has are the clothes on his back and his family.” Historically known refugee groups include the Vietnamese escaping the Vietnam War; people from former Soviet countries; and now, the Syrians. Right now, countries

Hyeonseo Lee gave a presentation on TED Talk entitled, “My Escape from North Korea”, summarizing about her life in North Korea. She was born and raised there and sing patriotic songs. All the history books told her that North Korea was the best country in the world. As she got older, a famine struck North Korea in the mid-1990’s. Although, she never experienced starvation, she witnessed the events first hand. This was the pushing point for Hyeonseo, who decided to leave North Korea. Due to China and North Korea’s stringent border policies and the Chinese government immigration policy, the life of a North Korean refugee is challenging and extremely risky. They risk being deported back to the very country that they escaped from. There are reports and stories about the violation of human rights and labor camps in North Korea. She would live in China for ten years before moving to South Korea. Hyeonseo was forced to help her family escape from North Korea. The regime caught Hyeonseo for sending money to her family. Lee’s family to be relocated by the order of the North Korean government. She needed to smuggle them through China to a South Korean embassy in Laos. Unfortunately, Hyeonseo Lee’s story won’t be the last we hear about the abysmal conditions in North Korea. There are, potentially millions more, stories detailing the humanitarian disaster in the country and we must take steps to prepare for the eventual collapse of the country.