Reviewed by Clare Brook
Dan Chung’s reportage from North Korea reveals breathtaking cruelty and suffering on a national scale perpetrated by the ruling Kim dynasty. Millions of North Koreans are traumatised from birth to death, suffering starvation and physical abuse resulting in daily anxiety and fear. Crossing Borders NK, a Christian organisation co-founded by Dan Chung and Mike Kim, is actively helping North Koreans when they have managed to escape. Their mission statement – To show the compassion of Christ to North Koreans and their children. A Hard Freedom: The Dreams and Trauma of North Korean Refugees, authored by Chung, recounts some personal stories, revealing the lived experience of North Koreans. And, most instructive, how the Kim dynasty structured the country to ensure their grip on power.
North Korean is organised via a rigid class system based on perceived loyalty to the Kim dynasty. Any sign of disagreement results in physical punishment and permanent demotion to a lower class; a stain on the family lasting for three generations. This system is called Songbun, translated as ‘ingredients’. An individual is classified according to their ancestor’s loyalty to Kim Il Sung, the present leader’s grandfather. Songbun has three major levels – core, wavering, and hostile, with fifty-one smaller subcategories. The system is largely punitive, easy to be down-graded, but almost impossible to be redeemed. One’s Songbun determines every aspect of life, where you live, your job, and who you can marry. A system of trauma and fear. A completely loyal family to the regime can be demoted if a distant relative talks back to an official. Only the elite live in Pyongyang, having access to privileges, lower classes may not step foot in the capital. No one has sympathy with the lower-classes, they are stigmatized and criticised constantly. The Kim family care little for the people, during the famine of the 1990s when millions of people died from starvation, Kim Il Sung spent a fortune feasting on luxury food flown in from Europe and drinking French brandy. In short twenty-six million people are traumatized in order that the Kim family can live a secure life of privilege and power.
Chung relates the journey of many women being trafficked as brides to Chinese men, which only serves as another layer of trauma. Crossing Borders NK acts as counsellors to these women and the men who have crossed from North Korea to China, they also act as guides for many to make the perilous journey to South Korean. Sadly even when safe in South Korea many are traumatised beyond help, permanently scarred, unable to live a normal life. There are success stories, former refugees who have managed to recover work as counsellors to ease fellow refugees into a productive life.
Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Jong Un stand as a warning. Democracy, however flawed, is less hazardous to the human condition than an authoritarian government, the trajectory of which cannot be controlled once in power.
A Hard Freedom: The Dreams and Trauma of North Korean Refugees
by Dan Chung
(2026)
Bloomsbury
Hardback
ISBN: 978 1 5381 9172 9
$36.00; 186pp