Over the past 20 years, 33,000 North Korean refugees have escaped to South Korea, though their plight in South Korea is largely unknown to the Western World. These North Korean refugees who have made it to freedom are struggling.
Within South Korea, North Koreans find themselves in a land of plenty but can't seem to move on. For many, they are not in danger for the first time in decades but cannot turn off the traumatic memories from their lives in North Korea and the peril they faced during their escape. After escaping North Korea, refugees travel the 6,000 mile modern day underground railroad in China and other Asian countries.
Following on the authors' earlier title, Escaping North Korea: Defiance and Hope in the World's Most Repressive Country and gathered from the author's work with the NGO, Crossing Borders, this book shares the real life stories of North Koreans trapped under the weight of lingering trauma, depression, and discrimination from South Koreans. These stories help us to imagine what the future might hold for North Korea and North Korean refugees in a changing world.
In the past 20 years, 33,000 North Koreas have escaped to South Korea. For many, South Korea is not the promised land they expected it to be, as these refugees suffer from both the trauma of the North Korean regime and the inability to find their place within South Korean society. This book begins by providing an inside close-up look at the lives of North Korean refugees in South Korea. What happens to the North Korean mind after they land in South Korea and the effects of a lifetime of hardship. Within South Korea, North Koreans find themselves in a land of plenty but can’t seem to move on. For many, they are not in danger for the first time in decades but cannot turn off the traumatic memories from their lives in North Korea and the peril they faced in China during their escape.
After escaping North Korea, refugees travel the 6,000 mile modern day underground railroad in China and other countries in Asia. The underground railroad provides North Korean refugees a main thoroughfare to freedom, but China has begun to break down the networks that protect these people, enacting harsh penalties for foreign aid workers.
The book will inform readers through storytelling. Because of the ongoing work of Crossing Borders, which is an organization transforming the lives of North Korean refugees since 2003,. most of the stories will be tied to the work of the organization. Initially created to aid refugees in escaping the North, Crossing Borders has expanded its work to work with newly resettled refugees within South Korea and beyond.
Over the past 20 years, 33,000 North Korean refugees have escaped to South Korea, though their plight in South Korea is largely unknown.
