Pathetic Life of North Koreans in Foreign Country

On March 16 at 2:00 p.m. on an iron bridge over Duman River, 300 km away from Vladivostok, Russia, a North Korean freight train appeared from the distance. Although the train, crossing the Russian border, made noise from its steam and wheels, it ran intermittently at a speed of 5km which is regarded as a fast pace compared to humans.

Russian wood was loaded in the first cargo compartment among the four compartments.

The train looked poor compared to a Russian train with more than 30 cargo compartments.

As the train crossed the bridge, two North Korean soldiers came out of a guard post located on a bank of south of Duman River. On a plain topped with snow, soldiers with rifles patrolled around the post staring at the Russian side across the river. With the silver-white snowy background, black iron railings around the post conspicuously stood out. Russian residents in Hasan said, “The iron railings were installed to prevent North Koreans from escaping across the Duman River.”

Looking to the west, there were cranes which had not been operated for a while and drain pipes. To the south of the cranes, there were unpaved two-lane roads. Russian guides said, “Those roads will be connected with Hasan in Russia or Hunchun in China someday.”

The Hasan station is 2km away from the iron bridge on the border, and it is the first station which the North Korean trains coming into Russia stop at. The station is a terminal for most of the North Korean trains because of the different routes. When North Korean leader Kim Jong Il visited Russia in July 2001, he transferred to his private train here.

A notice in Korean, “Take passports and visas,” was on the bulletin board in the station.

About 30 shabby-looking North Korean workers were gathering in a waiting room slightly bigger than 40 pyeong. Among three of the gates, two of them were locked. As I asked a female station employee about the locked door, she smiled and said, “Ask them,” referring to the North Koreans.

In front of the locked door, four workers were passing hand-stained cards. On the other side, two were playing chess.

Except for some of the people playing games, almost all were lying on the benches in the waiting room and appeared exhausted from the long trip. Although five North Korean guards were staring at them, the workers did not seem nervous and care much about his behavior.

As an agent wearing a Kim Il Sung badge came in, the room became quiet for a few seconds, but the games continued. The face of an agent in a black suit was clean, compared with that of workers with shabby clothes and dirty faces.

Coming out of the room, I met three workers who were smoking outside. One of the workers wearing a dark jacket and a hat said, “I came here from Pyongyang today.”

As I asked them “Where are you going?,” they replied, “We are going to Nizny Novogorod.” To go to Nizny Novogorod by train, they have to get off and transfer to a trans-Siberian train running over 8,000 km.

A worker who introduced himself as over 40 years old exhaled out a strong cloud of smoke and said, “Tonight, we will transfer to a train at Ussuriysk and leave for Nizny Novogorod” Their faces showed fears concerning the distant and strange land. An employee said that he felt bad for not going to Vladivostok near Hasan and asked, “Is Hasan colder than here?” and “Would it be ok if I roam around the construction site at night?”

When I asked a worker wearing a color-fade North Koran military uniform, “How much money will you get paid per month?,” he answered, “I just heard that it would be enough to live on.”

Three of them were saying, “We could not bring any expenses for the trip from the North and we have never seen any rubles.” As the reporter gave each of them 300 rubles (approximately 15,000 won) , they looked around and said, “Thank you and we’ll spend it well.” The worker who said he is now 40 asked the reporter for his age and called him brother.

For about ten minutes, the conversation continued smoothly. Some workers said, “If you have a family in the North, send a letter as soon as possible and meet them.”

The chatting ended when a guard in blue sportswear came out immediately. As the guard said, “A brother is coming from the South,” the workers returned to the waiting room with stiff looks.

At the border area, I could feel how many North Korean workers going into Primorye felt through this place. In the afternoon that day, I found North Korean workers who were hurriedly carrying cement in a housing construction site near Kraskino, Russia, 40km north of the Hasan Station.

viyonz@donga.com