Just a year ago, I went on a Gov/Econ class trip to the DMZ. We didn’t actually get to set our feet on the demilitarized zone, but we peaked into a pair of binoculars to see a small village of houses on the other side of the barbed wire fences that separated the Korean peninsula. Our tour guide told us that no one lived in those houses; the houses were built there solely to be seen by visitors like ourselves. We were supposed to believe that this village was representative of North Koreans’ lives.
The trip was just another field trip to me because we didn’t know or have experienced living on other side of the DMZ. But for Haejung and the other teenage defectors, their tears were tears of worry about their family’s well-being. I felt an emotional surge when the teenage defectors prayed at the DMZ, hoping that reunification can happen soon enough to see their parents and siblings before they die. I see my parents and brother everyday, even at times when I want to avoid them. I took them for granted, but I realized I shouldn’t. Also, I thought Haejung was very, very brave in showing her face in the video. Even though her face has changed so much that North Korean authorities cannot recognize her, there are possibilites of death threats for this North Korean defector during a time of intense North Korea-South Korea relationship. The video helped me gain a modern perspective to the separation of the two Koreas because previously, I read books like “Aquariums of Pyongyang” and “Still Life with Rice” which reflected 1950/1960′s North Korea.
