Northern refugees go home, "brain washed" or "blackmailed"
Seoul (AsiaNews) - A refugee couple from North Korea has decided to go back to the Stalinist nation. The move, which was reported in North Korea's official news agency KCNA early this week, was officially confirmed today by South Korea. "This is not unusual," a Catholic source told AsiaNews. "Our northern brothers and sisters are subjected from birth to intensive brain-washing that drives them to be loyal to their government till death. Many of them come from families that are at great risk as long as they are political refugees."
According to the South Korean Interior Ministry, Kim Kwang-hyok and Ko Jang-nam met and got married in South Korea. Kim arrived in 2008, his wife, the following year. The two travelled to China in September and returned to North Korea after contacting officials at the North Korean Embassy in Beijing.
The Stalinist regime of Kim Jong-un, third son and heir to the late dictator Kim Jong-il, did not waste time to broadcast the event (pictured), exhibiting the couple who came back "after they realised that they had lost a great opportunity to contribute to the greatness of the state in North Korea." This fits with a strategy pursued by the regime's propaganda machine since Kim Jong-un came to power to project a "more modern" image of the country.
"It is doubtful they really believe in what they say," a source working with North Korean refugees told AsiaNews. "Perhaps the couple convinced themselves that things were better at home because refugees from the North (known as saetomin) are at the bottom of society in South Korea. It is more likely though that Pyongyang simply let the fugitive know that their families back home were at risk if they stayed permanently in the South, and so they chose to go back."
"North Koreans are indoctrinated from birth to be loyal to the regime," said the source, which chose to remain anonymous for security reasons. "This is why they do not rise up against a violent and repressive government. They are made to believe that it is the best in the world, and that they are the luckiest people on earth."
Over 24,000 North Koreans have defected to the South since the end of the Korean War in 1953.
Traditionally, they have crossed the border into China before asking for political asylum in South Korea, but this year Beijing has adopted new rules, including the immediate repatriation of North Koreans.
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12/02/2016 15:14
14/07/2023 11:04
