Hanging W/The Dear Leader

The Dear Leader, just hanging out!

So there I was, sitting on Haeundae Beach in Busan, minding my own business when (although not entirely unexpected) this quaint older gentleman dolled up in his Sunday best creeps up on me & asks if he could take a seat beside me.

At the current moment I had been enjoying the local surf population punishing some gnarly three foot breakers about 150 feet out from the shore, which basically meant I was in a calm & peaceful state; at one w/the crashing waves & overcrowded jostling for a turn on the breaks.

As the elderly man began to speak, I noticed his English was pretty good, especially considering most Koreans beyond their mid thirties rarely spoke much English at all. The conversation was rather vanilla, initially, asking where I was from, what I was doing in Korea, etc....the typical generalities of a curious Korean wanted to know about the waegooks (foreigners).

He explained to me that he'd grown up in North Korea for lived there into his early teenage years before escaping to China & then making his way south of the DMZ into the 'free Korea,' as he put it. He mentioned not having any contact w/the few family members still living in the north but could only speculate that they likely had died or were suffering immensely under the current regime. Finally, he introduced himself by name & also offered me his business card. I thought I heard his name correctly but studied the card just to make sure. I'm fairly certain I had an inquisitive look plastered across my face, which he quickly took notice of & pointed out that he wasn't THAT Kim Jong Il - spelled differently, J-O-N-G instead of Y-O-U-N-G.

He's always lurking around somewhere!

You never know, he's a crafty one & he could be lurking anywhere - it's not completely out of the realm of possibility that it MIGHT be the real deal!


We went on to discuss the future of a unified Korea, his thoughts on how it might happen & his hope that, since the Germans were able to make it work, there just might be a shred of hope for his beloved Korea, too.

It was certainly interesting getting to speak to an escapee who had seen life on both sides of the DMZ, as well as learning more about his life after the escape. Turns out nearly 10,000 North Koreans escape to China every year but only about 2,000 of them actually realize their dreams of freedom. Most of them get shipped back to Pyongyang by the Chinese government, where they are usually jailed as traitors of the state but it's common that some are executed as well. I'm not sure how they decide who lives and dies but I'd assume 'repeat offenders' or seriously outspoken troublemakers probably don't have much chance of living upon their forced return.

He has devoted his life to Christ & spends most of his time 'witnessing' to most anyone who will offer him the courtesy of listening. I've realized most of these Christians have a fairly jaded reality of the world & their perspective is consistent w/a one track mind. They also don't seem open to other options or possibilities aside from that of their own faith.

However, he & I had a nice conversation regarding religion in general; how it seems to have such an adverse effect on people around the world & why so many zealouts seem staunchly determined to show that theirs is far superior to all others. To me, it seems most religions embrace essentially the same mantra but a select few seem to ruin it for everyone else....

Keep an eye out for the fanatics....

Without getting deep into religious dogma, I found it refreshing to share some quality conversation regarding religion, in general w/out having to refute the usual speculation & nonsense (you'd be surprised how many Christians over here want to 'witness' to people but have very little functional knowledge of religion beyond what they've been continually spoon-fed w/out much actual thought or questioning on their own).

Either way, I am happy to report that the Kim Young Il I met, is a sensible, down to earth, God fearing, guy who seems to think the ways of the Western world aren't all that bad & invited me to look him up whenever I made it back to Busan. Whether I needed a meal or a place to lay my head at night, I was always welcome.

So, when it boils right down to it, most people in this world are good, caring, compassionate & relatively generous people in some capacity or another. Although, I can imagine it isn't much fun sharing a name w/one of the most despised men in the whole world. I just wish I'd had the foresight snap a couple pictures of me & the dear leader. Oh, well, maybe next time.

Have a great weekend, people!