the North Korean story

..this story may not be as exciting as you may have hoped. Sorry.

North Koreans do not escape all that often, but there are a fair number of them now kicking around the South. Arriving with no money, typically in so-so health (they ARE noticeably shorter than their Southern brothers and sisters), a distinctive accent, and a rather atypical educational background means that they are stuck with shit jobs, and often distrusted. Like all small pockets of foreigners anywhere in the world, they run with members of their own circle. So, it was no surprise that, as people appeared at the party my art buddy invited me to at his sister's small apartment, they all from the "Northern Side" of the wall(북안) of this divided country.

My buddy Ho min is forty i think. Looking through his photo album was quite a treat - the black and white pictures look like black and white pictures from South Korea of 40 years ago - the clothes are very traditional, furniture and decoration is strange - nut the y are not that old at all. They are mostly images from the late 80's and 90's (A positive way of looking at it is that the people of North Korea did not have to suffer through the terrible fashions of that time period. Small consolation, i know). the break in photos and change to colour leads me to believe that he arrived with his sister (if I understood correctly, his father, tragically, drowned on the journey) about ten years ago. There were some new arrivals, too. I guess that one of them recently arrived via the fortified and mountainous Northern region separating the North and the South, when those escaping in the past favour working there way to mongolia or SE asian countries where they can often find ways to South Korea. I get the impression that there are many groups, mostly religion-affiliated, that help smuggle North Koreans out of the North and through China. China's policy is to return those who have escaped back to their country of origin, which no doubt lead to certain repercussions. Craziness.
But, all in all, they are very similar to South Koreans in nature - they eat a lot, drink too much, and plan future celebrations before the present one ends. A couple guys got incredibly smashed on cheap grape juice with alcohol in it, and I managed to leave before I got dragged out to Karaoke and what would likely have been hours and hours more of drunken debauchery. I now regret passing on the opportunity, but the sweet crap wine was already carving a huge hangover into my brain.
Here is a picture of the group of us. This picture as taken at dinner, before the group arrived. Ho min is next to me. His art (his studies began at a university in Pyongyang) is in the article below.