These North Korean defectors in Australia are using food to help break down barriers

Key PointsNorth Korean meals was on the centre of a uncommon cultural alternate occasion in Sydney.Eight North Korean defectors and their households met with round 60 South Korean migrants.Kumyoung Choi, 42, a North Korean defector turned businesswoman, was the driving pressure behind the occasion.

Kumyoung Choi, 42, has cooked up a batch of her favorite childhood dish, cornmeal truffles, to feed round 100 individuals

“This cornmeal was made from cooked, dried and floor corn, so it was a really handy meals for us as a result of we may make it simply by including chilly water, with out gasoline, electrical energy or coal,” she instructed SBS Korean.

For Kumyoung, a North Korean defector who now lives on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, this was a uncommon event to showcase the normal delicacies of her homeland.

On a sunny Autumn day in Sydney, eight North Korean defectors and their households joined about 60 South Korean migrants for an occasion dedicated to meals and cultural alternate.

As they are often ready in minutes, cornmeal truffles are generally known as sokdojeon tteok, which implies ‘velocity truffles’, in North Korea.

Kumyoung Choi makes cornmeal truffles, generally known as sokdojeon tteok, which implies ‘velocity truffles’, in North Korea. Supply: SBS / Laszlo Mizsak

The dish additionally brings up painful recollections for Kumyoung.

Upon discovering that the cornmeal used on the occasion was smuggled out of North Korea and shipped to Australia through China and South Korea, she was overwhelmed with emotion.

“As soon as, a pal of mine instructed me her want was to eat a bit of cornmeal cake, and she or he handed away the very subsequent day. She starved to loss of life,” she mentioned.

A gathering of North and South

Kumyoung was the driving pressure behind the occasion held on the Korean Society of Sydney in Croydon Park in early April.

It was hosted by the Australian department of the Peaceable Unification Advisory Council (PUAC), a coverage advisory organisation for the South Korean authorities.

A uncommon gathering of North Korean defectors and South Korean migrants was held in Sydney. Supply: SBS / Leah Hyein Na

In response to the newest Census, there are round 80 registered North Korean-born people residing in Australia.

Kumyoung claimed the occasion represented the most important gathering of North Koreans ever in Australia.

She mentioned she hoped it may assist bridge the ‘distance’ between the North and South Korean communities.

“Koreans residing listed here are stunned after they see individuals who have defected from North Korea. Largely it is their first time seeing us.”

Sharing experiences via meals

Different North Korean dishes hardly ever sighted in Australia, like tofu rice, blood sausages and charcoal-black frozenpotato rice truffles, have been additionally ready for the event.

North Korean defectors primarily based in Australia make potato rice truffles. Supply: SBS / Edwina Guinan

Whereas South Korean delicacies enjoys nice reputation around the globe, meals from the north is much less recognized.

“As a fellow expatriate, I really feel a heat style. It was my first time making an attempt it (North Korean meals), but it surely tasted acquainted,” Sunghwan Choi, an attendee, mentioned.

In return, South Korean migrants served janchi guksu (‘banquet’ noodles historically eaten at particular occasions) together with fried hen, stir-fried pork and fish cake soup.

Greens, grains and beans are the premise of many North Korean dishes, that are sometimes milder than their southern counterparts.

North Korean blood sausages, generally known as sundae, use glutinous rice and greens, which give them a lightweight and delicate flavour in comparison with the South Korean model made with candy potato noodles.

Kumyoung Choi and Kyungok Cho make North Korean blood sausages, generally known as sundae, utilizing glutinous rice and greens. Supply: SBS / Edwina Guinan

Based mostly in Sydney, Kyungok Cho discovered these recipes whereas working within the business kitchen of a giant restaurant in Pyongyang earlier than escaping in 2004.

She mentioned such dishes have been just for feast days in North Korea, the place meals shortages have been extreme.

“These have been treasured dishes, so we couldn’t even make them at house. They have been just for particular events. We typically purchased them in markets,” she mentioned.

North Korean dumplings, blood sausages and tofu rice (left), frozen potato rice truffles (prime proper) and cornmeal truffles (backside proper). Supply: SBS / Leah Hyein Na

Perilous journey

Occasion organiser Kumyoung, who got here to Australia 9 years in the past, mentioned she noticed many individuals round her perish on account of starvation within the Nineteen Nineties.

In 1997, when Kumyoung was 15, she and her household fled North Korea, crossing the frozen Duman River on foot into China.

4 years later, after failed makes an attempt to succeed in South Korea and amid heightened police surveillance, they have been on the transfer once more.

Kumyoung Choi (backside proper) photographed along with her grandmother, dad and mom and 4 siblings in North Korea. Supply: Provided / Kumyoung Choi

Upon coming into Myanmar, Kumyoung’s dad and mom and three siblings have been arrested, whereas Kumyoung managed to evade seize by hiding.

For 2 months, battling fixed starvation, she walked at evening till she lastly reached the Thailand border.

In Bangkok, her pleas to the South Korean Embassy noticed her household launched from the Myanmar detention centre and despatched to South Korea.

Kumyoung mentioned she was left drained by the ordeal.

“I used to be in Thailand and folks there mistook me for a girl over 60 years outdated as a result of I used to be very skinny and darkish.”

“They even referred to as me halmeoni (grandmother in Korean). It was disheartening to see my reflection within the mirror,” she mentioned.

Kumyoung fled North Korea in 1997 and arrived in South Korea in 2001 after enduring immense hardships. Supply: Provided / Kumgyoung Choi

Discovering discrimination

After arriving in Seoul in 2001, Kumyoung’s expectations of a brand new life have been shortly dampened

“We found discrimination. The South Koreans acquired anti-communist training and we have been taught that South Korea was unhealthy,” she mentioned.

“A professor in my college as soon as requested me if I used to be a spy. I fled from North Korea as a result of I used to be hungry, so I cried quite a bit after I heard that.”

Professor Bronwen Dalton, a North Korean skilled on the College of Expertise Sydney, mentioned “usually North Koreans are handled with a level of mistrust from South Koreans”. Supply: SBS

Professor Bronwen Dalton, a North Korean skilled on the College of Expertise Sydney, mentioned “usually North Koreans are handled with a level of mistrust from South Koreans”.

“Some is perhaps involved that they’re spies. Others really feel that they’re a drain on authorities sources, and (there are) different varieties of othering (as a result of) they do not comply with these social norms of South Koreans,” she mentioned.

Made to really feel like an outsider in Seoul, Kumyoung dreamed of latest house nation, a spot with “no North and South”.

In 2015, Kumyoung immigrated to Australia along with her South Korean husband, and their two younger kids, aged one and three on the time.

“Once I arrived in Australia, each individuals from the South and the North have been simply considered migrants,” she mentioned.

“Once I instructed individuals I fled from North Korea, they accepted my story fantastically and revered me.”

Now, Kumyoung runs eight eating places on the Sunshine Coast. Supply: SBS / Laszlo Mizsak

Mentoring different North Korean defectors

At present, Kumyoung runs eight eating places on the Sunshine Coast.

She has additionally began a YouTube channel to share her journey, garnering over 60,000 followers.

“My dream wasn’t that large. It was simply assembly a pleasant man, having stunning kids, and residing a life with out worrying about meals or a spot to sleep, so I bought greater than I wanted for.

“I believed my dream could possibly be another person’s dream, so I began a ,” she mentioned, explaining that a number of North Korean defectors had reached out to her for steering on settling in Australia.

“We should all stay properly collectively. That is as a result of in North Korea, just one per cent of Kim Il-sung’s individuals in Pyongyang lived properly whereas the remainder of the inhabitants suffered.”

“I knew that I might be blissful provided that everybody round me and who knew me was blissful,” she mentioned.

Kwangjin Lee, who got here to Australia final 12 months with Kumyoung’s assist, mentioned such occasions are necessary to convey individuals collectively. Supply: SBS / Laszlo Mizsak

Kwangjin Lee, who got here to Australia final 12 months with Kumyoung’s assist, mentioned such occasions are necessary to convey individuals collectively.

“Personally, I believe it was very significant as individuals like me from North Korea have been capable of be a part of the Korean neighborhood.”

‘Reunification begins with the individuals’

Throughout the occasion, kids from North and South Korean households got here collectively to sing a track of peace: “Simply as flowers bloom within the North and flowers bloom within the South, they’re flowers. They’re flowers, regardless of the place they bloom.”

Kids from North and South Korean households sing a track of peace. Supply: SBS / Leah Hyein Na

Whereas such lyrics convey an optimistic outlook, Dalton mentioned alternatives for constructing relationships between North and South Korea are uncommon and will develop into even rarer.

“North Korea lately made a radical change in coverage and expunged its dedication to a ‘One Korea’ coverage, and it additionally disbanded all of the companies that have been centred round encouraging inter-Korean cooperation,” she mentioned.

In January, North Korean chief Kim Jong Un introduced that North Korea was now not searching for reconciliation and reunification with South Korea.

He referred to as for South Korea to be labeled as North Korea’s “main foe” in a speech to the Supreme Individuals’s Meeting, his nation’s rubber-stamp parliament.

Ryde Metropolis Councillor Daniel Han, a member of the South Korean neighborhood, mentioned it was a uncommon probability to have trustworthy conversations. Supply: SBS / Laszlo Mizsak

Ryde Metropolis Councillor Daniel Han, a member of the South Korean neighborhood, participated within the occasion and mentioned it was a uncommon probability to have trustworthy conversations.

“It’s most likely the one alternative for the North and South individuals to fulfill freely in Australia. And that is the place the reunification can begin, from the individuals, with understanding and with none prejudice from one another,” he mentioned.