Discovering Joy: Ten Years in North Korea

by Joy Yoon

one of the most intensely collectivistic

these students have no breaks.

suspect that there is no other place on earth where collectivistic culture is as strong as it is in North Korea.

However, for us, since we were long-term residents, our presence required months of sacrifice from our minders. They could not go home for months at a time.

North Korea’s extreme loyalty to the nation

Most areas foreigners are taken accept only foreign currency.

In North Korea all basic necessities are provided by the government. This includes housing, education, medical care, as well as basic food and clothing. These bare necessities are provided essentially free of charge by the state. Individuals may not be able to choose where they live or work but they do not have to worry about paying rent or mortgage.

women of the country. As homemakers, they are the ones who make and sell items in the market, on

department stores

The one exception is the food industry.

Since the basic economy runs on so little currency, favors are a means to give and receive what is needed. Therefore, doing business requires an exchange in favors or gifts. For example, the average North Korean doctor is paid a salary of less than one U.S. dollar a week. No one can actually thrive on that income, yet doctors are highly educated and respected in North Korea, as they are everywhere in the world. Although the health care system is free of charge, it is understood that a patient should bring a “Thank You” gift or tip to the doctor each time he or she is treated. This ensures that the doctor has an income he or she can live on as well as enabling the doctor to maintain the respectable status of a physician. If the gifts given the doctor are items that are not needed by the doctor’s family, then they can be exchanged or sold at the local farmer’s market. These gifts can also be used to barter with in exchange for plumbing or electrical work or some other needed service or favor from someone else.

By the time we had lived in Pyongyang for about five years, we were attending one of these state churches regularly. These churches have been ridiculed by foreigners as being mere “facades.37” Foreigners think that the congregations just go through the motions of worship because they are ordered to do so by the government, not because they choose to believe. The churches have also been ridiculed as a mere facade of religious freedom in North Korea.38 It is true that religious freedom does not exist for the vast majority of North Koreans. It is also true that religious freedom is nominally part of the 1949 North Korean constitution and show-cased by these churches.

twenty officially registered house churches

One reason for the lag is that North Korea requires doctors studying abroad to be fully funded by the host nations, not just for the cost of tuition but also for room and board. Few such programs are available. Another reason given is that the country is still in a war-time mentality. The military receives priority when it comes to medical care because the state is focused on ensuring that all able-bodied persons are fit to contribute to the preservation of the country. Physicians are primarily tasked with remedying acute diseases. To put all of this in perspective, however, the most common medical issue for children is diarrhea, a problem that might be described as rampant.

In Pyongyang, in what is considered the best maternity hospital in the country, mothers are separated from both baby and family. Instead of being handed to the new mom at birth, newborns are immediately taken straight to the nursery by the nursing staff. Fathers and other immediate family members are not allowed in and can only talk to the mother via video conferencing. Mothers are quarantined to prevent the threat of disease. Only at a mother’s request is she eventually able to hold her baby at least a day or more after the birth. Disease prevention takes precedence over maternal bonding.

children with disabilities.

now available for the first time in North Korea.

Why not learn from China?

a calling or profession in North Korea.

“In Poland, we always viewed communism as something imposed on us by a foreign power (Russia), but in North Korea I discovered that communism is a nationalistic movement, of the people and for the people. The people really believe in it.”

He would personally oversee every tiny detail in the development of his country.

in 1994, the entire country was seen weeping and crying out in mourning. Many have questioned whether or not those tears were genuine. We think they were.

His voice was nothing spectacular, but as he spoke, a few older women near me began to weep.

People all over the world criticize North Korea’s leaders. The news media quote defectors that have had horrific experiences and label North Korea’s leaders cruel. A well-rounded picture of North Korea however includes not only these heart-breakingly tragic accounts but also the perspectives of the citizens who remain fully devoted to their leaders and their nation.

We may think that the negative outweighs the good, but in a socialist system, all local people directly receive benefits from their leaders. For example, Chairman Kim Jong-Un, in addition to constructing new apartment complexes in Pyongyang, has undertaken a project to rebuild the orphanages throughout the entire nation. I

North Korean Hearts and Mind

It takes them a long time to trust a foreigner, but once they do, they are willing to move mountains for their friends.

After four years of what felt like house-arrest,

On this night as we discussed the possibility of unification between North and South Korea, I found myself explaining to my North Korean dinner guests why the idea of unification was so difficult for South Koreans to accept. I explained, “Just as you were traumatized by the Korean War, South Korea was too. For you, the enemy was the United States, but for South Korea the enemy was you. Before unification can take place, we all need to be able to forgive one another for the atrocities that occurred! If I could, I would ask forgiveness of you as a U.S. citizen, although I have no authority to do so. Please know that that is my heart. Only as we learn to forgive one another will unification be possible.” Our driver immediately agreed, “Definitely! If the U.S. can ask for forgiveness, then unification will surely be imminent!” To my shock and dismay our minder then added, “But of course, we have nothing we need to ask forgiveness for! Why should we ask for forgiveness?” Although the conversation continued a while longer, it was obvious that I was hitting a wall when it came to their side of things. Out of frustration, silent tears started streaming down my face. At that point, our minder displayed obvious discomfort and quickly excused himself for the night. On his way, he quietly asked me to walk him out. In the dark just outside our doorway and away from anyone else’s ears, he did something I would have never expected in a million years. He apologized quietly and asked me no...

His letter moved all of the officials involved in the decision process so deeply that they reversed their initial decision and granted our application all within just a few days! That was how our family ended up moving to the Foreign Diplomatic Compound as the first Americans to have lived there in almost seventy years!

The way we approach North Korea makes a difference. North Koreans are not interested in material help if accepting assistance means shaming their country and their people. North Koreans are a proud people, as are we all. Meaningful engagement with North Korea requires investment in trustworthy relationships.

How do we build trustworthy relationships with North Koreans? Simply by trying to understand where they come from and who they are. North Korea is not interested in being pitied or patronized by foreigners. They do not want to be told what to do. They want relationship based on mutual respect and reciprocal give and take. Many North Koreans have been surprised to get to know us and interact with us. Their attitudes about Americans have changed from fear and hatred to openness and warmth for their newfound friends. The more my husband and I understood North Koreans, the more we learned to work together with positive results. And the more we learned to trust them, the deeper our relationships with them became. To my own surprise, I discovered joy in building relationships in the DPRK. What became a personal journey of discovery has taught me so much about who I am. I had my own preconceptions of who North Koreans were, and not all of it was true. But I had preconceptions about myself too. It was only when I became vulnerable and allowed myself to engage openly with them on a human level in their own world that I began to expand my unde...