The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story

“Leaving North Korea is not like leaving any other country. It is more like leaving another universe. I will never truly be free of its gravity, no matter how far I journey. Even for those who have suffered unimaginably there and have escaped hell, life in the free world can be so challenging that many struggle to come to terms with it and find happiness. A small number of them even give up, and return to live in that dark place, as I was tempted to do, many times.” 

To those who live their entire lives oppressed, freedom can be unbearable. With freedom comes the necessity of making decisions, which can be challenging for those who have never chosen for themselves. The competition inherent in capitalist societies is harsh and unforgiving. A person cannot simply be plucked from one world, placed into another, and expected to thrive.

“I would like to shed my North Korean identity, erase the mark it has made on me. But I can’t. I’m not sure why this is so, but I suspect it is because I had a happy childhood. As children we have a need, as our awareness of the larger world develops, to feel part of something bigger than family, to belong to a nation. The next step is to identify with humanity, as a global citizen. But in me this development got stuck.” 

Lee feels that her North Korean upbringing caused her to be developmentally stunted. She believes her development ceased at love for her nation, and that she never developed a love of humanity. Her book and life experiences contradict this self-assertion.

“Songbun is a caste system that operates in North Korea. A family is classified as loyal, wavering or hostile, depending on what the father’s family was doing at the time just before, during and after the founding of the state in 1948. If your grandfather was descended from workers and peasants, and fought on the right side in the Korean War, your family would be classified as loyal. If, however, your ancestors included landlords, or officials who worked for the Japanese during the colonial occupation, or anyone who had fled to South Korea during the Korean War, your family would be categorized as hostile. Within the three broad categories there are fifty-one gradations of status, ranging from the ruling Kim family at the top, to political prisoners with no hope of release at the bottom. The irony was that the new communist state had created a social hierarchy more elaborate and stratified than anything seen in the time of the feudal emperors.” 

Social structures and the limitations they place on persons are universal among societies. North Korea is meant to be a communist/socialist utopia free of class, but the country observes a strict class hierarchy enforced by the state. Lee observes similar social classes in China and South Korea. The basis of social status differs in those countries, but the class system remains.