7. On the matter of remittances sent to family in North Korea
The money is not from the defectors. The money is from the South Korean government. It is lent to defectors at a high interest rate. The money is meant to entice North Koreans to escape to South Korea.
The speaker played a tape of a defector talking to her mother, who she left behind in North Korea. The tape said that the woman defected last year and had to sell her body in a Karaoke bar, because she could not find a job in South Korea.
The last part of the seminar talked about how merciful North Korea is to those who come back and that those who return to North Korea live happy lives.
Our reporting partner explained the reactions of the seminar participants:
Some of the participants shed tears. Many showed disappointment. Some said, “Even if we eat porridge, let’s eat it comfortably at home [in North Korea].” Some exclaimed, “We shouldn’t accept the money that families in the South send us.”
It is reasonable to regard the participants’ reactions as a performance. That they were hiding their true thoughts from others
* Asia Press uses Chinese phones to contact internal reporting partners inside North Korea.
* Editor’s notes on North Korean reporters
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