Escape from North Korea (44 page)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

T
his book could not have been written without the North Korean men, women, and children who shared their personal stories with me. They did so even when it brought back painful memories and awakened demons they would prefer to let sleep. Many spent long hours with me describing their decisions to flee, how they escaped, and their hopes for the country they left behind. I stand in awe of their courage and determination. I am profoundly grateful to them all.

I am also deeply indebted to the South Koreans, Americans, Chinese, and others who were willing to discuss their sensitive work helping North Koreans on the run. I owe a special debt to the Rev. Phillip Buck, Adrian Hong, Michael Horowitz, Steven Kim, Tim Peters, Suzanne Scholte, and Hannah Song, who went out of their way to help me navigate the story of the new underground railroad. I am thankful for their generous assistance and for their prayers.

In South Korea, I benefited from the wisdom of experts who provided information, introductions, and interesting perspectives. Park Syung-je's analysis of the Kim family regime was invaluable. Dan Southerland and Oh Joong-sok of Radio Free Europe shared their expertise and introduced me to the brave, articulate North Korean refugees who work with them in Seoul. Lee Keum-soon of the Korea Institute for National Unification and Youn Mi-rang of the Hanawon resettlement center offered perspectives based on their interviews with hundreds of North Koreans who had fled to South Korea. I am grateful, too, to Evan Ramstad, chief of the
Wall Street Journal
's news bureau in Seoul. He and
Journal
reporter Jaeyeon Woo were exceptionally hospitable to their former colleague.

U.S. Army Colonel Kevin Madden, now retired, hosted me on my one visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. From Seoul, he guided me to the South Korean side of the DMZ, where I entered the Joint Security Area that has been administered by the U.S.-led United Nations Command since the 1953 armistice that suspended the Korean War. There, in a conference room that straddles the border, I stepped into the surreal world of North Korea and had my picture snapped standing next to a DPRK soldier. Col. Madden is an astute and compassionate observer of North Korea, and he was generous in sharing knowledge gained from more than two decades studying that country and interacting with North Korean officials.

I thank U.S. special envoys Jay Lefkowitz and Robert King and United Nations special rapporteur Vitit Muntarbhorn for their overviews of human rights issues in North Korea. I also thank Minky Worden of Human Rights Watch, who provided introductions to North Korea–and China-watchers in Asia. I am grateful to Lenko Lenkov of the America for Bulgaria Foundation for his introduction to former Bulgarian diplomat Momchil Metodiev, who shared his research on the North Korean students who defected in Sofia in the 1960s. I benefited greatly from the expertise of Lieutenant-General
Michael M. Dunn (Ret.), who provided many fascinating insights about North Korea.

Several written sources were especially useful. I turned often to Bradley K. Martin's history of the Democratic People's Republic,
Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader
; Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland's book,
Witness to Transformation: Refugee Insights into North Korea
; numerous research papers published by the Washington-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea; articles by Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University in Seoul; and the annual White Papers on Human Rights in North Korea published by the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul. I am grateful to Carl Herzig for permission to read his unpublished biography of Steven Kim.

I began to cover the new underground railroad when I worked at the
Wall Street Journal
, where I was a deputy editor of the editorial page. I thank editorial-page editor Paul A. Gigot for encouraging me to pursue the North Koreans' story and for his counsel in helping me think through the ethical issues involved in writing about vulnerable people for whom publicity might bring dire consequences. The
Journal
has the best editors in the newspaper business, and I was fortunate to work with many of them on my North Korea articles, including Howard Dickman, Erich Eichman, David Feith, Eric Gibson, Daniel P. Henninger, Michael Judge, Mary Kissel, Robert Pollock, Joseph A. Rago, Hugo Restall, Nancy de Wolf Smith, and Bret Stephens, and as well as former editors Tunku Varadarajan, Bari Weiss, and Dana White. Marie Fortini and Carol Muller provided superb administrative and research assistance.

I owe a special debt to the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in New York. Consul Park Jungyoul set up meetings for me with South Korean officials and provided helpful background material. I also thank the consul general in New York, Ambassador Kim Young-mok, as well as his predecessor, Ambassador Kim Kyungkeun. Both went out of their way to advise me.

I appreciate the assistance of the Consulate General of Japan in New York for helping me better understand North Korea's abduction of its citizens as well as Japan's policy on North Korea. I thank Yasuhisa Kawamura and Akira Sugiyama of the Japan Information Center and a former consul general, Ambassador Shinichi Nishi-miya. I am grateful, too, to Kyoko Nakayama, formerly minister of state for the abduction issue.

This book benefited greatly from the research assistance of Dan Yong Chung. I was fortunate to have such a knowledgeable, careful, and dedicated researcher at my side. I am especially grateful to Dan for his sensitive recommendations on covering the issue of half-and-half children in China. I thank Maria Kim for attending a rally in Washington, D.C., for me and Barbara Scott for researching photos for the book. I also thank my interpreters and translators: Yoonjung Seo, Henry Song, Eunjung Park, Oh Min-jae, and Su Park.

I am grateful to the Smith Richardson Foundation, which provided financial support for travel, research assistance, acquisition of some photographs, and completion of my website. The foundation's Marin Strmecki and Allan Song have my sincere thanks. I also thank Kenneth R. Weinstein, president and CEO of the Hudson Institute, where I have found a congenial intellectual home as a senior fellow. I am grateful to John Raisian, David Brady, and Mandy MacCalla of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where I was a visiting media fellow in January 2010.

My friend Rick Hibberd, a graphic designer, was generous with his time and creativity. He advised me on the photographs included in this book and helped prepare them for publication. He also made first-rate suggestions about my website and publicity materials. John Kramer offered superb advice on promotion.

I appreciate the support of Roger Kimball, president and publisher of Encounter Books. I am grateful to my expert editor, Molly Powell, as well as to Heather Ohle, Sam Schneider, and Lauren Miklos
of Encounter. I thank my adept agents, Glen Hartley and Lynn Chu, for finding a good home for
Escape from North Korea
.

Every writer needs a cheering squad, and mine was led, as always, by my mother, Virginia Kirkpatrick, who passed away as this book was entering production. I feel blessed to have had her encouragement, support, and confidence. I also thank my dear sisters, Holly Kirkpatrick Whiting and Robin Kirkpatrick Koves, along with my stepchildren, Jacqueline David, Nicole David Channing, and Zachary David. They were patient listeners, excellent sounding boards, and fountains of good cheer at difficult moments. In addition, Jacqueline helped me with online research, while Nicole read portions of the manuscript and offered smart, constructive criticisms.

Escape from North Korea
is dedicated to my husband, Jack David, who played many invaluable roles during the two years I spent working on it. He was a gracious host to my sources, an intrepid fellow traveler to faraway places, and a master martini-maker at every milestone in the book's progress. He was the book's first reader and my toughest editor, keeping me on message and never letting me get away with sloppy thinking or imprecise language. I thank him with all my heart.

—Melanie Kirkpatrick
May 2012

HOW TO HELP

Committee for Human Rights in North Korea
http://hrnk.org/

 

Crossing Borders
http://crossingbordersnk.org

 

Defense Forum Foundation
http://www.defenseforum.org

 

Good Friends: Research Institute for North Korean Society
http://goodfriendsusa.blogspot.com

 

Helping Hands Korea
www.helpinghandskorea.org

 

Korean Church Coalition
http://www.kccnk.org

 

Liberty in North Korea
http://www.linkglobal.org

 

North Korean Refugee Services Mission
www.nkrsm.org

 

318 Partners Mission Foundation
http://318.iebee.com

NOTES

Epigraphs: The quotations that precede each section of this book are drawn from William Still's
Underground Railroad. A Record of Facts, Authentic Narratives, Letters, &c., Narrating the Hardships Hair-Breadth Escapes and Death Struggles of the Slaves in their efforts for Freedom, as Related by Themselves and Others, or Witnessed by the Author; Together with Sketches of Some of the Largest Stockholders, and Most Liberal Aiders and Advisors of, the Road
(Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1872),
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/other/abl/etext/ugrr/ugrr.html
.

1
Still,
The Underground Railroad Record,
51–54.

2
In 2011, the twenty-three countries with embassies in Pyongyang were Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Syria,
the United Kingdom, and Vietnam. The Palestinian Authority also maintained an office in Pyongyang.

3
Interview with Kim Young-hwa, December 2009.

4
http://data.worldbank.org/country/korea-republic
.

5
“North Korea Might Now Have The Bomb, but It Doesn't Have Much Electricity,”
Daily Mail
, October 13, 2006,
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-410158/North-Korea-The-Bomb-doesnt-electricity.html#
.

6
Terry Miller and Kim R. Holmes, eds., Index of Economic Freedom, The Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal 2011, 245,
http://www.heritage.org/index/
.

7
Freedom in the World 2011,
Freedom House, 2011,
http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=363&year=2011
.

8
World Watch List: Where Faith Costs the Most,
Open Doors International, 2011,
http://www.opendoorsusa.org/persecution/world-watch-list
.

9
“UN Expert Spotlights ‘Abysmal' Human Rights Situation in DPR Korea,” UN News Service, October 22, 2009,
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=32681&Cr=dprk&Cr1=&Kw1=report&Kw2=vitit&Kw3=korea
.

10
Lee Jong-heon, “North Korea's Gulags Hold 200,000 Political Prisoners,” UPI, January 20, 2010.

11
Committee on Human Rights in North Korea,
www.hrnk.org
.

12
North Korea: A Case to Answer
,
A Call to Act
, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, 2007,
http://dynamic.csw.org.uk/article.asp?t=report&id=35
.

13
Marcus Noland, deputy director, Peterson Institute for International Economics, in a presentation at the Korea Society, January 2010.

14
Press conference in Washington, D.C., December 2006.

15
Interview with Kang Su-min, February 2010.

16
Still,
The Underground Railroad Record
, 31.

17
http://www.nationalcenter.org/FugitiveSlaveAct.html
.