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North Koreans in the South, the long distance run

Seoul, Jun 2 (EFE).-Over 33,600 North Korean defectors live in South Korea.But after risking their lives in a journey that can take many years, another long-term challenge awaits them in the foster country: an ultra-competitive society which they are not ready for and that stares back at them with contempt. (Camera: ANDRÉS SÁNCHEZ BRAUN)SHOT LIST: NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS IN SEOUL IN THE DISTRICTS OF NOWON AND YONGSAN AND THE CITY OF SEOSAN IN SOUTH KOREA. FOOTAGE OF KIM KIM EUN-SUN TAKING A WALK AND SHOPPING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF NOWON (SEOUL) AND SOUND BITES: "South Korea gives a lot of training to defectors but it is mainly modules such as learning to use a computer or wallpapering walls. That kind of professional training cannot lead defectors to find work. I see that the system does not work properly. That is why I hope that if the aid is more sophisticated, cases like that of that defector who died of hunger in 2019 will cease to occur. But right now, South Korean society is not prepared to take care of all the defectos who end up falling through the loopholes in the system. The problem is not the amount of money, but how the effectiveness of aid can be improved ""This is the Undok station, the north-eastern town where I was born. The station is the entry and exit point of the town. From the station there is this long road to the bridge. There were a number of points of interest related to the visits made by the Kim family to the site and a noodle restaurant right across the street. The Undok Bridge was used for public executions. When I was in second or third grade they took me to see the executions. ""Here was my house. When I woke up early in the morning I used to go to the nearby mountain with my father to collect clovers. We fed them to the rabbits we raised. It was common to pay my school staff or soldiers with fur. What I miss the most is getting up early and going with my father to collect those clovers. "SOUND BITES: ANGELLA KIM:"To begin with I would like to make it clear that I am not on the side of the North Korean regime. However, I want people to know and understand that North Korea is also a country where people like me live, so I want people to see the problem not necessarily as a political issue but as a human issue. There are people who cannot see their loved ones against their will, it is a tremendous problem. We want to see our family members who have been left behind in North Korea. That is a human problem and I want people to understand it. ""This man who helped me on the Chinese side of the border managed to call my mother and said" I have your daughter "and asked for money. My mother, with the help of an acquaintance, finally gave him money and the acquaintance came to pick me up and took me to where my mother was living in Shenyang City. ""But here there was a surprise factor: the guy asked me if I was a virgin and I, who knew nothing at the time, said yes. So he said to mom" I could sell your daughter in the market and they would give me much more money . So if you give me more money, I will give your daughter to you without touching her or selling her. "And my mother took the deal. Yes, I was very lucky not to have been sold." FOOTAGE OF MISTER HANEN IN THE CITY OF SEOSAN, WHERE "INJO GOGI" IS MADE AND SOUND BITES:"There are thousands of students who want to go to Kim Il sung University (where he managed to study), but those who enter are usually connected to the party. I did it because I was in the military.""Those of us who were in Kaesong (the inter-Korean industrial park) and were fed well knew how bad things were in the rest of the country. I knew someone who lived in Kaesong, but whose family was in Sariwon, only 14 kilometers away. And he felt terrible for them because they didn't even have corn to eat. "