On November 2, the Korea Hana Foundation held its third English speech contest for North Korean refugee youth. Kim Eun-ju, a North Korean refugee who is now attending an alternative school for North Korean refugee youth in South Korea, was the Grand Prize winner in the Youth Category. Her mentor for the speech contest was India Meyers, a volunteer tutor and speech coach mentor with the Teach North Korean Refugees Global Education Center (TNKR). Below is the text of Eun-ju's prepared remarks, which she agreed to share with "Voices from the North."―Ed.
I have a dream.
Since the North-South Korea summit was held in Panmunjom in the spring of 2018, a peaceful atmosphere on the Korean Peninsula has been created. According to the research done by Seoul National University in 2018, the people's perception of unification was improved.
However, research also says the negative perception of North Korean refugees in South Korea was strengthened. I think this is a contradiction. While South Koreans have positive views about the unification, they also have negative views about living together with the North Korean refugees.
The North Korean refugees here are not different from the North Koreans who are going to live together with you after the unification. I think this contradiction between the perceptions is because South Koreans don't have enough time to have personal relationships with North Korean refugees, and North Korean refugees cannot make South Koreans trust them.
I think I have something to do in this perceptual contradiction. I want to make South Koreans around me trust North Koreans as their coworkers, neighbors, friends, and their family members. I think I can do this through my ordinary life. I don't have to be Simon and Garfunkel's "bridge over troubled water."?
First, I will be a competent student. Next year, I am going to study at college. Can you guess my major? Spanish is my major. I've already began to study Spanish like "Hola, como estas? Me llamo Eun-ju". I am sure that next spring I will be a star in my Spanish class and my new college friends will want me to join their group assignments.?
People are often times afraid of the unknown. By integrating with other students, I will be able to show that I am not much different from them. Through my friendship with South Korean students, my hope is that the invisible wall that separates North and South Koreans will be slowly, but surely, torn down.?
Second, I will share what I have with the people in need. The people could be my college friends, my church friends or my North Korean refugee friends. My sharing could be advising, encouraging, helping in their studies or just spending time together and weeping together. Most importantly, I will not hide the fact that I am from North Korea. I will tell my South Korean friends the good memories of my hometown and the love I've received from my family and friends?in North Korea rather than the hardship I've experienced.
I don't want to do communist propaganda but want to let my South Korean friends know that we North Korean refugees are also raised with love and we know how to share love. We North Korean refugees are different from South Korean friends because we had different experiences. However, the differences can make a better and richer Korea than with just South Koreans alone. I want to prove it through my ordinary life. It only takes a spark to get a fire going. And soon all those around can warm up in its glowing. I want to be the spark.
I have a dream that one day anywhere in the Korean Peninsula, the sons of former North Koreans and the sons of former South Koreans will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that my family and North Korean friends will one day live in one Korea where they will not be judged by their places of birth.
Now, I invite you to my dream. Let's make this dream come true. Thank you!
Casey Lartigue Jr., co-founder of the Teach North Korean Refugees Global Education Center along with Eunkoo Lee, was the 2017 winner of the "Social Contribution" Prize from the Hansarang Rural Cultural Foundation and was recently named the 2019 winner of a "Challenge Maker" Award from Challenge Korea. Lartigue was chief judge of the contest.
I have a dream.
Since the North-South Korea summit was held in Panmunjom in the spring of 2018, a peaceful atmosphere on the Korean Peninsula has been created. According to the research done by Seoul National University in 2018, the people's perception of unification was improved.
However, research also says the negative perception of North Korean refugees in South Korea was strengthened. I think this is a contradiction. While South Koreans have positive views about the unification, they also have negative views about living together with the North Korean refugees.
The North Korean refugees here are not different from the North Koreans who are going to live together with you after the unification. I think this contradiction between the perceptions is because South Koreans don't have enough time to have personal relationships with North Korean refugees, and North Korean refugees cannot make South Koreans trust them.
I think I have something to do in this perceptual contradiction. I want to make South Koreans around me trust North Koreans as their coworkers, neighbors, friends, and their family members. I think I can do this through my ordinary life. I don't have to be Simon and Garfunkel's "bridge over troubled water."?
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| Kim Eun-ju, Grand Prize winner of the Korea Hana Foundation's Third English Speech Contest for North Korean refugee youth, with Casey Lartigue, co-founder of TNKR and contest chief judge. Courtesy of Casey Lartigue |
First, I will be a competent student. Next year, I am going to study at college. Can you guess my major? Spanish is my major. I've already began to study Spanish like "Hola, como estas? Me llamo Eun-ju". I am sure that next spring I will be a star in my Spanish class and my new college friends will want me to join their group assignments.?
People are often times afraid of the unknown. By integrating with other students, I will be able to show that I am not much different from them. Through my friendship with South Korean students, my hope is that the invisible wall that separates North and South Koreans will be slowly, but surely, torn down.?
Second, I will share what I have with the people in need. The people could be my college friends, my church friends or my North Korean refugee friends. My sharing could be advising, encouraging, helping in their studies or just spending time together and weeping together. Most importantly, I will not hide the fact that I am from North Korea. I will tell my South Korean friends the good memories of my hometown and the love I've received from my family and friends?in North Korea rather than the hardship I've experienced.
I don't want to do communist propaganda but want to let my South Korean friends know that we North Korean refugees are also raised with love and we know how to share love. We North Korean refugees are different from South Korean friends because we had different experiences. However, the differences can make a better and richer Korea than with just South Koreans alone. I want to prove it through my ordinary life. It only takes a spark to get a fire going. And soon all those around can warm up in its glowing. I want to be the spark.
I have a dream that one day anywhere in the Korean Peninsula, the sons of former North Koreans and the sons of former South Koreans will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that my family and North Korean friends will one day live in one Korea where they will not be judged by their places of birth.
Now, I invite you to my dream. Let's make this dream come true. Thank you!
Casey Lartigue Jr., co-founder of the Teach North Korean Refugees Global Education Center along with Eunkoo Lee, was the 2017 winner of the "Social Contribution" Prize from the Hansarang Rural Cultural Foundation and was recently named the 2019 winner of a "Challenge Maker" Award from Challenge Korea. Lartigue was chief judge of the contest.
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