Skip to main content

Ju Chan-yang - what a mighty woman (Korea Times, January 14, 2014)



Ju Chan-yang - what a mighty woman

음성듣기
By Casey Lartigue, Jr.

I was honored to be a featured speaker at the second-annual Asia Liberty Forum, hosted by the Asia Center for Enterprise from Jan. 7-9 in New Delhi, India.

As much as I enjoyed speaking and, as part of the entertainment, rapping to my revised version of Salt N Pepa's 1990s song "Whattaman," that couldn't compare to the thrill I had being able to introduce and moderate the closing address that was given by North Korean refugee Ju Chan-yang.

I first met Chan-yang in March 2012 in Seoul at a rally protesting the repatriation of North Korean refugees from China to North Korea. She was then a recent escapee.

I didn't know then that she had been captured in China and held in a refugee prison in Thailand during her escape to freedom. She was freed, thanks to bribes paid by NGOs.

I did my best to set the context of her speech for those unfamiliar with the plight of North Koreans oppressed by the Kim dynasty.

One, as a teenager, she was making life-and-death decisions. She was subjected to constant questioning by North Korean police eager to incarcerate her because other family members escaped.

She lived on her own in North Korea for three years, working in a factory, unsure of her future, worried if she would suddenly be jailed if she answered a question from police incorrectly.

Two, she escaped after being captured and imprisoned, but let's remember there are many women like Chan-yang who get caught, sent back to North Korea, raped, abused, tortured, even executed.

Even her luck is bittersweet. She is a free woman, but she must think about things that never come to mind to those of us born into freedom.

For example, I reminded the audience that most of us had been inconvenienced by flights to New Delhi being canceled on Jan. 6 due to inclement weather.

For Chan-yang, leaving the airport to stay in Shanghai overnight forced her to return to the scene of her "crime." The "man-stealers and woman-whippers" of North Korea, to borrow a term from 19th century American abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, have an agreement with China that would have brought smiles to the faces of slave owners and slave catchers throughout history.

North Korea still considers Chan-yang to be a criminal, a fugitive, for daring to steal herself away to freedom, and China returns freedom-seeking fugitives back to the prison known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The price of being born in North Korea means that she is never really free.

"There wasn't a dry eye in the audience," wrote Tom Palmer, a vice president at the DC-based Atlas Foundation. Participants at the Asia Liberty Forum heard the story of a young girl whose family planned to escape for years, motivated by illegal radio broadcasts they listened to secretly. 

Chan-yang offered to be the last to escape, reasoning that her father could make money abroad while she could survive in North Korea making extra money in North Korea's underground market.

Several times during the trip, she told me that she felt she was dreaming. She wasn't just watching an Indian movie (American and South Korean movies are banned, but North Koreans are allowed to watch Indian movies) ― she was in India.

She was thrilled to meet people from around the world, to know that people outside of Korea are concerned about the liberty of North Koreans ― not just, as she said, while motioning with her hands, the "talking, talking, talking" topics of nuclear bombs and dictators.

Once confined to worshipping the Kim dictators, she is now a free woman, trying new languages, food, and cultures with gusto.

It was quite a sight seeing her taking photo selfies with a bindi (the red spot Indian women wear on their foreheads) that she bought while shopping.

She has been speaking in English since 2012 ― four months of formal study overall, self-study and a host of volunteers (special thanks to teacher/speech coach Cho Joo-yeon, as well as teachers Matthew Feinberg and Johanna Poole).

In Seoul, she is on the verge of stardom, bringing new threats to her freedom requiring police protection. She is now a regular participant on a popular cable TV show featuring North Korean female refugees and is active in the NGO community assisting North Korean fugitives.

It is the common things that are blessings for her. She says there are some mornings she doesn't want to get out of bed when she hears her mother cooking, her father in the living room and siblings talking, because she fears she is dreaming.

In my opening remarks, I reminded the audience that I had rapped to the song "Whattaman." But I told them that after hearing Ju Chan-yang speak, they would be saying, "What a woman." 

The writer is the director for international relations at Freedom Factory Co. Ltd. in Seoul and a fellow with the Atlas Network in Washington, D.C. He can be reached at cjl@post.harvard.edu.



















Popular posts from this blog

Common Sense on North Korea (Korea Times, April 2, 2012)

By Casey Lartigue, Jr. As interesting as Kookmin University professor Andrei Lankov’s writings are, there is nothing quite like attending one of his lectures. He can barely restrain himself behind the podium, often pointing and waving his arms. I also enjoy his unscripted speeches, but his answers in Q&A sessions are like the difference between watching Michael Jordan shoot baskets in warm-ups and an actual game. I have finally discovered the secret behind Lankov’s consistently solid analysis about North Korea: Use common sense. At an Asan Institute conference last summer, he argued that North Korea watchers should try to understand North Korea from its perspective. Don’t most people know that you must understand the mindset of others you are dealing with? Yet, common sense in theory gets ignored politically. From the North Korean perspective, nuclear weapons are the best thing they’ve got going. They will NOT give them up easily, even if President Obama ...
Read more

Get rid of that watermelon!

Part 1: When I was a youngster I used to collect Confederate money, posters and photographs with caricatures of blacks, and "No blacks allowed signs." I loved the money because it was a reminder of how far the sorry Confederacy had fallen. I had one poster of a dark-skinned black boy munching on a watermelon. I would look at that small poster and wonder, "What in the world is wrong with anyone wanting to eat watermelon?" Yes, white people, I'm talking to you. Your parents, grandparents, and other ancestors who thought making fun of blacks for eating watermelon were crazy ! Even people who say that nothing has changed in race relations must acknowledge that the many stereotypes of blacks are no longer prevalent. But then, there are also some ready to remind us of days-gone-by by debunking stuff that doesn't need to be debunked today. According to the Washington Post: The sound you just heard was yet another racial stereotype going kersplat ! Some ...
Read more

Rich talking back

The rich are talked about very often in negative terms, but how often do the rich respond in kind? Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart, who inherited most of her money but apparently has also done very well with it, recently railed against class warfare and had some advice for the non-rich : "There is no monopoly on becoming a millionaire," she writes. "If you're jealous of those with more money, don't just sit there and complain. Do something to make more money yourself - spend less time drinking, or smoking and socializing and more time working."   She complained about politicians raising taxes, regulations that slow investment, and other anti-business policies that harm the poor. "If you want to help the poor and our next generation, make investment, reinvenstment and businesses welcome."
Read more

To be a good volunteer, use your brain (Korea Times, December 5, 2012)

By Casey Lartigue, Jr. There is probably an unwritten rule that a celebrity offering to do volunteer work for a good cause should immediately be embraced. Well, that’s not what happened to Jeong So-dam, the glamorous Korean cable TV announcer when our paths crossed on Nov. 29. Ms. Jeong was the MC of an event about American political philosophy hosted by the Association for Economic Evolution. During my speech about American libertarianism since 1940, I discussed my volunteer work for North Korean refugees. After the speech, Jeong approached me, asking how she could help. I gave her the same tough love I give to potential volunteers by asking: “Who are you?” After all, if you are Bill Gates, then open your wallet. If you speak four languages, then help with translation work. So I first stress to potential volunteers: Use your brain. Tell us about your skills and interests so together we can figure out your initial role.  Jeong was good-natured about it, rather than c...
Read more

Why I won't go to North Korea (Korea Times, December 27, 2012)

By Casey Lartigue, Jr. “Have you ever been to North Korea?” This is the question I am almost always asked here in South Korea when people learn that I have become an activist for North Korean escapees. My response is curt: “No.” “Do you plan on going?” they ask next. My answer remains the same: “No.” When they start to ask a follow-up question, I cut them off: "No." People are often just trying to make conversation, I know, but I am blunt for a reason: I am not interested in going to North Korea as long as North Koreans are held captive. I could go one day, but for now, I can do without a government-guided tour by " men-stealers and women-whippers ," to borrow a phrase from American abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. I don’t mean to criticize people who have gone to North Korea for political, educational, business, religious reasons or just plain curiosity. However, some people push me on the issue, ― and I push back. A good friend wh...
Read more