“I have come to realize that the reason why
South Korea is so affluent is because the people have worked very hard and made
tremendous efforts. Now I have hope that I, too, will be well-off if I work
hard like others.”
These words come from Kim Eui Sun (alias, pictured above; Image:
Daily NK), who is steadily making a successful life for himself raising ducks in the
Jindo region of South Jeolla Province, South Korea. Despite beginning this endeavor with scant hope, this duck farmer is finally beginning to see his
exhausting efforts as a platform from which to launch himself into success.
After facing innumerable hardships, Kim
managed to escape North Korea in 2004, pass through several third countries,
and finally enter South Korea in the spring of 2005. This harrowing process saw
him experience crisis after crisis–many matters of life or death. These
tribulations notwithstanding, Kim remarked that when he first settled in
Seoul, his feelings of regret often trumped those of relief.
He suffered a lot at first because of the
emotional distress, unfamiliar lifestyle, and ideological differences with his
South Korean counterparts, growing both physically and mentally tired after
working as a temporary worker in several positions, including as an interior
design assistant and a street vendor.
Kim’s Determination to Succeed
These hardships only served to strengthen
Kim’s resolve to succeed; he announced to his wife his plans to set up a
farming business in a rural area in the southern region of South Korea, stating he would return only after achieving this goal successfully. However,
this notion of “success” built up in Kim’s mind failed miserably, almost from
the onset.
North Koreans typically cultivate fields by
hand, and Kim attempted to apply these same methods to his business endeavor in
the South, quickly realizing he could not compete with South Korea’s pervasive agricultural mechanization. Failing to carve out a living for
himself through these means, Kim toyed with the idea of selling hay for
profit during one of his many brainstorming sessions about how to make money. It was at this time he found an answer: he would start a duck farm.
Kim spoke of how the idea came to him, saying, “After thinking about starting a duck farm,
I even looked into raising other livestock. However, I realized that the
investment in other livestock would be prohibitive, because it would take a
longer amount of time to raise other animals. Upon discovering that one could
easily sell ducklings after raising them for only 40-42 days, I remember
thinking, ‘Yes! This is it!’”
Despite this revelation, Kim faced two
rather crucial issues: insufficient funds and no land on which to get these
operations underway. Even with the 40 million KRW (approximately 37,000 USD) that
his wife had vigorously saved through hard work, he could not purchase a duck
farm, for which the going rate is approximately 200-300 million KRW
(approximately 185,000 – 277,000 USD). After cobbling together funds from his
wife’s savings and generous friends he managed to purchase a shabby, derelict
farm.
Kim’s broad range of experiences played a
pivotal role in transforming the facilities into a workable estate. “I remember
that the farm was nearly in ruins, because it was so long since the owner had
raised ducks there. But I knew that I would be able to fix the place up since
the main structure of the farm was still intact. Thanks to the fact that I had
experience in several different fields, I was able to fix many things using
only tools and my own two hands,” Kim explained.
Conditions for a
Successful Settlement
The renovation process dragged on for
several months, until he finally began raising ducklings in 2013– only to make a
litany of mistakes. Keen to learn from the error of his ways, Kim sought out
other farmers for advice on what he was doing wrong and rapidly improved–and eventually mastered– his
techniques. It wasn’t long before he gained recognition as a competent and
skilled duck farmer by a hatchery.
Kim recalled the incident as a major turning point. “Not long after I began raising ducklings
properly, a manager from a hatchery company came to me with a proposal. ‘Next
time, we’d like if you could adopt our chicks as soon as send out your existing
orders,’ he said, and then commented on how my production rate was 99.8%–considerably higher than the average 95%. After hearing that, I just
wanted to break out into a happy dance; it seemed that I was finally being
rewarded for my hard work,” he said.
Now this once tiny business has expanded
into a family trade: Kim’s daughter and son-in-law have set up a duck farm of
their own. Kim often drops in to offer them advice and
encouragement, in the hopes that they, and other North Korean defectors, can
acclimate and settle down in South Korean society– just as he did–to begin
laying the foundation for the era of unification.
To this end, he offered counsel to defectors both present and future. “If you want to settle down in South Korean
society, learning and working hard are paramount. The first condition is to be
diligent; the second, to be sincere,” he said. He added that he considered the South a place where learning from other people’s success and remaining courageous despite setbacks ensure that “if you just try to do it, it will work out somehow.”
“Despite all the dangers we [defectors]
face to get here, just try to keep going and move forward. If you have a goal, don’t
ever give up and pursue it to the end,” Kim said, urging on fellow North Koreans looking to build a new life for themselves.
*This article was made possible by support from the Korea Hana Foundation [the North Korean Refugees Foundation].
