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Spam, Kimchi, Borders, Grandmothers, and Bad Nicknames

On day 2 of my Korea tour, I discuss with a teacher about North Korea's past-- and what a generation would do for a larger share of rice
Pamela Cash

 

Today I met with Sunny Lee (that's her English name; in Korean she's 이유선, E Yu Sun). She was my first Korean co-teacher when I first started teaching English in 2006 and taught me every Korean phrase I know, as well as which shoes to wear with which coat. Back then, every co-teacher tried to cure my tomboyishness.

 

"How are things here? Back home people are really freaking out. Leaving the cities to find a patch to grow something on. It's a reverse industrial revolution.”

 

She lights up a cigarette. Aparently it's not really taboo for women in public anymore. “We're drinking more soju!” She laughs. “Things aren't really that bad. It's like before in the war time, when we didn't have much meat. Only Spam from America. We still eat rice, kimchi, and Spam.” Bad memories of nickames from my students flood back (Spamela teacher!!)

 

"And what about reunification? Is that still a hot topic? People must be fleeing like crazy from the North.”

 

She gets noticeably less jovial. I've struck a nerve, or said something off-limits.

 

"We don't really talk about it anymore. But you know me, I'm not one of the conservative types, and I didn't vote for Mr. Park.” She pours some Cass. “You know, the older generation? They are, you know, dying off. Not many left. The old halmoni used to go up to the border and try to send money to their sons across the river. Now, nobody goes there. The generation that remembers the civil war isn't around anymore.”

 

"What does that have to do with it? I mean, aren't there still tons of refugees here?”

 

"When that generation died, people stopped caring about the reunification. The younger generation has no family up there. They cared about the economy, and staying a strong nation. Everybody knows that if we reunified, we'd be really poor. And then the news came about the food crisis. We stopped sending rice. So I don't know. Nobody really knows. Because, well, I don't think anybody sends them rice.”

 

"But they have the 5th biggest army in the world. Surely they'd attack somebody if they were all starving.”

 

She is laughing again, back to her usual self. “The fifth biggest army in the world-- without any rice.”

 

Nobody here knows how many people are living up north. Nobody knows just how big the problem is. The world's most isolated nation has stronger border security and communication security than ever. Nothing goes in or out. Meanwhile, below the border, Spam still comes out of a can and into a stomach.

Oct 08
ravenous,generation exile,borders,rice,generation gap


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  • TMLutas
    Oct 09
    No rice = no army Even in 2008 military security is breaking down because there is not quite enough to feed and keep all the military happy. As things get worse, the rot goes higher.
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