NK Investigative Report 2001

North Korea Investigative Report

Week 5 - Children (cont)

An In-Depth Look

Children in North Korea are almost completely forsaken. They appear to be suffering from complete physiological and psychological stress that is rarely seen today. These children barely eat. They do not have the skills to forage for food in the mountains like adults. They rely on their parents to feed them, but many adults are also coping with starvation and don't see caring for their children as a priority.

Children will eat anything they can scavenge — even picking up an earthworm to eat. Many as young as 13 and 14 are working in fields to help support their families instead of attending school. For the past few years the number of children enrolled in school has declined. Because of a lack of textbooks, many teachers write the contents of books on chalkboards for students to read.

Teachers constantly beaten their students as a way to let out their frustrations. Instead of set punishments, students are hit with any object. Many are hit on the head, though some children say they are used to the beatings.

One woman said that she saw orphan kids gathering near a fireplace at a train station in North Korea. When the fire went out, they would cover themselves with the ashes to keep warm while sleeping. Some never woke up.

According to people we've spoken with, thousands of children have run away to China. Until recent heavy crackdowns, many North Korean children were seen running around markets in Yanbian. Surprisingly, children are not put into jail or shot for crossing the border. Instead, they are beaten by soldiers if caught. These children often lack clothes, and when found by missionaries, their hair is usually filled with lice. A missionary said he was cleaning one of the children's clothes and lice fell out like sand.

These children do not own a single toy. They want to play sports, but can't. Many have never seen a soccer ball or basketball in their lives. They do not watch TV, because few exist and electricity is available only two or three hours a day. They have no concept of favorite sports star or heroes. They do not receive any attention from their parents and mainly spend time by hanging out with friends and talking.

Physically, the majority of them have stunted growth. Many children around the age of 16 do not grow taller than five feet, and many look like they weigh less than 70 lbs. Also mandatory army service begins around the age of 17 or 18, but many do not look fit enough to join.

These children are the future of North Korea, but by looking at these dying children, the future looks bleak. Even if the doors to North Korea open, people will have a difficult time dealing with children because our childhood experiences have very little in common with theirs. Many are psychologically damaged and have difficulty trusting and opening up to strangers. There is some glimmer of hope. Many have realized that their country is among the worst in the world and do not accept the Juche teachings. Unlike older generations, they have no qualms complaining about Kim Il Sung or Kim Jong Il. They even have a nick-name for Kim Jong Il, they call him, "Kim Bae-Tae," to make fun of his fat stomach.

One team member's account of a meeting with a 16-year boy:

"One night, we arranged a meeting with a North Korean boy who just crossed the border the day before for the second time. We had heard about starving children whose growth is stunted and how 18-year-olds look like 10-year-olds. When we met him, he was exactly like how people describe North Korean children. He was small and very skinny. It was strange for a while because we were talking to someone who looked like a 10-year-old kid but with the mind of a 16-year-old. During the interview, I kept on forgetting that he is 16. He was 5 feet tall. I actually stood next to him and took a picture, for a moment I thought to myself, it isn't as bad as I expected. But the moment he told me that he was the tallest student in his class that shocked me. There are kids his age smaller than he is.

He was somewhat nervous in the beginning. The fact that we are Americans scared him a lot, but I had to sit there and convince him that we are from the same blood and we look like each other. He was still closed off, and hesitant to talk. When he spoke he spoke softly. It wasn't out of shyness; it was more like suspicion. So we tried in the beginning to talk to him as though we were talking to kids in the U.S. We tried to talk about all the things we like as children, but nothing clicked. I asked him, 'So do you like playing soccer? Who is your favorite player?' He would respond, 'What is a soccer ball? I have heard of a soccer ball, but I haven't seen one for a very long time. I don't think anyone in our town owns a ball. We can't play any sports, because we have nothing to play with. I don't any soccer players.' This was a very typical conversation that night.

Another member of our team wanted to tell a joke about a 'tough guy' who wears leather jackets and rides motorcycles, but how could the boy know about a clothes that's made of cow hide, when he has never eaten beef in his life? I was also telling him my seaweed joke, but I don't think he has ever seen seaweed, so didn't even crack a smile when I told him this really funny seaweed joke.

He then started to describe his town. There are two televisions in his hometown of about 1,000 people. Electricity comes on an hour or two at night and faucet water comes out sporadically. He takes baths in the lake, and barely gets anything to eat. Most of the people in his town are coal miners, and he's seen a lot of people get hurt when the caves collapse.

We also found out that many kids have come to China and have gone back. With his close friends, they talk about going to China and meeting foreigners. He was taught all his life that foreigners are evil, but starting last year many of his friends realized that what they were taught were wrong since many were given money and help. He said that no one attends school anymore. He couldn't recall the last time he went to school. We had a little moment of laughter when he said, 'I know I haven't been to school this year, but have I been to school last year? I don't think I have either.' He said that male teachers constantly beat him, and that's one of the reasons why he didn't like attending school. He also said that the punishment for children isn't as severe when they are caught.

He also knows that if someone is discovered to be a Christian in North Korea they are punished severely. He knows someone that went to jail for 8 years and he's heard of people that were shot. He didn't have many good things to say about Kim Jong Il. He said that he couldn't even feed a small country so how can he be a great person. He told us that people make fun of him because his stomach sticks out.

His guardian later told us that he can't even digest rice and he throws up if he eats rice. So they usually have special diet for them. Fortunately, this boy is one of the lucky ones. Most children die crossing the border or just simply starve to death. The ones that are alive are barely alive."

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