What is life like for disabled people in North Korea?

2024-06-06 22:29:16      点击：706

Maeng Hyo-shim, fourth from right, and Kim Myeong-hee, third from right, pose with other North Korean refugees and the co-founders of Freedom Speakers International, Casey Lartigue Jr. and Lee Eun-koo, during their visit to the State Department in Washington, D.C., July 20. Courtesy of Freedom Speakers International

A group of refugees discuss human rights abuses at US State Department

By Jung Min-ho

Life is harsh for everyone in North Korea. But for disabled people, it's even worse.

People with serious disabilities are almost invisible. Even in Pyongyang, support systems for the disabled are virtually nonexistent. There are no wheelchairs or automatic doors. With few available means of movement, they are usually stuck at home.

Maeng Hyo-shim, a daughter of a North Korean woman who is unable to walk, said the only thing her mother had were crutches.

"Without my father's devotion and care, my mother would not survive," she told The Korea Times in a recent interview. "After arriving here after our escape, she described this country as a 'heaven-like' one where she can have a job and receive state support, after decades of struggle in North Korea without any of it."

Not being able to work was the hardest part for her mother. In North Korea, such people are de facto deprived of their dreams, she said. "There are some places where they are officially allowed to work. But in reality, they can't work because they have no means of going there," she added.

Maeng said she had no idea that North Korea has the Law on Protection of Disabled People, which was legislated in 2003 to supposedly promote their "equal" rights.

"In practice, there are no basic supports of any kind. Parents are usually their only caregivers. If the parents die, they do not survive long," she said.

"When my family escaped the country, on June 27, 2018, with my father carrying my mother on his back, none of us knew the country even had the National Day for Persons with Disabilities."

Maeng was one of the seven North Korean escapees who went to Washington last month to share their experiences of their birth country. Invited by the U.S. State Department, they told their stories in English to officials in the context of human rights.

Freedom Speakers International (FSI), a nonprofit organization that aims to empower North Korean escapees with training programs, helped set up the event, which was sponsored by the Ministry of Unification. Since its establishment in 2013, the FSI has supported them in their journey to find their own voice and path.

For the Washington trip, the organization spent months helping the participating speakers write and polish their speech drafts. But its focus has never been on delivering the most flawless speeches; rather, it has aimed to keep them as authentic and original as possible, said Casey Lartigue Jr., its co-founder.

Kim Myeong-hee, another speaker participating in the event, described her fight for life in China, where tens of thousands of North Korean escapees, especially women and children, are exposed to human rights violations. She said learning English has enabled her to connect her with a wider audience.

"As I spoke with the language they were able to understand, I felt more connected with the audience," she said. "I hope our experiences help disclose and spread the truth about North Korea as we continue to tell them."