A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea

by Masaji Ishikawa

During the period of the Japanese Empire, thousands upon thousands of Koreans had been brought to Japan against their will to serve as slave laborers and, later, cannon fodder. Now, the government was afraid that these Koreans and their families, discriminated against and poverty-stricken in the postwar years, might become a source of social unrest. Sending them back to Korea was a solution to a problem. Nothing more.

“If you come back to your homeland, the government will guarantee you a stable life and a first-class education for your children.” For the countless Koreans who were unemployed, underpaid, and laboring away at whatever odd jobs they could get, the abstract promises of socialism held far less sway than the hope for a stable life and a bright future for their children.

When you find yourself caught in a crazy system dreamed up by dangerous lunatics, you just do what you’re told.

The penalty for thinking was death. I can never forgive Kim Il-sung for taking away our right to think.

“And you realize that roads in this country are classified as military secrets?”

Bizarrely, that was the truth. At the time, all railroads, roads, and rivers were military secrets. You revealed their locations at peril of death.

The reality was “no work, no dinner.” So old people had to work until they died. They truly did.

And I came to recognize that, no matter how difficult the reality, you mustn’t let yourself be beaten. You must have a strong will. You have to summon what you know is right from your innermost depths and follow it.

In the West, I guess you’d call it corruption. In North Korea, it was just standard operating procedure. Suddenly I had access to soybean paste and soy sauce. There was no way I would let such an opportunity pass me by.