Suki Kim: This is what it's like to go undercover in North Korea
Suki Kim: Evo kako izgleda biti nastavnik u Severnoj Koreji
Suki Kim's investigation, "Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite," chronicles her six months undercover in Pyongyang during Kim Jong-Il's final six months. She worked as a teacher and a missionary in a university for future leaders -- all while writing her book. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
of Kim Jong-Il's life,
Kim Džong Ilovog života,
in South Korea, their enemy.
kod njihovog neprijatelja.
kod njihovog drugog neprijatelja.
North Korea a few times.
Severnu Koreju nekoliko puta.
that to write about it with any meaning,
da bih pisala o njoj smisleno
beyond the regime's propaganda,
mimo propagande režima,
da se potpuno uklopim.
kao nastavnica i misionarka
of Science and Technology
u Pjongjangu
who cooperate with the regime
koji su sarađivali sa režimom
of the North Korean elite,
severnokorejske elite,
which is a capital crime there.
za koje je propisana smrtna kazna.
expected to be the future leaders
koji su trebali da budu buduće vođe
dictatorship in existence.
diktature koja postoji.
of North Korea's original Great Leader,
prvobitnog severnokorejskog Velikog vođe,
shut down all universities,
režim je pozatvarao sve univerzitete
izuzetno cenjenog ideala
and prosperous nation.
i najprosperitetnije nacije.
spared from that fate.
pošteđeni te sudbine.
koji se predstavlja kao nacija.
is about the Great Leader.
every song, every TV program --
svaka pesma, svaki program na TV-u -
of the Great Leader at all times.
Velikog vođe, sve vreme.
with the birth of Kim Il-Sung.
rođenjem Kim Il Sunga.
prison, posing as a campus.
koji se predstavljao kao kampus.
accompanied by an official minder.
grupno, u pratnji službenog pratioca.
to sanctioned national monuments
ograničeni na nacionalne spomenike
to leave the campus,
da napuste kampus
and any free time they had
i sve njihovo slobodno vreme
their Great Leader.
njihovog Velikog vođe.
of North Korean staff,
da odobri planove predavanja,
every room was bugged,
svaka prostorija je ozvučena
portraits of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il,
portretima Kim Il Sunga i Kim Džong Ila,
to discuss the outside world.
da raspravljamo o spoljnom svetu.
many of them were computer majors
mnogima je glavni predmet bio kompjuter,
the existence of the Internet.
of Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs.
Marka Zakerberga ili Stiva Džobsa.
would have meant a thing.
im nije ništa značilo.
when an entire nation's ideology,
kada je celokupna ideologija nacije,
at the universities,
na univerzitetu,
on the chalkboard,
China last year on vacation,"
godine za raspust sam posetio Kinu",
to leave the country.
nije dozvoljeno da napusti zemlju.
requires a travel pass.
zahteva putnu dozvolu.
some truth about my students,
neke istine o mojim studentima
accomplishments of their Great Leader,
njihovog Velikog vođe
a rabbit as fifth graders.
klonirali zeca u petom razredu.
seemed at times hazy to them.
istine i laži njima ponekad nejasna.
the different types of lies;
da postoje različiti tipovi laži;
from the world,
svoj sistem od sveta
and were just regurgitating them.
i prosto ih prežvakavaju.
da ih podučim pisanju eseja.
nearly impossible.
da je to skoro nemoguće.
one's own thesis,
argument to prove it.
na činjenicama, dokazati je.
simply told what to think,
prosto kažu šta da misle
was not allowed.
razmišljanje je zabranjeno.
of writing a personal letter,
zadatak da napišu lično pismo,
some of them began to write
ali vremenom su poneki počeli da pišu
their girlfriends.
svojim devojkama,
their intended recipients,
onima kojima su namenjena,
their true feelings in them.
da otkrivaju svoja istinska osećanja.
up with the sameness of everything.
jednoličnosti svega.
mentioned their Great Leader.
nisu pominjali Velikog vođu.
with these young men.
s ovim mladićima.
played basketball together.
igrali košarku zajedno.
which made them giggle.
zbog čega su se kikotali.
even in the tiniest of ways,
makar i na najmanji mogući način,
of living in their world,
in fact, improve their lives.
zaista unapredila njihove živote.
their rotten regime inside out,
obara čitav truli režimski poredak,
connected through the world wide web,
osim njih,
I was putting them at risk --
dovodila sam ih u opasnost -
anything in the open,
da se otvoreno izražavate,
what is unspoken.
a student wrote that he understood
jedan student je napisao da razume
to be gentle in life, he said.
da budu nežni (gentle) u životu, rekao je.
a da se ne oprostim na pravi način.
how sad I was for them.
koliko mi ih je bilo žao.
a student said to me,
jedan student mi je rekao:
as being different from us.
drugačijom od nas.
but you're the same as us.
ali vi ste isti kao mi.
think of you as being the same."
da ste isti kao mi."
to my students with a letter of my own,
mogla odgovoriti ličnim pismom,
since I last saw you.
od kad sam vas videla.
maybe even as old as 23.
možda čak i 23 godine.
if there was anything you wanted.
postoji li nešto što biste želeli.
the only thing you ever asked of me
jedino što ste ikada od mene tražili
to share that bond of our mother tongue.
da podelimo posebnu vezu maternjeg jezika.
in Kim Jong-Un's merciless North Korea
u Kim Džong Unovoj nemilosrdnoj Koreji
encourage or even expect
da ohrabruje ili čak da iščekuje
da učinite bilo šta rizično
someone is always watching.
neko uvek posmatra.
what might happen to you.
šta bi se dogodilo s vama.
inspired something new in you,
pokrenuli nešto novo u vama,
and live long, safe lives.
i imajte duge, bezbedne živote.
your city of Pyongyang was beautiful,
da je vaš grad Pjongjang lep
to hear that I, your teacher,
da čujete da ja, vaša nastavnica,
that you are forbidden from,
koji je zabranjen za vas,
your lives there a bit more bearable,
vaši životi bi bili iole podnošljiviji,
your capital beautiful.
da je vaš glavni grad lep.
the rest of the country,
my lovely young gentlemen,
moja ljupka mlada gospodo,
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Suki Kim - WriterSuki Kim's investigation, "Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite," chronicles her six months undercover in Pyongyang during Kim Jong-Il's final six months. She worked as a teacher and a missionary in a university for future leaders -- all while writing her book.
Why you should listen
Suki Kim is the only writer to ever go undercover into North Korea to write a book from the inside. Since 2002, South Korean-born Kim travelled to North Korea, witnessing both Kim Jong-Il's 60th birthday celebration and his death at age 69 in 2011.
Her work sheds a new light on the understanding of the North Korean society by delving into its day-to-day life and provides unprecedented insights into the psychology of its ruling class, about whom the world knows very little.
Kim's novel, The Interpreter, was a finalist for a PEN Hemingway Prize, and her nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, Harper's and The New York Review of Books. She is the author of the investigation Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite.
Suki Kim | Speaker | TED.com