Daily NK [DNK]: Please introduce yourself.
Ms. Kim [Kim]: My name is Kim Jin Hyun (pictured left), and I am the owner of Chongjin Rice
Cake Workshop in Seoul. I fled North Korea in 1999.
DNK: How were you making a living in North Korea?
Kim: I graduated from university in 1989. It was around that
time that Kim Il Sung instructed the majority of students to go to the
agricultural regions. In North Korea, when you are told to go somewhere, you
just have to go there. I was dispatched to the countryside in 1988 and worked
in the youth labor division for the next 10 years. Our main task was to supply
vegetables to the shops by growing cabbages and other vegetables year-round.
DNK: What did you find most difficult about settling in South
Korea?
Kim: Because I came by myself to South Korea, I felt lonely and
often thought about my hometown – especially on weekends. I first settled in
Gumi in Gyeongsan Province, and began working a month later.
I urgently needed money to repay the broker (who arranged my
escape from North Korea) and to bring my child, who was then in China, to the
South. The South Korean government’s resettlement allowance is only provided
for six months, so I had to find work immediately. At first, I had a part-time
job assembling mobile phones at Samho Electronics. I was responsible for
managing three press machines. The work wasn’t too physically challenging but
it was dangerous, because the machine could easily sever your hand while you
were trying to pick out defective parts. I was a little scared at the time and
lacked confidence in general.
I worked there for 6 months and was happy with the company
itself, as it had a track record of hiring refugees and my coworkers were kind
to me. Plus, there were two other refugees working with me. The company
president also took frequent business trips to China and had an interest in
North Korean affairs.
DNK: What other work did you do?
Kim: Back in North Korea I was selected to work in a dining hall.
There were 130 of us working there. I worked there for 5-6 years, which gave me
some of the experience I needed to eventually open my own rice cake shop here
in South Korea.
While I was working in Gumi, I saw a posting for cooks at a
recruitment agency and applied for it. After I got that job, I quit my previous
job and enrolled in a cooking school. I later moved to Seoul in 2010 after a
friend introduced me to a cold noodle restaurant that was run by refugees.
DNK: What was the most difficult part of working in a restaurant?
Kim: I worked as the head chef at a North Korean-style cold
noodle restaurant, but had to leave because business wasn’t very good. The
wages offered by other restaurants were too low, so I thought I may need to
stop working as a cook. But then I found a posting at a raw fish restaurant.
The manager asked me if I was from North Korea. It’s customary for refugees to
say that they are ethnic Koreans from China, but I told the truth.
A shift was supposed to last for 11 hours, but I always
worked 12 hours. Because I was in such a hurry to find a new job at the time, I
didn’t know what the restaurant owner or the manager was like. I later found
out that the manager changed frequently.
When you get paid a salary, you are entitled to paid
vacation. However, this restaurant would instead cut my salary when I took a
day off. I first thought that this was standard industry practice but later
found out otherwise. Also, if you subscribe to employment insurance, you are
entitled to paid vacation and paid holidays, but I also didn’t know about this.
I worked there for 3 months, and when I left, the owner refused to pay all that
I was owed.
DNK: You opened your shop in September 2015. Why do you include
the word “workshop” in its name?
Kim: Chongjin is my hometown, and because I liked the meaning of
that name, I named my shop Chongjin Rice Cake Workshop. I called it a workshop
so as to distinguish it from a mill, and also as a venue where I can give
lessons. It’s legally permissible to process food products in your own home,
but not to sell it. Because I needed to sell my rice cakes, I opened up a shop
and registered it with the city’s health inspection department.
DNK: What particular know-how do you have for making delicious
rice cakes? And what makes it so difficult?
Kim: Each rice cake has its own secrets and methods. But the most
important ingredient is effort. This may sound obvious, but food won’t taste
good unless some effort goes into it.
Also, because rice cakes are produced on a daily basis,
keeping a consistent mindset each day is very important. I think that my
emotions are expressed in the rice cakes.
DNK: Your business is now a year old. What is the most important
thing for keeping your business afloat?
Kim: It’s obvious that the taste of the food and customer service
are essential. However, it’s important to remember that actually running a
business requires a lot more money than you initially plan for. The first 5
months were especially difficult. Although the orders kept coming in,
unexpected costs made it difficult to make ends meet. Fortunately, I had been
processing food for 3 months before opening up the business, so I already had
some equipment ready. If I had opened a shop immediately, I would have had a
much harder time.
Another essential thing is having a good partnership.
Thankfully, my husband is able to help me with things like delivery, and this
has the added benefit of reducing costs.
DNK: Do you have your own philosophy in regards to making rice
cakes?
Kim: I never go against my conscience. If the product tastes bad,
then I accept that it tastes bad and don’t try to convince myself otherwise. I
make the rice cakes with the mindset that my family will be eating it.
In particular, I don’t involve anyone else in making the
rice cakes. Honestly, it requires a lot of strength and fortitude. Nonetheless,
I never take any shortcuts. In particular, I can’t hand this task to anyone
because it’s essential to maintain the rice cakes’ distinct flavor.
DNK: How much money did you put down to start the business?
Kim: I needed 20 million KRW in total: 10 million KRW for the
security deposit and 10 million KRW for facilities and equipment. Since I work
by myself, I don’t need to pay any employees.
DNK: Are you happy with how your business is going?
Kim: It’s not enough to make any significant savings, but it’s
slowly improving. I hope that revenues will rise a bit more. July and August
are lean months for rice cake shops.
I make the rice cakes just the way that I did in North
Korea, and as my mother taught me. However, South Korea doesn’t have the same
ingredients that are used in the North. Also, some types of rice cakes, like
frozen potato rice cakes, are quite expensive to produce. But I am determined
to find a way to roll them out this year.
DNK: You are also engaged in volunteer work. Could you talk about
that a little bit?
Kim: One thing that surprised me in the South was the lack of
neighborliness. People don’t know their neighbors, and they stay in their homes
all day and don’t even greet each other in the elevator.
I saw a shocking report on the news about the elderly who
live alone and pass away without anyone noticing. I thought that the situation
must be even worse for the elderly who come from North Korea. So I began making
rice cakes for elderly North Korean refugees on their birthdays. I began doing
so after I opened up my shop, and I think they appreciate it because it reminds
them of their hometowns. You can’t just donate your talent because you want to;
there needs to be an opportunity for donation. I’m thankful to be able to
contribute something.
DNK: What have been some of the most difficult things you have
encountered?
Kim: Comments like “this rice cake is pretty ordinary,” or “this
is different to what I like” upset me because I put so much effort into making
it. Someone recently complained that the tofu rice cake is too large. The
original rice cake in North Korea is actually much larger, while other
customers have told me that it’s the perfect size.
Obviously, it is disconcerting to hear such comments. You
run into all sorts of people when running a business and pick up some scars.
But my philosophy is that those in the service industry shouldn’t always be so
submissive and passive to their customers; instead, when something needs to be
said, it should be said. Once, a hospital patient placed an order. The customer
then took a photo of the order with a faulty camera and claimed on Kakaostory [Korean social networking service] that I had cheated her and posted the distorted photo. I called the customer,
who ended up apologizing and taking down the photo.
There were other customers who falsely claimed that their
delivery was late, or that I didn’t take their calls.
But once I began having repeat customers, and not just North
Korean defectors but South Koreans as well, my work became more enjoyable.
Recently, I delivered a batch of rice cakes to a pregnant woman. Later, her
mother-in-law called to say that her daughter-in-law enjoyed the rice cakes and
had an easy delivery. She also placed another order to celebrate the baby’s
first 100 days, and remarked that the rice cakes were really soft and delicious.
DNK: What do you do after work?
Kim: If there’s no order for the following day, then I tend to
fret about it. My husband tells me that one day without an order is okay, and
not to worry so much. But I can’t help but worry about the rent and other
costs. Thankfully, orders have been more consistent than before.
DNK: Rice cakes are a part of Korean tradition. Is there a
particular rice cake you want to make after reunification?
After reunification, I want to return to my hometown and
introduce South Korean rice cakes. Both Koreas have different styles of rice
cake. I also want to make a fusion style rice cake by integrating the different
methods. I think that things like this will help to bridge cultures
post-reunification.
DNK: What are your future plans?
Kim: I plan to get an oven in the workshop to try making rice
cakes with ingredients other than flour. With an oven, I can make sweet
rice tart or cheese rice cakes. These have a longer expiration date, so I can
send them via parcel delivery. I also want to try online marketing. I’m going
to get some business advice very soon.
I also want to open up a rice cake café, a place where
people can eat rice cakes and drink tea.
DNK: What would you do if someone wanted to learn your
techniques, or proposed to open up a franchise under your name?
I don’t want to open up a franchise. However, if someone
with good work ethic and passion wants to learn, then I would be willing to
teach them free of charge. But I won’t have anyone who may tarnish the image of
my place as a workshop. That person would need to learn how to get the taste
consistent. This is really difficult to do, and even if you follow the recipe
exactly, the taste can still be inconsistent. That’s why the learner needs to
be hard-working and passionate.
DNK: What advice do you have to recent newcomers to South Korea?
In the North, despite the amount of knowledge and passion
that you have, you can’t do the work that you want to do. However, in the
South, as long as you have the will, you can make a living through a wide
variety of work. My advice is to try and get by with hard work and not resort
to tricks and shortcuts. If you work hard and don’t get too greedy, you’ll
likely succeed in South Korea.
