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| How my generation of dollar-loving North Koreans will shake up regime | How my generation of dollar-loving North Koreans will shake up regime |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| A generation of North Koreans as familiar with the American dollar as Kim Il-sung is set to dramatically shake up the country, according to young defector Sungju Lee. | A generation of North Koreans as familiar with the American dollar as Kim Il-sung is set to dramatically shake up the country, according to young defector Sungju Lee. |
| Calling those born after 1990 the “market generation”, the 28-year-old says young people are likely to trigger major social and economic changes in the closed-off communist country over the next 20 years. | Calling those born after 1990 the “market generation”, the 28-year-old says young people are likely to trigger major social and economic changes in the closed-off communist country over the next 20 years. |
| Capitalism has become an influential force in their lives, Lee says, with nostalgia for life under the “first dictator” – when North Korea was a new nation and widespread famine had not yet been experienced – no longer entrenching a sense of patriotism. | Capitalism has become an influential force in their lives, Lee says, with nostalgia for life under the “first dictator” – when North Korea was a new nation and widespread famine had not yet been experienced – no longer entrenching a sense of patriotism. |
| But Lee, who left the country 2002 and is now studying in UK, says the shift won’t be a result of a rejection of the regime’s us-against-the-world message, but rather because this propaganda is no longer powerful enough to trump the lure of the markets. | But Lee, who left the country 2002 and is now studying in UK, says the shift won’t be a result of a rejection of the regime’s us-against-the-world message, but rather because this propaganda is no longer powerful enough to trump the lure of the markets. |
| “People of my generation hate the United States but they love the dollar. They hate Japan but they love the yen. Some might hate China but they love the yuan,” he says. | “People of my generation hate the United States but they love the dollar. They hate Japan but they love the yen. Some might hate China but they love the yuan,” he says. |
| People of my generation hate the United States but they love the dollar | People of my generation hate the United States but they love the dollar |
| Lee gives the example of 2009 reforms, which were designed to crack down on the growing power of the private enterprise and revive socialism. This was a “huge fail”, he claims, and demonstrated that “North Korea cannot control the markets”. | Lee gives the example of 2009 reforms, which were designed to crack down on the growing power of the private enterprise and revive socialism. This was a “huge fail”, he claims, and demonstrated that “North Korea cannot control the markets”. |
| Evidence suggests that the so-called market generation has better access than ever to information from the outside world through illegally smuggled DVDs, films and mobile phones. | Evidence suggests that the so-called market generation has better access than ever to information from the outside world through illegally smuggled DVDs, films and mobile phones. |
| Street gangs | Street gangs |
| Lee’s father, a former bodyguard in Kim Il-sung’s personal security force, defected when his son was just 12 years old. His mother abandoned him soon after, leaving him to fend for himself on the streets of Hwasong in the north-east. | Lee’s father, a former bodyguard in Kim Il-sung’s personal security force, defected when his son was just 12 years old. His mother abandoned him soon after, leaving him to fend for himself on the streets of Hwasong in the north-east. |
| Lee says he did what was “normal” to survive: he formed a gang with his friends, and “slept in the train station. I was a pickpocket. I fought everyday... I lost two friends on the streets.” | Lee says he did what was “normal” to survive: he formed a gang with his friends, and “slept in the train station. I was a pickpocket. I fought everyday... I lost two friends on the streets.” |
| In a passage from his book, Every Falling Star, due to be released in September, the defector describes the experience of being an abandoned child in North Korea. | |
| They came at us, waving metal pipes and broken bottles. Everything became a blur as arms flailed toward and around me. My mind couldn’t keep up with my body, so I just stopped thinking and, as my tae kwon do master had taught me, let technique take over. | They came at us, waving metal pipes and broken bottles. Everything became a blur as arms flailed toward and around me. My mind couldn’t keep up with my body, so I just stopped thinking and, as my tae kwon do master had taught me, let technique take over. |
| I heard that thump of a fist pounding on flesh, and I started kicking anything in front of me. | I heard that thump of a fist pounding on flesh, and I started kicking anything in front of me. |
| Then I saw blood... blood pouring from my brothers’ faces and onto their shirts. I attacked even harder then. I started swinging my T-shirts of stones, hearing them crunch against bone. Much later, my brothers would tell me I was like a superhuman | Then I saw blood... blood pouring from my brothers’ faces and onto their shirts. I attacked even harder then. I started swinging my T-shirts of stones, hearing them crunch against bone. Much later, my brothers would tell me I was like a superhuman |
| When he was 14, Lee was captured by the “Sang-mu”, a public official, and put into a shelter for street kids. The shelter, where children were forced to clean the streets and carry out other public tasks, is more accurately described as “a grave”, Lee adds. | When he was 14, Lee was captured by the “Sang-mu”, a public official, and put into a shelter for street kids. The shelter, where children were forced to clean the streets and carry out other public tasks, is more accurately described as “a grave”, Lee adds. |
| “People died and we had to bury them with small shovels. We worked and worked and the food was horrible. During the potato season we got potatoes, during the radish season we ate just radishes,” he says. | “People died and we had to bury them with small shovels. We worked and worked and the food was horrible. During the potato season we got potatoes, during the radish season we ate just radishes,” he says. |
| On 23 October 2002, when he was 16 years old, Lee’s life took a dramatic turn. “I cannot forget that date it was a huge turning point in my life,” he says. He was offered the opportunity to escape the country, starting his long journey to becoming the first North Korean student ever to study at the UK’s Warwick University. | On 23 October 2002, when he was 16 years old, Lee’s life took a dramatic turn. “I cannot forget that date it was a huge turning point in my life,” he says. He was offered the opportunity to escape the country, starting his long journey to becoming the first North Korean student ever to study at the UK’s Warwick University. |
| Fake passport to PhD | Fake passport to PhD |
| Lee was was approached by a broker carrying a letter from his father inviting him to join him. It said: “Son i’m living in China [and] i’m living well. Come.” | Lee was was approached by a broker carrying a letter from his father inviting him to join him. It said: “Son i’m living in China [and] i’m living well. Come.” |
| “[The broker] told me he was my father’s best friend, but he was just a business man,” says Lee. The man gave Lee a fake passport, allowing him to fly to South Korea days later. | “[The broker] told me he was my father’s best friend, but he was just a business man,” says Lee. The man gave Lee a fake passport, allowing him to fly to South Korea days later. |
| Like many defectors he then spent more than a decade trying to adjust to a new life in the midst of a “huge identity crisis... here I was with my [Korean] brothers and sisters but I was being treated like a foreigner,” he says. | Like many defectors he then spent more than a decade trying to adjust to a new life in the midst of a “huge identity crisis... here I was with my [Korean] brothers and sisters but I was being treated like a foreigner,” he says. |
| “Many defectors are timid because they have strong northern accents, they don’t know anything beyond North Korea and they are scared to make mistakes.” | “Many defectors are timid because they have strong northern accents, they don’t know anything beyond North Korea and they are scared to make mistakes.” |
| He says North Koreans come from a deeply engrained communist culture where if “one person says something different from what the community is thinking, people report them”. | He says North Koreans come from a deeply engrained communist culture where if “one person says something different from what the community is thinking, people report them”. |
| Lee is now studying for a masters degree at Warwick University with the support of the UK government. When he finishes he wants to apply for a PhD in Korean unification: one of the world’s longest running diplomatic stand-offs. “It’s the only way I can go home and see my friends,” he says. | Lee is now studying for a masters degree at Warwick University with the support of the UK government. When he finishes he wants to apply for a PhD in Korean unification: one of the world’s longest running diplomatic stand-offs. “It’s the only way I can go home and see my friends,” he says. |
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