one1004's Xanga

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:43:01 GMT

A Call To Conscience in Free Korea

Friends,

Over a decade ago, the world watched as over a million North Koreans starved to death. Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans fled their country in search of food, and brought with them stories of a land very different from the South. A nation where freedoms of religion, speech, assembly, movement and dissent did not exist. Where listening to a foreign radio broadcast was grounds for treason. Where failing to honor the leader meant disloyalty. Where public executions were common. Where concentration camps reminiscent of Nazi Germany dotted the landscape.

Since our inception just over four years ago, our organization and our allies have worked to raise awareness of the plight of the forgotten North Korean people throughout the world. Today, thousands upon thousands of refugees remain in hiding throughout Asia, fearing forcible return to North Korea, where many would face torture or execution for leaving without permission. Today, at least 250,000 inmates guilty of no real crime live in a network of political prison camps, where survivors say unspeakable acts take place in inconceivable conditions. Recently, NGOs and experts have warned that in coming months perhaps several hundred thousand North Koreans will die of starvation.

Inmates at North Korea's Yoduk Concentration Camp

It was not long ago that the two Koreas were one. A great number of families on both sides of the DMZ have intimate family connections on the other side. And yet here today, in Seoul, awareness and interest in the plight of these people is painfully lacking. The average South Korean knows more about the uninhabited island of Dokdo or members of the latest Korean pop group than about their brothers and sisters to the North. And in past weeks, reports of a resurgent famine and painful stories of North Korean suffering have been drowned out by public protests against American beef.

The beef issue has complex roots. It is not as simple as an issue of food safety. Intertwined with concerns over mad cow disease are larger concerns about the power of the Blue House, the relationship between Korea and America, and concerns about the impact of free trade on Korea’s domestic industries.

At the same time, 25 million North Koreans today live in a nation that is, essentially, a prison-state. And despite over 13,000 North Koreans walking the streets among the citizens of the South, Free Korea has yet to use it’s voice on behalf of these voiceless. In a most succinct, perhaps insensitive summary – while South Koreans bicker over what they don’t wish to eat, North Koreans are dying for want of any food at all.

Many of us involved in this work are foreigners. Often, our voice is not always well-received in debates here in Korea. We long have worked to build local allies and work to politely, gently, but firmly raise the issue of North Korean human rights. Perhaps we have lost the urgency of this issue amidst a small sea of conferences, symposiums and petitions.

People are dying. We must do more.

This weekend, groups organizing protests in Seoul have pledged that one million will turn out to protest over the beef issue. Last week, protestors came brandishing steel pipes and bricks, toppling police vans and attacking the offices of several major newspapers. Right or wrong, we believe that violence is never an acceptable form of civic discourse in a democracy.

Throughout history, men and women have had moments where they came to believe that their lives meant something greater. Individuals have lived through eras where injustice reigned and suffering was widespread, and stood against it, often at great personal cost. This weekend, here in South Korea, we believe we must do our part. If politicians, academics, celebrities and others cannot raise the notion that there are perhaps more important and urgent matters deserving of Korea’s attention, then we will.

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies,
but the silence of our friends.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This weekend, we ask you to join us at Seoul City Hall. On July 5, protest organizers have pledged their largest and most aggressive protest yet. LiNK, in conjunction with No-No Demo, a group of South Korean students 30,000 strong, defector organizations, expatriate groups, Korean Americans, international students and many other sympathizers, will hold a public funeral for the dead and dying of North Korea. We will stand beside protestors and remind them that perhaps there are more pressing issues.

We are aware that we may face violent reactions to our message. Others bearing similar messages have faced beatings or threats of violence. If struck we will not strike back. We will be vastly outnumbered, highly unpopular and quite possibly offensive. But the fact remains – North Koreans are dying, and Free Korea has forgotten them. We have been warned repeatedly that any criticism of protests, perceived or real, will spark backlash. But what then shall we do? Remain silent? Shall we be content to read wire reports and news briefs of more lives lost? Shall we tell escapees of concentration camps and victims of sexual trafficking who share with us their stories, “I am sorry, but now is not the time to raise this issue.”?

Justice delayed is justice denied.

If you are willing to stand with us this Saturday, please contact rsvp@linkglobal.org for more information. Whether you are a student, a teacher, a professional or a tourist, this is a rare chance to stand for your convictions, and be a part of something greater. Perhaps we will make history. Perhaps we will see the beginnings of a sea change in the South Korean grassroots. Perhaps this will spark a moment of reflection and a call to conscience. Or, perhaps, we will fail, unnoticed, maybe bearing fresh wounds. But this is what is right, and sometimes that is all that matters.
Free Korea must stand for her enslaved brothers and sisters.

WHO: You.
WHERE: Seoul City Hall, meet at exit 2
WHEN: Saturday, July 5, 2008 @ 6 pm
WHY: To speak for 25 million voiceless North Koreans
ATTIRE: Black Funeral Attire
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: rsvp@linkglobal.org

MORE:
http://blog.daum.net/linkglobal
http://libertyinnorthkorea.blogspot.com/

Our lives begin to end the day
we become silent about things that matter.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Saturday, June 07, 2008

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 03:54:34 GMT

LA PRIVATE SCREENING: "CROSSING"

Please join us on Thursday, June 19 at 7:00 pm in LA, for a private advance screening of the forthcoming film Crossing, presented by LiNK, KoreAm Journal, and ImaginAsian Entertainment. Production quietly began on this film in 2004, and today we have the first feature film touching upon the North Korean human rights and refugee crisis. It is slated for theatrical release in South Korea on June 26. This film may very well be our movement's "Hotel Rwanda" or "Schindler's List." We are excited to be able to present this film here in the US for special advance screening.

THURSDAY, JUNE 19
Date/Time: 7:00 pm
Location: ImaginAsian Center, 251 South Main Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Presented by: LiNK, KoreAm Journal, and ImaginAsian Entertainment.

RSVP with name, affiliation, and reference. Affiliation and reference required: rsvp@linkglobal.org.

*Seating is limited and RSVP's will be on a first-come, first-serve basis.

(see film trailer down below)

Links:
http://crossing2008.co.kr/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUqRvVgogZ0
http://www.koreanmovie.com/Crossing_depicts_the_plight_of_North_Korean_defectors_news1686/
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200803/200803170011.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSEO16870720071029

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/may/31/drama-focuses-on-horror-of-re-education-camps/

Monday, May 05, 2008

Mon, 05 May 2008 08:14:34 GMT

<< born & raised in a north korean concentration camp >>

come see, hear & learn

* * *

also private pre-screening of "CROSSING " next thursday in ny
(and following week in LA) - more info

DON' T miss it...

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:55:51 GMT

Project: Real Sunshine

Join us this summer....

"The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing
would suffice to solve most of the world's problems. "
|| gandhi ||

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 23:45:10 GMT

the story....

once upon a time there was

a girl

and a boy

who were "just friends"....
in fact, best friends.
they met at church and eventually served in youth group together (it was a 2 for 1 deal).
but this boy was so nice because he always tried to set up this girl with all his friends (because she had no game.)
plus, she didn't like him like that, and he thought she was loud.

well this boy and girl hung out all the time with their friends- he introduced her to baden, and she introduced him to Jesus (jkjk). they did lots of fun things together and they thought they would be best friends forever! they even made a marriage pact- if neither one was married by the time they turned 30, then desperation would force them to marry each other... time flew by and soon boy and girl decided to amend the pact because 30 was too soon and they just didn't like each other (like that).
so 35 it was!

fast forward many years and suddenly this girl starts to think about moving away for this amazing job...and so she ponders this idea for a full year. then on april fools, she thought it would be funny to text her friends as a joke that she was moving away! well, this boy did not think it was funny at all and cried when he found out (maybe?) suddenly he started wondering what life would be like if his super-cool-awesome and funny friend picked up and moved away....
who would he go to all those christian concerts with?
who would come over and clean his dishes for him?
who would teach him how to play football or how to be a good gopher?
who would stand up for him and his red couch and pahma?
who would plan his birthday parties and make fun of him at teachers mtgs?

well....this boy wallowed in all of these thoughts
and by the time this girl really decided to make the move to DC-
this boy realized he had to make some moves too.

- - fast forward - -

boy likes girl
girl finally caves in
and boy gets girl
and...
voila!

boy and girl date for over a year...and one day this girl finds out she has to go to asia for work for 5 weeks.
boy is sad and cries (again) but everything works out because now this girl can meet this boys family.
finally at the end of the long trip, this girl is in the motherland and she prepares herself to meet this boy's father.
he set up a meeting for her and told her exactly where to be at exactly what time....
but she was running late!

*nervous* but excited, she finally arrived at TechnoMart on the 9th floor.
searching around, she finally spotted his father and walked over.....

only to realize she was mistaken
and it wasn't papa park.
OOPS!!

it was this guy

who flew all the way to korea just to surprise this girl...

to ask her to spend forever with him.

and she said no....

then eventually yes
and then they went to pojangmacha to go celebrate.

and now this girl is the luckiest girl in the world!

-- the end --

or....the beginning

||o4.o4.o9||

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:45:27 GMT

oops oops oops.
forgot to post this update a month ago.

but, met the perfect guy online (www.koreancupid.com)
and just a few weeks later.....

WE'RE ENGAGED!!!!
12.09.07

ok ok- we didn't meet online.
in fact we were "just friends" for 4 yrs.
(but he secretly always loooooved me- ok fine maybe not)

i know what you're thinking....
and yes, God does work MIRACLES!
so sisters, don't lose hope.
savagery pays off in the end!

stay tuned for the proposal....

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 14:30:01 GMT

Born and Raised in a North Korean Prison Camp

Ex-prisoner speaks out about life spent in brutal, harrowing conditions.

By JOOHEE CHO

Oct. 30, 2007 —

The first two days of torture started with threatening questions about his family's conspiracy. Shin Dong-Hyuk had no answers because at age 14, he was required to live in the dormitory with other teenagers in North Korea's notorious political prison camp No.14, north of Pyongyang. He had not seen his parents and brother for weeks.

The next morning, Shin was hung upside down with his ankles cuffed, all day long. He wondered why his mother and brother tried to escape, if what the authorities claimed was true. Surely, they should have known that anything short of being out of place in this camp is punished by death.

On the fourth day Shin was dragged into cell No.7, the secret underground torture chamber. Completely stripped, legs cuffed, hands tied with rope, his legs and hands were hung from the ceiling. The torturers lit up a charcoal fire under his back. He struggled. But they pierced a steel hook near Shin's groin to keep him from writhing. Amid the sounds and smells of flesh burning, Shin then blacked out.

Eleven years after that day, Shin Dong-Hyuk is now standing high in Seoul, South Korea, signing autographs in his recently published book "Escape to the Outside World," which is about his life in the North Korean prison camp. He's spreading the word about the brutal North Korean regime and making plans for a new life of freedom.

But none of it would be possible if not for a daring, tragic escape.

Born Behind Barbed Wire

In 2005, Shin successfully escaped the prison camp where he was born, raised and repeatedly tortured. It took a month for him to sneak to the border where he bribed his way into China. After 17 months of seeking refuge, he was granted defector status by the South Korean government last year.

Shin's parents were granted marriage inside the camp for being model prisoners. They spent five days together as an award, and separated again in accordance with the prison rule. Shin has little memory of his father and brother because everyone above 12 years old was to live in separate dormitories of same age and sex. He lived with his mother until age 12, but he has no attached feelings.

"She never hugged me, never," he recalled.

Shin's schooling involved reading, writing and simple adding and subtracting. Children were beaten to death in front of others for stealing five grains of wheat out of hunger. Girls were raped and protesting mothers disappeared. He witnessed his own mother offering sex to guards. Teenagers were buried under cement while being forced to build power plants. Shin's middle-finger knuckle was cut off as punishment for dropping a sewing machine. And he watched the public executions of his mother and brother after their failed escape.

But for Shin, that was the way it was. "I didn't think the world I lived in was wrong. I was born to it," he said.

He has known no other alternative. He also did not even know of the Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il nor the late-founder Kim Il-Sung.

"People are surprised when I say I didn't know about them. I really did not hear those names inside the camp," said Shin.

Human rights activists say the political prisoners condemned to die in those prison camps are not considered fit to be trained ideologically. "They are simply not treated as one of the people," said Tim Peters at Helping Hands Korea.

"I thought it was only natural that I pay for my parents' sins with hard labor," recalled Shin.

An Escape Born of Curiosity

His hope in life was to be a model prisoner and be granted marriage like his father -- that is, until he learned another world existed outside camp No.14. A new inmate who had been in China and other Asian countries told him stories and taught him his first song. Shin had never heard a song, let alone music of any sort except the bells that rang to signal time of day.

So when he agreed to escape the barbed wires of his prison camp with the new inmate, it was not that he felt injustice or anger. Shin said he was "just curious, that's all." His fellow escapee died burnt and stuck to the electric wired fences -- a tragic twist, but for Shin it created an opportunity. He was able to safely crawl over the dead body as protection from getting electrified.

Crawling through, his legs got caught temporarily, leaving another unforgettable scar in addition to his burnt back and cut knuckle. But as he ran bleeding to find the new world, he did not imagine where he stands now.

In South Korea, Shin is telling the world about the secret atrocities of the North Korean regime and the political prison camp No.14. He gave testimony at Britain's House of Lords this year and hopes to do the same in the United States Congress. Privately, he dreams of going to college and becoming a policeman.

- - - -

All That My Father Asked of Me

Sunday, September 30, 2007; [The Washington Post] B08

Although our family left South Korea to begin a new life in America over 30 years ago, I didn't know that my North Korea-born father was such an American patriot until the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

While I was growing up, my father was the epitome of the silent type, never raising his voice yet guiding his children by how diligently he worked as the owner-operator of a tiny dry cleaning business in Yonkers, the blue-collar New York City suburb.

He left at 6 in the morning and returned home at 8 at night with the dirt and smell of his work clinging to him. Even in the face of some business or family crisis, he would be silent, offering no excuses and exhibiting no emotion. The next morning, he would go off to face the mounds of clothes as usual.

My father rarely talked about his childhood in Pyongyang. He never mentioned that he had been accepted to medical school in Moscow on a full scholarship before the Korean War obliterated that option. He never talked about escaping alone to the South when he was 16, and he still doesn't know what happened to his mother and baby sister. He never talked about fighting in the Korean War at 17, though when my brother and I were little, he let us play with the scar that a North Korean bullet left across his chest.

These details we got in rare bits and pieces from our Mom, who isn't exactly voluble herself.

I never even knew my father spoke six languages -- Korean, English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Russian -- until I was in college. And there I was, all smug about being able to speak Korean, English and some Spanish.

This was the father I knew -- silent, hardworking and very Korean -- until he called me a few months after Sept. 11 and told me to come home. For the first time in memory, he said he wanted to talk to me.

So I was on the next plane to New York. When I arrived, expecting the worst, it was past midnight. My father was waiting in his car. He said he wanted to go for a drive into the city and handed me the keys. He told me to head downtown along Fifth Avenue.

All the way, he was quiet. But as we approached Washington Square Park, I stopped the car without my father having to tell me to. The absence was so striking. The twin towers of the World Trade Center, usually framed by the Washington Square Arch, were gone. There was just an eerie glow where they used to be.

Then, for the first time in my life, my father asked me for a favor. He asked me to quit my job and go to work for the U.S. government, in whatever capacity it would take me.

My initial reaction was to dismiss this as ridiculous. I was chief of staff for the founder of an international consulting firm and the fastest-rising executive in the company's history. I had a guaranteed, financially secure future. This was the American dream for which my parents had sacrificed all their lives. And he wanted me to go back to school and apply to become a government bureaucrat?

Like any other American, I was deeply affected by Sept. 11. Three students from my high school were killed that day. But this was out of the question. I couldn't give up what I had worked so hard for.

Then he said something that stopped my breath. He said: "Please." My father, who, along with my mother, had slaved in a stifling dry cleaners for more than 20 years for his children, felt the need to say please to his son.

He talked about gratitude. His gratitude to America for allowing a North Korean orphan to take care of his family and send his sons to the best schools in the world. His sense of thankfulness at being granted the freedom and privilege to make his life worthwhile for his family. He said that real patriotism came from acting on your sense of gratitude for your country, not just talking about it. Having one of his sons contribute to the protection of America was his only way to pay back what he had received. I hadn't known my father was such an eloquent man.

So, finally, this June, I began my new life as a bureaucrat, working at the Transportation Security Administration. Along with 50,000 proud colleagues, I am responsible for safeguarding America's freedom of movement for both people and goods.

My father is quietly ecstatic and plans, finally, to retire. He is 75. And he is a Korean American patriot.

-- Jason Lim

Monday, October 15, 2007

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 08:49:19 GMT

October 13, 2007
REVIEW & OUTLOOK

Not Nobel Winners

October 13, 2007; Page A10

In Olso yesterday, the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was not awarded to the Burmese monks whose defiance against, and brutalization at the hands of, the country's military junta in recent weeks captured the attention of the Free World.

The prize was also not awarded to Morgan Tsvangirai, Arthur Mutambara and other Zimbabwe opposition leaders who were arrested and in some cases beaten by police earlier this year while protesting peacefully against dictator Robert Mugabe.

Or to Father Nguyen Van Ly, a Catholic priest in Vietnam arrested this year and sentenced to eight years in prison for helping the pro-democracy group Block 8406.

Or to Wajeha al-Huwaider and Fawzia al-Uyyouni, co-founders of the League of Demanders of Women's Right to Drive Cars in Saudi Arabia, who are waging a modest struggle with grand ambitions to secure basic rights for women in that Muslim country.

Or to Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, who has fought tirelessly to end the violence wrought by left-wing terrorists and drug lords in his country.

Or to Garry Kasparov and the several hundred Russians who were arrested in April, and are continually harassed, for resisting President Vladimir Putin's slide toward authoritarian rule.

Or to the people of Iraq, who bravely work to rebuild and reunite their country amid constant threats to themselves and their families from terrorists who deliberately target civilians.

Or to Presidents Viktor Yushchenko and Mikheil Saakashvili who, despite the efforts of the Kremlin to undermine their young states, stayed true to the spirit of the peaceful "color" revolutions they led in Ukraine and Georgia and showed that democracy can put down deep roots in Russia's backyard.

Or to Britain's Tony Blair, Ireland's Bertie Ahern and the voters of Northern Ireland, who in March were able to set aside decades of hatred to establish joint Catholic-Protestant rule in Northern Ireland.

Or to thousands of Chinese bloggers who run the risk of arrest by trying to bring uncensored information to their countrymen.

Or to scholar and activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim, jailed presidential candidate Ayman Nour and other democracy campaigners in Egypt.

Or, posthumously, to lawmakers Walid Eido, Pierre Gemayel, Antoine Ghanem, Rafik Hariri, George Hawi and Gibran Tueni; journalist Samir Kassir; and other Lebanese citizens who've been assassinated since 2005 for their efforts to free their country from Syrian control.

Or to the Reverend Phillip Buck; Pastor Chun Ki Won and his organization, Durihana; Tim Peters and his Helping Hands Korea; and Liberty in North Korea, who help North Korean refugees escape to safety in free nations.

These men and women put their own lives and livelihoods at risk by working to rid the world of violence and oppression. Let us hope they survive the coming year so that the Nobel Prize Committee might consider them for the 2008 award.

Monday, October 01, 2007

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 16:54:50 GMT

LiNK Light of Liberty: Inaugural Benefit Gala
Tickets available NOW- click here for more information!

Liberty in North Korea [ LiNK ] cordially invites you to our Inaugural Benefit Gala, entitled "Light of Liberty," to be held on Wednesday, October 24, 2007, at The Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City, here in the Washington, D.C. area. Guests will be treated to a full-course meal with an entrée of choice, the opportunity to honor and meet the champions of the North Korean human rights cause, and presentations and highlights of some of our successful past programs and exciting new initiatives.

LiNK will be recognizing several special awardees. US Representative Ed Royce (R-CA) will be honored with our Light of Liberty Award for his years of work and advocacy on behalf of the North Korean people. North Korean defector Kang Chol-Hwan, a survivor of the notorious Yodok concentration camp and author of Aquariums of Pyongyang, will be honored with our Freedom Fighter Award, for his work in raising awareness of the issue, as well as for his efforts rescuing North Korean refugees remaining in the underground. Lisa Ling, host of National Geographic's Explorer TV show and special correspondent for the Oprah Winfrey Show, has been invited to give remarks. Ms. Ling recently returned from a trip to the DPRK, and profiled the nation in a special piece entitled, "Inside North Korea." Yul Kwon and Becky Lee, first and third place winners of television's Survivor: Cook Islands show, will be special presenters for the evening, and leaders of the North Korean human rights movement and the North Korean defector community will also be present. The gala will also feature special presentations about LiNK programs, new initiatives and underground efforts, as well as special remarks by North Korean refugees now resettled in the United States.

If you are in the Washington, D.C. area on October 24, 2007, please join us! (There is a special student rate as well). The event is black-tie optional.

Registration is available here! You may also contact Alexandra Nam at (202) 714-5465 or ally (at) linkglobal.org for further information. We hope to see you there!

Friday, September 28, 2007

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 18:21:01 GMT

N. Korean defectors feel abandoned in South

By Tim Johnson, McClatchy Newspapers

Thu Sep 27, 9:52 AM ET

SEOUL, South Korea — One can spot the North Koreans by their stunted stature, the result of growing up on inadequate diets. They often seem befuddled in banks and restaurants, and they speak Korean with a noticeable accent.

They risked their lives to get here, but even when they're assimilated they earn half of what their South Korean brethren do— for drudge work. There are 11,000 of them in South Korea , trickling in at the rate of only 2,000 a year, but increasingly they're the unwanted relatives at the doorstep.

The South Korean government, which fears that any crisis with Pyongyang could unleash a flood of North Korean migrants, seems to be pulling up the welcome mat.

"South Korean people are not interested in North Koreans," said Kang Won-cheol , a 25-year-old university student who left North Korea in 2000. "They see us as foreigners, as different from them."

Experts say South Korea is seeking to slow the stream of refugees, in order to avert a mass exodus from North Korea and ease tensions with its unpredictable neighbor. That will leave thousands of North Koreans stranded en route in China , Mongolia and Southeast Asia , in a hidden humanitarian crisis.

"South Korean authorities do everything possible to minimize the arrival of refugees," said Andrei Lankov , a North Korea expert at Seoul's Kookmin University .

In principle, Seoul says it will accept any North Korean who wants to resettle. But Lankov said the reality was that immigration officials tried to push the door closed for common people, such as farmers.

"The government wants the story to filter back to North Korea that life is hard here," added Kang Cheol -hwan, a journalist in Seoul and the author of "Aquariums of Pyongyang ," an account of his youth in a labor camp in North Korea .

The situation underscores gaps in North and South Korea policies aimed at eventually unifying into a single state. The two nations have marched as a unified team at Olympic Games opening ceremonies since 2000, and the Unification Ministry , which handles relations with the North, is a landmark in Seoul .

Earlier this year, South Korea cut the initial stipend that refugees receive to the equivalent of $6,400 , with another $13,860 or so for housing, adding payments at the back end if immigrants hold jobs for more than a year.

A couple of weeks ago, a 36-year-old North Korean made headlines by leaping from her 10th-floor Seoul apartment in a suicide that called attention to the travails of newly arrived defectors.

Finding work is no easy task for North Koreans, who are easily distinguished by their accented speech, their initial unfamiliarity with conveniences such as microwave ovens and remote controls, their bewilderment at how banks function and their sense of entitlement given the hardships they endured in the world's last Stalinist holdout.

It can take years for them to grow used to the South's capitalist ethic.

"Learning a market system is like learning a new language," said Park Syung Je , a defense analyst who said he'd interviewed more than 1,000 refugees in recent years.

"They go into restaurants and don't understand why prices are different for different things," Park added.

Refugees can be distinguished even by their short stature, a result of poor nutrition. A 2005 survey of 1,075 defectors found Northern men were 4 inches shorter than Southern men on average. For young women, the difference was 2.5 inches.

Many refugees arrive with no families, leaving spouses and children behind. About 70 percent of recent refugees are women, some of whom seek to marry South Korean men, viewing it as a route to assimilation. But few find mates they think are suitable.

"They made me feel I am a second-class citizen here," a refugee who used the pseudonym Kim Kum-suk told the semi-official Yonhap news agency earlier this year. "Some of them treated me like a Vietnamese and Philippine bride they can buy, while others sounded like they were looking for a housemaid-type wife."

A sense of enduring humiliation can gnaw at the refugees.

Kim Seong -min, a former North Korean army captain whose story led President Bush to receive him at the White House last year, still recalls with shame what happened to him at a barbershop on arriving in South Korea after he defected in 1999. An attendant handed him a paper cup with liquid.

"I thought it was soda," Kim said, so he drank it. "Everybody laughed at me. It was mouthwash for gargling. They asked me why I drank it."

As more defectors arrive, they become targets for criminals.

A joint survey released early this year by the state-funded Korea Institute of Criminal Justice Policy and Cheongju University showed that fraud, theft and robbery rates against defectors are five times higher than for average South Koreans. Some 21 percent of defectors said they'd been cheated out of financial assets.

South Koreans, for their part, sometimes complain that North Koreans don't display much will to adapt. They also say that the stipends refugees receive are diverted to human traffickers in China , who'll bring relatives from the North through Southeast Asia to Seoul for around $3,500 .

No one knows for sure how many North Koreans fled after the severe famine in the mid-1990s. The journey can be perilous.

Some 50,000 to 150,000 North Koreans have crossed into China . If China catches them, it usually deports them to their homeland, where they may be thrown into labor camps. Some refugees have married Chinese and settled down. Others long to move on. More than 1,000 refugees are in Mongolia and Southeast Asia , waiting for approval to go to South Korea .

In a bid to win attention from South Korean authorities, some refugees in U.N. detention centers embellish or make up stories about their pasts, saying they were party cadres or witnessed atrocities in the North.

"Some defectors come up with fake stories to be picked," said Kang, the author. "If a defector says, 'I was a fisherman' or a farmer, then people look down on him. So people exaggerate their status."

North Korea lambasted the South after a mass defection in July 2004 , when 468 North Koreans were airlifted from Hanoi to South Korea , the largest such defection ever. Since then, Seoul has been wary of accepting anything but small groups.

Lankov, the scholar, said defectors who learned the mechanics of capitalism and democracy might prove indispensable one day in erecting a post-Kim Jong Il government in North Korea .

"I believe the (refugee) policy is myopic," Lankov said. "If the North Korean system collapses, who will form the post- North Korea elite? . . . When change happens, they will be vital for reconstruction."