“As a North Korean defector, I think I should play a role in inter-Korean relations,” said Park, 38, who plans to become a member of the National Assembly in Wednesday’s election. He is a candidate for the conservative party led by President Yun Seok-yeol, who has taken a hard-line stance against North Korea, and is expected to win under the proportional representation system that guarantees parties a certain number of seats based on their vote share. is. party cast.
“But I also want to play the role of Park Jung-kwon, a young Korean man. I want to do both.”
There are currently two defectors in the National Assembly. One is Tae Yong-ho, a former high-ranking North Korean diplomat who is seeking re-election, and the other is Ji Seong-ho, a North Korean human rights activist who is resigning.
Park, along with the candidacy of another North Korean defector, Kim Geum-hyuk (32), who also ran as a conservative candidate but withdrew after it became clear that he would lose this time, is drawing attention to the ambitions of millennial North Korean defectors. Collected. He is a person who aspires to a leadership role in Korean society.
They want to be leaders in setting the agenda for inter-Korean relations and key issues facing future generations of both countries, and bridging the gap between the two halves of the peninsula if they are united. They want other young Koreans to take an interest in unification, even though the majority of their peers say it is unnecessary.
“I felt that there are certain limits to what civil society alone can accomplish regarding human rights in North Korea…However, it is possible to achieve it through policy-making bodies,” Kim said of his motivation for pursuing politics.
They both know what they are talking about.
Park fled North Korea at the age of 23 because she could no longer tolerate her suspicions about the North Korean regime. He studied at North Korea’s National Defense University, which is a training ground for engineers and experts who develop North Korea’s missile technology, which the regime considers critical to its survival and security. ing.
Mr. Kim was one of the few students given the opportunity to study abroad at the prestigious Kim Il Sung University. The isolated regime attracts top students and brings much-needed expertise from abroad, even though doing so exposes students to the outside world.
But while inside Against China, he was open to outside ideas enough to draw the attention of North Korean security officials. At the age of 20, he decided to run away.
As members of North Korea’s super-elite who had proven their political loyalty to the regime, Park and Kim were given rare privileges and were supposed to guide the repressive country’s future.
“As long as the regime invested in them, they were the future of North Korea,” said Hanna Song, executive director of the North Korea Human Rights Database Center, a Seoul-based NGO that works closely with defectors.
They could have continued to live comfortably in the north. But they fled, risking their lives. Now, they are trying to bring about change within South Korea’s democratic system and bring their insights as millennials who grew up in South Korea and there.
Song said they show what is possible when given the freedom to choose how to live their lives, something North Koreans living under a totalitarian state enjoy. Said it is not a right.
“The fact that, in a sense, they have taken the experience in North Korea and turned it into what they want. [for] “A bright future for the entire Korean peninsula could send a very strong message to young people in both North and South Korea,” she said.
Park and Kim are part of a generation of millennials who grew up in North Korea in the 1990s, when capitalism took root in the theoretically communist state. Activists say they are the most powerful force for change in North Korea.
They are known as the “Janmadhan generation,” named after the market that emerged after devastating famine made it clear that the nation could not feed its people. Those who survived survived by making, selling, and buying food at the market.
The group has thrived on access to goods from China and South Korea, including television shows and movies that opened their eyes to living in major economies and freer societies. Experts say they have become more exposed to the outside world and are becoming disillusioned with their own governments.
Park, who left North Korea in 2009, said, “Even when I was in North Korea, the mindset of the younger generation was changing dramatically.”
“When I was in North Korea, there were a lot of rumors about Kim Jong Un. [as the nation’s potential successor]. “Other young North Koreans were a little skeptical,” Park added. “He’s as old as we are, but the North Koreans were spreading rumors that he was a great genius. I couldn’t believe it.”
Younger North Korean defectors have had a smoother transition into South Korean society than older defectors who have struggled to adapt to capitalism. Kim said many people in various career fields are finding ways to use their life experiences for positive change on the Korean peninsula and draw global attention to the plight of North Koreans. .
“As members of the Jangmadang generation, we have experience living in North Korea that South Korean millennials do not have,” Kim added. “So, through these insights, we can come up with unique and new ideas.”
However, they do not want to be trapped under the unique identity of “North Korean defectors.” First, both were born in North Korea and spent most of their adult lives as South Koreans, creating a dual identity that gives them a unique understanding of life on the Korean peninsula.
Their life experiences are also not representative of the majority of the 34,000 North Koreans who have settled in South Korea since 1998, most of whom are women and lack college education. It would be difficult for most young Koreans to empathize with the elite education the two received in both countries.
After escaping North Korea across the border with China and arriving in Seoul, Park earned a doctorate in materials science and engineering from one of South Korea’s top universities and landed a coveted job as a senior researcher at Hyundai Steel. I got a job.
In Congress, Park wants to develop science, technology and tax policies that impact the engineering and industrial sectors that have fueled the rise of South Korea’s economy as a manufacturing powerhouse.
“As someone with experience in South Korea’s industrial sector, I believe that innovation in our country’s corporate regulations and labor market is absolutely necessary,” he said.
However, he said he agreed with Yun’s tough stance against North Korea’s provocations and efforts to strengthen deterrence measures with the United States and Japan.
“Due to its nature, North Korea is unable to stop provocations,” he said. “We must help North Korea finally find another exit strategy and become a normal country under world standards.”
Both men believe that the North and South will definitely be unified, and that preparations must begin now by carefully studying changes within North Korea and preparing South Koreans’ views on North Korea and its people. I believe.
“Unification is the only way to solve South Korea’s various problems, including population decline, economic crisis, and polarization,” Kim said. “We need to expand our territory and population and develop markets.”
Kim, who has built a public persona since arriving in South Korea in 2012, appearing regularly on TV shows, running a YouTube channel and speaking out on North Korea issues, has not been successful this time. .
But what he really wants to shine in is politics. He worked on Yun’s presidential campaign and transition team in 2022 and joined Patriot Veterans Affairs as a policy advisor in 2023.
He is already looking ahead to the next election in four years.
“I’m only 32 years old.…I use this [election cycle] It’s to gain experience,” Kim added. “In any case, unless we abandon democracy, there will always be another election.”
