Korea Peace Day and DEEP Reportback

I attended tonight's event, Across the Imjin River: People of North Korea, which was held at silver room 411 for two hours.

The event began with a professor of Korean History from NYU, who briefly discussed the existing conflicts between North Korea and the U.S. He informed the audience about the foreign policy-related events that have occurred within the last year. The recurring theme was that the tension between North Korea and the U.S. grew deeper as the perception gap of "what to call things" widened. For example, North Korea recently launched "a missile" but to the U.S. government, this act was targeted as "a missile launch for nuclear test" while the North Koreans saw this as an event of shooting a rocket into space that symbolized NK's growth in computer science, bioengineering, modern technology, etc. The professor ended on a hopeful note that with community activism, we may be able to help Washington readdress the issues at hand with NK, U.S government's "longest-running enemy."

The next speaker was a veteran from the "National Campaign to End the Korean War" and "Veterans for Peace." He spoke about how veterans often suffered from the after-effects of war, whether the person was a bombardier or or a soldier in combat. Many veterans were still troubled by what they had to do at war and what they had seen. The veteran also spoke about the war's effect on the involved countries' civilians. Especially in North and South Korea, there are families who are still separated from one another because of the war. He encouraged us all to be active.

Finally, a panel of four speakers who have visited North Korea this past summer spoke to the audience about their 10-day experience. The first speaker began by stating that there are 28 million various and uniquely different people in NK and that the U.S. media does not portray all these people justly. All the speakers explained their fear and doubt about the trip because of the media's portrayal of NK and their (biased) background knowledge about NK from the past. The speakers all stated that their conflicted feelings and personal turmoil disappeared as they spent more days in NK and with the people there.

According to the panelists, North Koreans had many similarities, despite media's portrayals and set images of dull, poor, uneducated, and starved people in NK. As I listened to the panelists talk about their experiences and tell stories, I felt myself feeling more connected to the North Koreans as well. It was very touching for me to be there, looking at all the photos of North Koreans on the projector and hearing about the panelists' experiences because my grandfather's family still live (hopefully) in NK. I felt a desire to go visit and try to find my roots.

After this event, I realized that every country has its different culture, beliefs, government, political system, and philosophy. It is wrong for us to label countries as "allies" vs. "enemies." Throughout my elementary education in Korea, I was taught to fear the Communists and North Koreans, but now I see that no matter what country, the people will always have common grounds.

Yes, the panelists probably did not see all parts of North Korea and only saw parts of the country that the guides wanted them to see, but how often does New York City bus tours go through the "projects" or the "ghettos" and talk on the microphone about the segregation and political racism that exist even in the most "liberal" and "powerful" country in the world?

Perception is key. There are always two sides to a story. This is an important philosophy to keep as future educators. I believe that as teachers, we should also be careful of what we teach in our textbooks. We must be aware of the bias and prejudice that exist in the textbooks we are required to teach so that we can show both sides of the story to our students. I wish that my Korean elementary teachers had not scared me so much about North Koreans. I wish that my teachers had told me that it was okay for me to have families in that country and that it was okay for me to still want to meet them.

This event was very powerful and informative for me. As a future educator, I want to always keep in mind that labeling certain people or countries as something/someone to fear is never right. I want to show the broad scope of things to my students so that they too, can become open-minded and become people like the activists who had the courage to visit "the forbidden land" to trace their cultural backgrounds.

For more information, visit: http://endthekoreanwar.org/

Also, my aunt is one of the founding members of Nodutdol, which started the DEEP organization (they visit North Korea every 2 years). If you would like to apply for an internship or get more information on how to get involved (and visit NK!) please go to http://nodutdol.org/ or contact me for more info =)