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What we learned from Suki Kim

I think the book left us all with some unanswered questions. Kim's students, sheltered and convinced that their nation leads the world in all areas was eye opening. Many of the things we in the US take for granted: the freedom to go where we want, to say what we want and to do what we want (within reason) are things most North Koreans have never experienced. For us, it was hard to understand why someone didn't "rise up" and renounce the government and its tactics. But when you're starving, ill-educated and repressed, this is hard, or impossible to do. One thing Kim described vividly is the profound sadness she feels. She is sad her students are so sheltered. She is sad that the teachers, who are missionaries, are also sheltered. On their infrequent trips outside the university compound, she is saddened by the sight of citizens doing manual labor, or just sitting in the road. She thinks they look hollow and dead. Her students find it difficult to grasp the basic concepts of letter writing and essays. It is hard for them to express their opinions, because their opinions have been given to them from a young age. Why is she there to teach them English, when many of them will never leave North Korea?  Why all this work for something these young men will never have need to use? Their government takes care of them, gives them health care and a job, but it takes away all choice they have. We see little sparks of imagination when the students have one on one time with Kim, but as soon as the spark ignited, it goes out. It is sad.

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