An Interview with North Korean Defector Ji Seong-ho
John Dale Grover
Security, Asia
"We have seen young people from the South and North come together as friends, with mutual respect and acceptance, and without hesitation, in order to solve North Korea’s human-rights issues."
If the day comes that North and South Korea reunite as one country, North Korean refugees and defectors living in South Korea have a vital role to play. These Koreans have lived in both societies, and understand both the gravity of human-rights abuses undertaken by Pyongyang and the need for good integration policies from Seoul. Ji Seong-ho, a defector invited by President Donald Trump to his 2018 State of the Union Address, walked six thousand miles on crutches to escape North Korea and now leads a South Korean nonprofit called Now Action & Unity for Human Rights (NAUH). He focuses on “small unifications” to integrate other defectors as a way to help Koreans get to know each other in preparation for a future united Korea.
I reached out to Ji, asking him about his work and views on the future of North Korea. I also asked him about what it is that South Koreans or Americans may misunderstand about North Korea.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
How are NAUH’s “small unifications” helping to bridge the divide between North and South Koreans?
South Korea and North Korea were originally a single nation, but were divided into two separate nations by ideological differences. After the Korean War, a devastating war fought among the Korean minjok (people), the way people think has been polarized, and now, Koreans have become archenemies of one another. Technically, the war is not over, with the armistice still in effect. Seoul has been preparing for unification, but it’s not exactly an easy situation given the above-mentioned realities. Indeed, the governments and political systems of the two Koreas are very different, but mutually incompatible unification policies put forth by the South Korean left and right cannot be ignored either.
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