North Korean defector sings songs of hope for daughter

By Jung Da-min

Singer Han Ok-joung / Courtesy of DR Entertainment

Han Ok-joung, a North Korean defector and a singer, recently revealed her story as the mother of a 20-year-old daughter who was born in China. Han was 21 years old when she left North Korea in 1998.

Han said she never imagined fleeing the North as she had already made her debut as a singer there. "I was deceived by a broker who sold my sister first," Han said. She was also sold to a Chinese farm in Heilongjiang Province in northern China.

Before she came to South Korea in 2003, Han spent five years there and had a daughter with her Chinese husband. Her daughter followed her a year after. "I ran back to China again a day after I acquired a South Korean passport and brought my daughter here," she said.

Han said she and her daughter have not really talked about their past in China. "It is painful even to think about it but I decided to share my story, hoping to encourage defector families who are in the same situation as me and my daughter," she said.

Han's daughter turned 20 this year and started university. Growing up, she avoided discussing her identity with her friends and even her own mother. There was an unspoken agreement not to bring up the issue among her friends and between the mother and daughter.

"As I have appeared on television programs many times, my daughter's friends all knew I came from North Korea but no one asked my daughter about it," Han said.

Social perceptions toward North Korean defectors have made it hard for defectors and their children born abroad to feel confident about their identity. Han said the term "North Korean defector" needs to be abolished first. While South Koreans call those who left North Korea before the 1950-53 Korean War "displaced people," treating them equally, those who left the North after the truce agreement have been treated differently, Han pointed out.

"It is just about timing," Han said. "We are the same people in that we all lost our hometown in the North."

Han has recently released a song titled "My Hometown," her fourth single in South Korea. The song is about longing for her hometown.

"How long should I wait to visit my hometown? How long should I cry to visit my house?" the lyrics read. The song was featured in a ballet creation titled "Miracle Bird," which depicts a real story of the reunion of a family that had been separated in the Korean War. It was performed at Nowon Arts Center in Seoul, Saturday.

Han has also been heading a volunteer organization called North Korea Give, through which North Korean refugees share their talents. "I want to tell people that we (North Korean refugees) can also give what we have and we are not just beneficiaries (of government support)."

(责任编辑：新闻中心)