N. Korean refugee

This 2021 file photo shows Cho Hyun-jung, who recently joined the Korea Institute for National Unification, a state-funded think tank that specializes in North Korean studies. Courtesy of Cho Hyun-jung

At 34, Cho decided to go to college where she rediscovered her childhood passionBy Jung Min-ho

At age 4, she lost the tip of her finger due to an accident. Two years later, she lost her mother to tuberculosis. To take care of her sick grandmother, she decided not to go to college. After being deported by Chinese authorities, she even spent months in a North Korean prison.

Yet Cho Hyun-jung never gave up. After escaping North Korea and adjusting to South Korean social and economic life for 10 years, she decided to attend college, where she rediscovered her childhood passion for learning and teaching.

Cho, now 48, recently joined the Korea Institute for National Unification, a prominent think tank for North Korean studies as its first female researcher from the North.

“It is such a great honor to work at this respected and admired institute. I was overwhelmed with emotion to hear that they would hire me,” Cho said in a recent interview. “I’ll do my best to use my expertise and experience to help improve the human rights situation in North Korea as a new member assigned to the human rights department.”

Despite the tragedies during her early years, Cho stayed positive, being too young to understand what it really means to live with a physical disability and without a mother in North Korea. As a talented singer, her first dream was to become a famous vocalist. But she was later forced to quit her school music group due to the finger injury.

Cho was devastated. She eventually convinced herself to become a teacher instead. But going to college was a luxury she could not afford as she had to take care of her grandmother who was showing symptoms of a cerebral vascular disease. Around that period, North Korea’s state rationing system was collapsing. For many people like her, leaving for China to make money seemed like the only option for survival.

In China, Cho said she was, for the first time, able to see her own country objectively from an outside perspective.

“Everything that I had been told in North Korea about capitalism, the United States and South Korea was not true. For the first time in life, I was given a chance to see North Korea’s reality,” she said.

Following the passing of her grandmother, she no longer had any reason to return to North Korea.

After being forcibly repatriated twice in 1999 and 2000, Cho arrived in South Korea in 2003. At first, she never thought of going to college. After deciding to pursue a degree in education, her original plan was simply to get a stable, well-paying job after graduating. But as she delved deeper into her area of studies, she discovered just how interesting and rewarding the field of education could be, which also reminded her of her forgotten passion for sharing her knowledge with others.

Looking back on what she went through, Cho said it was quite a journey. She also said she was excited for the next chapter as she is gearing up for her new role as a researcher and lecturer, hoping her future work would help establish more facts about North Korea, a country founded on countless lies and broken promises.