North Koreans at Home

I was heading down the corridor, past the passenger waiting seats on my left and the food court tables on my right. On my left, ahead of me I saw him approaching. I stopped and gave him a smile, eager to hear his question.

"담배 흡연실 있읍니까?" he asked in heavily accented Korean. He had a slightly cheerful and eager expression.
"예?" I replied, wasn't sure what he was asking.

My limited Korean vocabulary was really doing me in. But I recognized a few syllables in that sentence, positive I've heard them somewhere. He repeated the question. But I still couldn't quite grasp the message. Then, slightly exasperated, he repeated the words "담배", motioning with his fingers in a way a person holding a cigarette might. Seeing that, I immediately remembered.

He was asking for a smoking room. I tried my best to replicate his accent so I don't sound too much like how a South Korean would and told him there isn't any here. He seemed disappointed but still cheerful. I was intrigued by the lapel pin worn by him and his countrymen across their chest on their outer garment. So I braved myself to ask whether he had any spare ones. As I motioned to point it out to him, he recoiled back slightly and I slowly pulled my arm back, wary. As expected, he said no, still with a smile. Before I headed back to where I was needed, I asked whether he was going back to Joseon. I didn't specify North or South. He replied with a smile and a yes, probably delighted that I used the correct term. I bid him farewell and continued on.

That was probably the most pleasant conversation I've had with a North Korean, lasting under a minute. Probably not much to shout about but it was an encounter nonetheless. Over the course of the next 3 to 4 days at work I would volunteer as translator for my colleagues at the cash register. Sometimes they didn't need me as the North Koreans spoke passable Malay. For a Korean speaker, the language isn't that hard to learn. Most of them were polite, some were understandably distressed and frustrated due to the language barrier. But generally they were a quiet bunch who were only interested in their own matters and largely kept to themselves.

During the month of April, the government deported over 100 North Koreans who had overstayed. This was just shortly after the Kim Jong-Nam assassination debacle. It was a period where the eyes of the world were turned towards Malaysia and the DPRK. Sarawak was no exception as it was reported before that there were close to 200 North Korean workers working in our coal mines. So naturally the murder case was a catalyst for the mass deportation.

One day one of my colleagues asked me, "if you went abroad, would you remain loyal to your country?"
My interest was piqued. I said of course.
"Would you be so loyal so as to wear a 1Malaysia pin wherever you go?"
"I would wear a pin with the Sarawak flag on it."
"Look at them, they're so loyal," she then gestured slightly to the North Koreans and the lapel pins they wore near their chest.
I then explained to her that they wore it not out of genuine loyalty but because they were mandated to, even in their own country. She was still not convinced. I understood why.

The world thinks the whole country is brainwashed. Mention North Korea and the focus would shift to Kim Jong-Un, nuclear weapons, poor country, evil government. Usually in that order. Mention a North Korean and the general perception will not be received well.

"They are commies, they live in a communist country."

Is China not a communist country? Isn't Vietnam one too? But we do not call them commies.

I for one think that the North Korean people are a misunderstood bunch. If one could just look past the North Korean nationality label and just see a person, it would very much help. Strip away the surface and you will see someone born and raised in a totalitarian country with little choice and freedom of what to think, say and do. You will find someone who has struggled to make ends meet and to survive each day. You will find someone who has to provide for the family. You will find someone who has been told what to think and what job to do without options. And most importantly you will find a human being.

Open up your mind. North Korean laborers are just the same as any Bangladeshi or Pakistani laborer you will find in KL and Singapore.

Ordinary North Korean citizens are victims of circumstances. Hate not the people who do not know any more than what they are told but rather, point your opinions towards the government.