Suki Kim: This is what it's like to go undercover in North Korea
Suki Kim: Jak to jest uczyć w Korei Północnej
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,
sześciu miesięcy życia Kim Dzong Ila,
in South Korea, their enemy.
u wrogów, w Korei Południowej.
North Korea a few times.
Koreę Północną kilka razy.
that to write about it with any meaning,
że aby opisać pełnię sytuacji,
beyond the regime's propaganda,
stojące za propagandą reżimu,
of Science and Technology
who cooperate with the regime
którzy współpracowali z reżimem,
of the North Korean elite,
which is a capital crime there.
expected to be the future leaders
którzy mieli w przyszłości zostać liderami
dictatorship in existence.
i brutalnej dyktatury na świecie.
stali się moimi uczniami.
of North Korea's original Great Leader,
pierwszego północnokoreańskiego Wodza,
shut down all universities,
reżim zamknął wszystkie uniwersytety
and prosperous nation.
i najpotężniejszych narodów świata.
spared from that fate.
is about the Great Leader.
every song, every TV program --
piosenka i program telewizyjny
of the Great Leader at all times.
nosi odznakę Wielkiego Wodza.
with the birth of Kim Il-Sung.
urodzinami Kim Ir Sena.
prison, posing as a campus.
więzieniem udającym kampus.
accompanied by an official minder.
na wycieczki z oficjalnym opiekunem.
to sanctioned national monuments
do ustalonych narodowych zabytków,
to leave the campus,
and any free time they had
czczeniu Wielkiego Wodza.
their Great Leader.
of North Korean staff,
przez północnokoreańską kadrę,
every room was bugged,
każdy pokój był na podsłuchu,
portraits of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il,
portrety Kim Ir Sena i Kim Dzong Ila,
to discuss the outside world.
rozmawiać o świecie zewnętrznym.
many of them were computer majors
znali się na komputerach,
the existence of the Internet.
of Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs.
Facebook, Twitter -
would have meant a thing.
when an entire nation's ideology,
kiedy cała narodowa ideologia,
at the universities,
on the chalkboard,
China last year on vacation,"
pojechałem na wakacje do Chin"
to leave the country.
nie ma prawa opuszczać kraju.
requires a travel pass.
wymagają pozwolenia.
some truth about my students,
trochę prawdy o moich studentach,
accomplishments of their Great Leader,
o dokonania Wielkiego Wodza,
a rabbit as fifth graders.
"W piątej klasie sklonowałem królika".
seemed at times hazy to them.
wydawała się dla nich zatarta.
the different types of lies;
różne typy kłamstwa:
from the world,
swój system przed światem,
and were just regurgitating them.
i po prostu je powtarzają.
nearly impossible.
one's own thesis,
argument to prove it.
simply told what to think,
was not allowed.
myślenie było zabronione.
of writing a personal letter,
pisać nieformalne listy
some of them began to write
niektórzy zaczęli pisać
their girlfriends.
their intended recipients,
nigdy nie otrzymają,
their true feelings in them.
ukazywać w nich swoje prawdziwe uczucia.
up with the sameness of everything.
że wszystko jest identyczne.
mentioned their Great Leader.
with these young men.
played basketball together.
razem graliśmy w koszykówkę.
which made them giggle.
even in the tiniest of ways,
of living in their world,
in fact, improve their lives.
rzeczywiście poprawiłaby im życie.
their rotten regime inside out,
obaliła zgniły system,
connected through the world wide web,
światowa sieć WWW,
I was putting them at risk --
narażałam ich na ryzyko,
anything in the open,
what is unspoken.
a student wrote that he understood
student napisał, że rozumie,
to be gentle in life, he said.
żeby byli szlachetni w życiu.
w grudniu 2011 roku,
how sad I was for them.
jak bardzo było mi smutno.
a student said to me,
student powiedział mi:
as being different from us.
jak o kimś innym niż my.
but you're the same as us.
ale jest pani taka sama jak my.
think of you as being the same."
że uważamy panią za taką, jak my".
to my students with a letter of my own,
odpowiedzieć im własnymi słowami,
since I last saw you.
odkąd widziałam was ostatni raz.
maybe even as old as 23.
może nawet 23 lata.
if there was anything you wanted.
czy jest coś, czego byście chcieli.
the only thing you ever asked of me
rzeczą, o którą poprosiliście
to share that bond of our mother tongue.
więzią naszego ojczystego języka.
in Kim Jong-Un's merciless North Korea
w bezlitosnej Korei Kim Dzong Una
encourage or even expect
a nawet oczekiwać
północnokoreańskiej wiosny,
someone is always watching.
cały czas ktoś patrzy.
what might happen to you.
co by się z wami stało.
inspired something new in you,
zainspirowały do czegoś nowego,
and live long, safe lives.
żyjcie długo i bezpiecznie.
your city of Pyongyang was beautiful,
czy uważam, że Pjongjang jest piękny
zgodnie z prawdą.
to hear that I, your teacher,
że ja - wasza nauczycielka,
that you are forbidden from,
your lives there a bit more bearable,
your capital beautiful.
the rest of the country,
to żołnierze i niewolnicy.
nie możecie go nienawidzić.
my lovely young gentlemen,
moi kochani, młodzi panowie
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