Daily
NK has learned that a small but surprising number of North Korean defectors in the South are
receiving remittances from relatives still in the North, a reversal of the normal flow of monies from South to North.
A
source in North Hamkyung Province reported to Daily NK on August 25th,
“Some time ago I heard from a Korean-Japanese vendor
selling high-end South Korean and Japanese home appliances that his younger
brother was having a hard time living in the South so he sent him some money.” According to the source, the trader earns a decent living from his business activities, whereas his
younger brother got caught up in drug-smuggling related activities and, fearing
the repercussions, defected to the South in 2012.
The younger sibling has since struggled to settle into life in South Korea, where adapting to an entirely different system can be very problematic; eventually he resorted to requesting
money from his older sister in the North, who sent him approximately 10,000 RMB every three months. Just as is the case in the South, families
in the North must use a network of domestic, Chinese, and South Korean brokers
to remit money to family. Each broker
receives 10% of the total remittance amount, in this family’s case, cropping the final
amount received to 7,000 RMB per transaction.
News
of the case has spread rapidly in the sizeable market in question, with perplexed vendors saying, “South Korea is supposed to
be so great and yet this is all they’ve got?”
The
source mused that this may give cause for some to question the idealistic view they
maintain about life in the South. “Right now this case only applies to a few families,
but it’s not something intentionally disseminated by the authorities; the topic
has come up naturally in conversation between residents,” he explained. “If this
were to happen again and again, it could cause people to stop longing for a life in the
South.”
The response to the case from families with relatives residing below the 38th parallel is divided. Some say they are lucky as they receive funds, which can provide seed money to start businesses and the like.
They continue to maintain a positive perspective on life there. Others have their doubts, however, saying that life must be hard if they need money from North Korea, and wondering whether it is worth the effort of defection.
The
onset of the Kim Jong Eun era saw fear of expulsion for family members of
defectors, referred to as “traitors to the Motherland.” At recent inminban
[people’s unit] meetings, however, people’s unit chairwomen have taken a
conciliatory approach, saying, to paraphrase, “The Marshal [Kim Jong Eun] says that defectors are not
betraying the Motherland, but were sucked in by delusions of grandeur in the
South; families shouldn’t worry but instead trust in the Marshal and call them
back home.”
Families
found temporary stability in the policy, but soon thereafter, “The atmosphere
completely dissipated, quickly replaced by stringent controls on the border to
curtail the number of defections,” he concluded.
