If peace is coming, nobody told North Korean defectors
Not everyone shares the optimism that followed the Moon-Kim summit. Fearing a crackdown on their activism, defectors send their brethren packages of rice and USBs in the hope truth can set them free
With all their strength and energy, the North Korean defectors hurl the bottles into the ocean.
Filled with rice and packaged alongside waterproofed bibles and USB flash drives, the bottles land one after the other splashing into the water and forming a trail of plastic as the current carries them towards their senders’ isolated homeland.
It is not long before the mound of bottles on the shore, piled high in anticipation of the turning of the tide, has disappeared. Set adrift from this small island straddling the border with the North, the subversive packages do not have far to travel.
“We lived in North Korea so we understand their mentality and mindset,” says Park Jeong-ho, one of the organisers of the event, which is aimed at penetrating the North’s information blockade.
“We know exactly what kind of content will break down their propaganda and brainwashing so that kind of information has been included on the USBs. The bottle of rice is not that big, so it might feed them for a day. But if they get information from a USB, it can change their lives.”
