The principal reason for the increase in the number of North Koreans fleeing their country is that information on the true situation in Western nations is starting to become widely known, and North Koreans have at last realized just how terrible a place their homeland has become. The phenomenon resembles what happened in Romania shortly before the collapse of the regime of Nicolae Ceausescu. This is a truly grave situation for the Kim Jong-il regime.
Most North Korean escapees flee across the Yalu or Tumen rivers on the North Korea-China border. In areas where escape attempts are most common, the border is protected by barbed wire and wooden fences, and pitfalls have even been constructed with bamboo spikes sticking up from the bottom so as to impale anyone who falls down them.
Yet the tide of defectors has not been stemmed, because the soldiers patrolling the border are bought off by the “escape brokers” and are effectively cooperating in the defections. In an effort to halt this trend, the Kim Jong-il regime has started replacing the patrol guards more frequently. But the young soldiers assigned to guard the border are always hungry because of food shortages, which means they can easily be bought off. Moreover, as over half of the bribe money is said to be collected by the guards' superior officers, the defections are an important source of income for the officer class.
The children who live in this region have detailed knowledge about which parts of the river are shallow or deep and how much water flows at different times. It is difficult to flee without enlisting their help. The children use the money they earn assisting escapees to help their families. There is, in fact, a well established “defection industry” on both sides of the North Korea-China border. The reality, in other words, is far from what the Kim Jong-il regime would like to believe.
The North Korean people have found out about the outside world and have begun to flee their country in search of freedom and food. No dictator can stop this through force. The question is: When will the army oust the dictator?
(Translated by Japan Echo Inc.)