North Korea crisis discussed

The International Student Union held a presentation on the crisis in North Korea called "LiNK North Korea" in Jepson's Wolff Auditorium Oct. 6.

Liberty in North Korea is a nonprofit organization in the U.S. that assists the North Korean defectors who are hiding in China by transferring them to Southeast Asia, where they have established shelters.

"I was pretty interested in the North Korea crisis. I have a lot of Korean friends, so they kind of fill me in, and I was a part of ISU last year, and I heard that they were putting on the event, so I went," said ISU president Kelly Alderman.

LiNK splits into two groups. One is called "Nomads," which is formed by college students who want to fight for the freedom of North Korea. They travel around in the United States and spread the awareness of the North Korean crisis. Another one is the group of people who actually go to China and pick up the North Korea defectors, according to Shean Ferry, one of the speakers.

"One of the things that really interested me about the whole crisis that is really hard to realize, but, like, North Korea people, I mean some of them don't even know we have been to the moon. Like, their education system is so censored, they are so sheltered, they are totally brainwashed by their government.  They don't know about cell phones, they don't know about like TVs and it is hard to imagine. So if we just sent them to Thailand and said start over and didn't help them, they would not know what to do. They have been totally slaved by their government. " Alderman said.

The documentary showed the LiNK group members' pick-up journey in China. After they picked up the North Korea defectors, they only could either take bus or drive a van to travel all the way from northwest China to southeast China, since it is an undercover process. The Chinese government and North Korea's government have a certain agreement with each other. If the North Korean defectors are discovered by the Chinese government, they would be sent back to North Korea and would be either tortured to death or sentenced life in prison. The American helpers would be sent back the U.S.

After the defectors arrived in Thailand successfully, they accepted the rehabilitation there. If they rebuilt their lives, they would have choice to either go to the U.S. or South Korea to start a new life.

"I think it is absolutely incredible because, just the fact that they cross the border so bravely and they had all material together that they needed. It is just amazing how they pull this off under such strong surveillance from all parts of the government," said junior Annie Szotkowski.

"I think it is very courageous that they were able do that. The plan was really perfect, and I do really see they are really persistent about doing it. They were not giving up," said senior Grace Sinaga.

Ferry has been working with LiNK for 10 months. "I think it is an awesome program. I think we are doing a lot of great work, just like the Awareness tour, kind of bringing it to North Korea crisis. The fact that I could travel with them, it is like one of my biggest passions. Also hearing about just like how North Koreans don't have freedom, and we have all the freedom. They don't have freedom of speech, press, religion, movement. And the fact that they skipped to China to find freedom, but they are not free either. So, I just want to be the voice for them since they can't use their voice in their country. Therefore, I can fight for their freedom," Ferry said.

Alderman said that she wanted to show the real North Korea crisis through normal people's eyes rather than the official records. She really wanted students at Gonzaga to know what is really happening in North Korea.

"When I first found out that their entire country is starving, and the majority of them are in concentration camp, and it is all because they got this crazy government, this dumb setup. These people are slaves and they probably have no hope, and I guess, for me, if I can't go to North Korea, I can't physically be there to help them. What can I do at Gonzaga?" Alderman said, "And this organization came, and since then, I personally found out a lot about the issues. There are four or five documentaries out there, but other than that, you don't see a lot of organizations that are dedicated to this because it has just become something we don't talk about. It is a sensitive subject for a lot of people, I guess, but I want to expose it, and people know what is really happening. Even though it makes it seem that we don't have any power to do anything, we can."