 |
| Cherie Yang /Courtesy of Casey Lartigue Jr. |
By Cherie Yang
Most people around the world know that North Korea is an isolated country. It is far behind other countries because the government controls almost everything in the country.
That control of the country includes even food. Like the rest of the country failing to develop, the government's control leaves North Korea behind other countries in terms of the range and choices of food.
South Korea has witnessed a fusion of food by combining various foreign ingredients and spices. In contrast, North Korean food has not developed much beyond traditional food. Because it is an isolated country and there is no freedom to travel, North Koreans have few opportunities to experience foreign cultures and food.
Even after finding freedom, North Korean defectors have many difficulties in adjusting to life in free countries in the West as well as South Korea. One of the common difficulties North Korean refugees face in adjusting to free countries is ordering food and drinks.
In the 2000s, North Korea experienced another severe food shortage, and the service industries were shut down. North Korea's economy gradually began to recover. After Kim Jong-un came to power in 2011, he emphasized the service industry and opened supermarkets, coffee shops, and pizzerias in Pyongyang.
However, the average monthly salary of North Koreans is the equivalent of just a few US dollars per month. North Koreans can't even afford a cup of coffee or pizza with their monthly salaries.
As a result, North Koreans who are not part of the elite can rarely use luxury facilities or restaurants. These coffee shops and supermarkets exist only in Pyongyang and their customers are the rich and foreign tourists. People living in rural areas can't even dream about using them. There is still limited access to food and beverages from various countries that have not been approved by the North Korean regime.
North Koreans usually can't try coffee and other drinks that people around the world take for granted. A North Korean defector living in South Korea said that she was embarrassed the first time she went to a coffee shop with her schoolmates. They ordered drinks such as black coffee, cappuccino, and latte, but she couldn't understand what any of them meant.
Another North Korean defector said that when she went to a department store shortly after arriving in South Korea, she became embarrassed because she didn't know how to wash her hands using a touch-free sensor faucet in the bathroom. She tried to find something to tap or push. A woman who was washing her hands told her to just put her hands under the nozzle.
They may not seem like big challenges to people who were raised in freedom, but for North Korean defectors struggling in so many ways, being unable to perform basic tasks feels like being an adult who can't tie his or her shoes without help from others.
These are just a few examples of the everyday challenges that North Korean defectors face as they adjust to living in freedom. Similar things happened to me. I went through many challenges while settling down in the United States. However, can the difficulties I experienced in the United States compare to my life in North Korea and the arduous journey to find freedom? Definitely not!
Life deprived of liberty and living as a slave to a dictator was truly hell.
I experienced hell once so I know how precious freedom is. I overcame many difficulties while adjusting to life in America with gratitude, and I always try to live every day being grateful.
Cherie Yang is the owner of Avec Nature, a startup company based in Connecticut that specializes in dietary supplements. After escaping from North Korea to the United States in 2007, she lived in South Korea from 2015 to 2020 before returning to the USA. This post has been edited for publication by Casey Lartigue, co-founder and co-president of Freedom Speakers International (FSI) in South Korea.
![[INTERVIEW] Can art become stable investment source?](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/d9b4b117e5b74f4c931de724ebd2ee68.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] Choi Min-sik, Lee Dong-hwi on creating Korean-style noir with 'Big Bet'](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/8b795a8f6b42492db4e8fdc47e9abd8d.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] Ahn Jae-hong on playing underdog basketball coach in 'Rebound'](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/fe381342632c46bfa6d3245cb475676e.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
