Praying for a better life down South

Praying for a better life down South

保佑我在韩国能过得好点...

“THOUGH it felt as if there was nothing left to lose, I risked everything to come here”. So says Park Cheol-hwan, a North Korean defector now living in Seoul, the South Korean capital. After crossing the border into China, as most defectors do, he spent nearly a year working in atrocious conditions to pay off his debt to the snakehead who got him there, living under the constant threat of arrest.

朝鲜的巴奇焕南逃后，定居在了韩国首都首尔。他说：“虽然俺已经穷得啥也木有了，但为了逃出来俺还是把啥都赌上了！”之前，他曾跟大家伙一起越过中朝边界，跑到中国。为了还清欠蛇头的债，他在极其恶劣的环境下拼死拼活地干了快一年，还老担心受怕的，生怕让人逮走了。

The risks of defection are enormous. Family members left behind in North Korea face brutal recrimination, while defectors face repatriation by China. All the same, the number of North Koreans ready to take the risks is rising fast. It took over half a century for the total of successful defectors to the South to reach 10,000. But in just the past three years, a further 10,000 have followed. Now the South’s unification ministry has announced that the 20,000th defector, a 41-year-old woman, arrived on November 11th.

从朝鲜逃跑的风险是很大的。你跑了，撇在身后的一家老小都抬不起头，你跑到中国了，还可能又让人家逮了遣送回去，白费半天劲。可话虽如此，愿意冒这个险的人还是只多不少。成功逃到韩国的人数突破一万大关，过去用了半个多世纪，现在只三年就又跑了一万。韩国国土统一部管事的说，这第两万个“幸运中彩者”是位41岁的大婶，这月11号中的。

It is no surprise that anyone would want to leave North Korea, but the sharp increase in numbers was unexpected, particularly by the South Korean government. It provides defectors with help, including a cash payment of 6m won ($5,300) per person and basic instruction in everything from how to use a bank card to applying make-up.

在朝鲜是人都想逃，这没啥稀奇。就是人数一下涨那么快，我们大家伙尤其是韩国政府可真没想到。韩国政府给这些人提供了援助：每人600万韩元（5300美元）的现金，再教他们一些基本的东西，银行卡咋用，化妆咋化什么的。

In Seoul the manager of one support group says that part of the reason for the increased numbers is the surprisingly easy access that North Koreans have to South Korean films and television programmes. In recent years, illegally copied DVDs from China have flooded the country, enabling citizens of the world’s most repressive state to see how sumptuously their southern cousins live.

在首尔，支持朝鲜人南逃的某某小组有管事的说了，这逃跑的人越来越多，部分

原因是朝鲜人现在很容易就能看上韩国的电影电视了。这几年，中国的盗版DVD 大量涌入朝鲜，让这些活在世界旮旯的可怜虫们可开了眼界：看看咱七大姑大八姨在韩国过得多滋润！

Because family members left behind are persecuted, whole-family defections are also becoming more common. Two-fifths of new arrivals come with at least one other member of the family, while relatives back in North Korea nervously wait for their chance to follow. More than two-thirds of defectors are women, who also happen to make up the major part of the North’s black economy, on which much of the population depends.

因为要是把家人撇下不管自己跑了，家人肯定没好果子吃，所以现在流行“全家出逃”。新跑出来的有2/5至少还带了一个家人出来，没跑的出来的乡亲们都还在朝鲜巴巴地等着机会呢。跑出来的2/3以上都是妇女，妇女是朝鲜黑市经济的重要组成部分，而朝鲜黑市呢，则是全国大部分人民所依赖的。

Few labour under the illusion that life in the South is perfect, but for many defectors their new home still comes as a shock. Despite the supposed importance of blood ties, refugees from North Korea lead second-class lives. Fewer than half of defectors are “economically active”. Many employers are unwilling to employ North Koreans, whom they consider backward, leaving many to subsist on government largesse. Defectors do their best to disguise their origins, for instance, by faking a Seoul accent in order to secure even the most menial job. Even so, since November 11th about another 50 North Koreans have made it south.

逃过去的打打零工，也没几个人幻想韩国“好得没治”。但对很多人来说，这个新家还是很不适应的。虽然说朝鲜韩国本是一家亲，但朝鲜逃过去的难民却过得低人一等。他们中参与经济活动的人还不到一半。很多韩国雇主根本不愿意用朝鲜人，觉得他们太落后。这样一来他们还得靠政府的救济。而且，逃过去的人总想掩盖自己出身朝鲜，比如，在韩国哪怕找个最低贱的工作都得装出一口首尔口音。尽管在韩国也不好混，11月11号人数突破两万大关之后，朝鲜很快又跑了大概50人，还是跑到了韩国。