Suki Kim: This is what it's like to go undercover in North Korea
Suki Kim: Kaip aš slapta dirbau Šiaurės Korėjoje
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 Jong-Il gyvenimo mėnesius,
in South Korea, their enemy.
kurią jie laiko prieše.
kitoje jų priešėje.
North Korea a few times.
2002-aisiais ir vėliau.
that to write about it with any meaning,
ją aprašyti prasmingai,
beyond the regime's propaganda,
nei per propagandos prizmę,
of Science and Technology
Universitetą
who cooperate with the regime
bendradarbiauja su režimu,
of the North Korean elite,
Šiaurės Korėjos elito sūnums,
which is a capital crime there.
nes už tai grėstų mirties nuosprendis.
expected to be the future leaders
tapsiantys ateities lyderiais,
dictatorship in existence.
šių dienų diktatoriškoje šalyje.
of North Korea's original Great Leader,
didžiojo vado Kim Il-Sung
shut down all universities,
visi universitetai,
and prosperous nation.
ir labiausiai klestinti valstybė.
spared from that fate.
atleisti nuo tos prievolės.
apsimetantis valstybe.
is about the Great Leader.
every song, every TV program --
kiekviena daina, televizijos laida...
of the Great Leader at all times.
Didžiojo Vado ženklelį.
with the birth of Kim Il-Sung.
nuo Kim Il-Sung gimimo.
prison, posing as a campus.
panašus į griežtai saugomą kalėjimą.
accompanied by an official minder.
ir lydimi oficialaus prižiūrėtojo.
to sanctioned national monuments
šventų nacionalinių monumentų,
to leave the campus,
universiteto miestelio teritoriją
and any free time they had
suplanuotos, o likęs laisvas laikas
their Great Leader.
of North Korean staff,
patvirtinti paskaitų planus,
every room was bugged,
apie ją atsiskaitoma. Patalpose buvo blakių,
portraits of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il,
Kim Il-Sung ir Kim Jong-Il portretais,
to discuss the outside world.
išorinio pasaulio.
many of them were computer majors
daugelis studijavo kompiuteriją,
the existence of the Internet.
of Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs.
Mark Zuckerberg ar Steve Jobs.
would have meant a thing.
jiems nieko nereiškia.
when an entire nation's ideology,
visos tautos ideologija,
at the universities,
pareigos universitete –
on the chalkboard,
China last year on vacation,"
važiavau atostogų į Kiniją“,
to leave the country.
išvykti iš Šiaurės Korėjos.
requires a travel pass.
jiems reikalingas leidimas.
some truth about my students,
bent dalį tiesos apie studentus,
accomplishments of their Great Leader,
Didžiojo Vado pasiekimus,
a rabbit as fifth graders.
penktoje klasėje jie klonavo triušį.
seemed at times hazy to them.
kartais atrodo blanki.
the different types of lies;
skirtingas melo rūšis:
from the world,
sistemą nuo pasaulio,
and were just regurgitating them.
mechaniškai atkartoja.
akademinius rašinius.
nearly impossible.
one's own thesis,
savo teiginį
argument to prove it.
simply told what to think,
nurodoma ką galvoti ir kaip,
was not allowed.
buvo neleistinas.
of writing a personal letter,
parašyti asmenišką laišką,
some of them began to write
kai kurie ėmė rašyti
their girlfriends.
their intended recipients,
their true feelings in them.
laiškuose savo jausmus.
up with the sameness of everything.
visko vienodumas,
mentioned their Great Leader.
neužsimindavo apie Didįjį Vadą.
with these young men.
su šiais jaunuoliais.
played basketball together.
žaisdavome krepšinį.
which made them giggle.
ir jie kikendavo.
even in the tiniest of ways,
kad kažkas ne taip.
of living in their world,
kai gyvenau jų pasaulyje,
in fact, improve their lives.
tikrai pagerintų jų gyvenimus?
their rotten regime inside out,
naudodamas socialinius tinklus,
connected through the world wide web,
prisijungę prie pasaulinio tinklo,
I was putting them at risk --
stūmiau juos į pavojų:
anything in the open,
what is unspoken.
a student wrote that he understood
studentas teigė supratęs,
švelniais žmonėmis.
to be gentle in life, he said.
gyvenime būti švelniais.
2011-ųjų gruodį,
Kim Jong-Il mirtį,
how sad I was for them.
kaip liūdėjau dėl jų.
a student said to me,
studentas man pasakė:
as being different from us.
jūs skiriatės nuo mūsų.
but you're the same as us.
jūs esate tokia pati, kaip mes.
think of you as being the same."
mes išties priimame jus kaip savą.“
to my students with a letter of my own,
atsakyti savo studentams,
since I last saw you.
praėjo daugiau nei treji metai.
maybe even as old as 23.
gal net 23-eji.
if there was anything you wanted.
ar ko nors norite.
the only thing you ever asked of me
vienintelis dalykas, kurio paprašėte
to share that bond of our mother tongue.
ryšį, kuriuo mus sieja gimtoji kalba.
švelniais žmonėmis,
in Kim Jong-Un's merciless North Korea
negailestingoje Šiaurės Korėjoje
encourage or even expect
ar net tikėtis
someone is always watching.
esate nuolatos stebimi.
what might happen to you.
kas jums gali nutikti.
inspired something new in you,
sužadino jumyse kažką naujo,
and live long, safe lives.
ir nugyvenkite ilgus, saugius gyvenimus.
your city of Pyongyang was beautiful,
Pchenjaną, jūsų miestą, gražiu.
to hear that I, your teacher,
kad aš, jūsų mokytoja,
that you are forbidden from,
uždraustą jums,
your lives there a bit more bearable,
taptų labiau pakenčiamais.
your capital beautiful.
kad jūsų sostinė yra graži.
the rest of the country,
negaliu miesto nekęsti.
my lovely young gentlemen,
mano mieli jauni džentelmenai,
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