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`Red mountains` near the Tumen River

Posted May. 26, 2015 07:21,   

한국어

The Tumen River is a border separating North Korea’s North Hamgyeong Province and China’s Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in Jilin Province. When you leave Yanji, the center of Yanbian, via Longjing, for Tumen, you will see the Tumen River on your right side and North Korea beyond the river. Many sections of the river are very narrow so that it can hardly be called a border. While the cities are written as Yanbian, Yanji, Longjing and Tumen in Korea, they are written in Yeonbyeon, Yeongil, Ryongjeong (Yongjeong) and Domun in signs and road signs in the prefecture.

On my way from Longjing to Tumen recently, I found bare mountains in the North Korean region across the Tumen River. When I asked locals, they said the mountains were not bare in the first place and the North Korean authorities cut out all the trees on the mountains to prevent its people from fleeing the country. When I looked at them closely, I found that bare many mountains were located in the regions where the width of the river was narrow or its depth is shallow so that people can cross the river easily.

When South Korea and China established a diplomatic relationship in 1992, many ethnic Koreans in Yanbian, China envied those who have relatives in South Korea. Like this, I was told that many North Koreans envy those who have relatives in China. The Yanbian region is advanced on the back of the robust exchanges with South Korea, and Yanji is called “Little Seoul.” However, most regions except for Yanji are still similar to what it was like in Korea decades ago. The story about “relatives in Yanbian” reminds us of the tough life of North Koreans.

The Japanese colonial rule built many factories and power plants in the regions near the Yalu River and the Tumen River close to China. For such reason, North Korea’s economic power exceeded South Korea’s when Korea gained independence 70 years ago. The long-term dictatorship by the three generations of the Kim family turned North Koreans’ lives and human rights into the most miserable state in the world. Wherever you go, you can find many bare mountains because the regime created fields on them and residents collected firewood. The regime, however, got rid of even scrubs and grasses to monitor residents who try to escape the country from famine and tyranny. This reminded me of “A Red Mountain,” Kim Dong-in’s short novel.



shkwon@donga.com