This New York Times article takes a sobering look into the life of an NK refugee.  It is a story of a young female boxer who left DPRK as a young teenager along with her family and made it to South Korea only to face prejudice and other hardships.

“The photos, and the American hip-hop that blares from speakers, are constant reminders of how much Ms. Choi’s life has changed since her family arrived here four years ago. When she began her boxing career in North Korea, she trained daily under portraits of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-il.”

The boxer and family apparently were well off in North Korea, but the article tells of new realities of living in the South.

Ms. Choi’s father, who had been a successful businessman in the North, has been unable to find work, and the family has been reduced to living mainly on government handouts to the refugees.

“I sometimes miss my life in North Korea and wonder whether I made the right choice,” he said.

On one hand it is another example that while receiving and integrating refugees from the DPRK is the current reality, this situation is not, in the long run, sustainable nor desirable.  The information that is seeping into DPRK needs to be balanced and refrain from painting a picture of the west and South Korea that is unrealistic.

But, on the other hand, the opportunity and hope that this young boxer does have, thrives because she now lives in a democracy where individual merit and ability are recognized and she can now freely decide for herself what is good and right for her.