What country would you least desire traveling to in the world?
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” (George Orwell)
George Orwell’s futuristic book, “1984” predicted a state of things in modern society far worse than any we have ever known. That novel thus put me in a mood to consider a place that would be most undesirable for my future travels. It also seemed most fitting to write the following story about what’s happening now in North Korea as a way to best exemplify the answer to this blog question. Such thoughts and the photos that follow might also “ring a bell for you” as you consider the issue of maintaining democracy as a crucial component of the U.S. Presidential election this year.
Orwellian Nightmare Unveiled
Monday morning at seven am. rolled around with some uncertainty for a middle aged bus driver named Chan (means “Keen and Bright”) in Pyongyang , the capitol city of North Korea. He felt fortunate that he could survive comfortably in his government supported “flat” with his small family in a new high rise building downtown.Yet he now wondered why his wife had been pressured by local authorities to change her name to a more pleasing impression for the powerful King emperor of the country, Kim Jong Un. What did it mean now that he was being forced to address his wife now as Su Mi (means “Woman of Super Beauty”) to overdramatize her physical appearance? Was his powerful leader concocting a plan to steal his wife from him? He also noted how his sixteen year old sibling, Jeung, seemed similarly pressured to rename himself in accordance with such propagandistic dogma.Yet his child now mockingly rejected such a change and decided to call himself instead the slang name of Bong (means “Reborn Bird”). Did that mean that this new image of himself signaled that he’d that he’d decided to flee from his family forever?
Certainly the Communist resident committee assigned to his apartment building would offer no help in resolving his family’s name dilemma with their indoctrination to the official party line. So after work that start of the week, Chan would obediently attend his compulsory learning session with them tonight with his mouth kept shut. He also would reassure these loyalists then that he always put on his state approved uniform, pinned the loyalty badge to his chest and quietly went about with stern duty his orderly work routine. Moreover, he recognized that he must be prepared to report to them that he had successfully driven his assigned bus route along the clean and orderly arranged street plan of Pyongyang while pausing to honor ideologically infused squares, monuments, and public buildings to honor his King.
It seemed fortunate to Chan after such a tense meeting that Su Mi had previously obtained permission to accompany Chan on his bus. For she could help him keep his vehicle immaculately tidy as state dogma instructed and converse friendlily with passengers as desired. But on several occasions lately, she’d told Chan after these bus runs how much she worried about Bong at home, who could not find a job, acted emotionally isolated, and talked endlessly in frustration of leaving his country for a new life.
Thus coincidence struck when Su Mi happened to quietly strike up a conversation at a bus stop that Friday with a Canadian Tour guide, Ji Ah (means “Wisdom”). Sensing that they were not being observed, this “slick talking” man told Su Mi how he’d escaped from North Korea to South Korea several years ago, migrated to Toronto, Canada and easily obtained residency through the province embassy to freely qualify for his present employment position. Sensing from his experience of their family concern, Ji Ah furthermore told her that he knew of a broker who would could successfully find them a sponsor to execute their family’s smuggling escape from North Korea if so desired. When emphasized however that the plan would require hefty prepayment and a risky trek to Thailand, this first conversation seemed to end very fast. For to this parent at this latter stage of her life, such a dangerous journey offer seemed out of the question.But as result of this chance meeting, Ji Ah and Su Mi would converse again in private on this matter about their son during future bus trips in the following weeks.
With such new knowledge at hand from those clandestine bus encounters with this stranger, Su Mi and Chan came to recognize the importance of Bong needing to change his current life condition. For with his teen filled vigor, they thus felt it best that their son would jump at this defection opportunity to find his freedom whatever the price. So in future weeks, Bong would agree to ride the bus with his mother as she quietly bargained with Ji Ah during bus stop debarkations to solidify plans for her son’s escape. Know then with risked filled intention, Bong would first need to walk north over one hundred miles north traversing mountainous terrain from the capital. Upon crossing the Tumen River into Communist Chinese soil, Bong would next meet the broker paid in full by his family, who would arrange his change of clothes and tickets for several, long bus rides to the southern border of China. With less travel restrictions now entering the countries of Southeast Asia, he would finally find his way by train or foot through jungle to Thailand where his sponsor would meet him near the border to expedite his flight from Bangkok to Toronto as intended.
With little fanfare, Bong thus left excitedly one early morning to find a new life. He knew very well that obtaining the price of freedom would involve high risk of extortion, kidnapping, or arrest and deportation back to North Korea. Even more unsettling, Su Mi and Chan expected they would likely never know if their son ever reached the promised land he so desired. But their tears would flow with profuse joy in hoping he reached Canada with no power unchecked king in charge. For Bong would now find a fairer chance to choose the life he wanted.
Reference List:
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/names-11302022183301.html
https://youtu.be/TtF_NRmszQ0?si=zvdOF7JYWlhMuN_q
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/pyongyang-architecture-urban-planning
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/1984/summary/
Snippets of a Traveling Mind 
Leave a comment