The Flip: Mobile use among North Korean women during their journey to South Korea
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Academic research presented at the 68th international communications association in Prague, 25 May 2018
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The Flip: Mobile use among North Korean women during their journey to South Korea
- 1. The Flip mobile communications of North Korean women during their journey to South Korea Juhee Kang (United Nations University on Computing and Society) Richard Ling (Nanyang Technological University) Arul Chib (Nanyang Technological University) ICA 2018 Prague
- 2. The Border
- 3. Divergence of two Koreas Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Republic of Korea (ROK) 25.4 million Population 51.3 million Totalitarian single party state under the Kim family & Juche ideology Political Presidential republic Democratic capitalism $1300 (estimate) GDP per capita $27,500 195th HDI rank 18th 3/100 (180th) Freedom Score (Press freedom) 82/100 (63th) 13 (3.2m) Mobile users per 100 inhabitants 120 (58.9 m) ?? (less than 1%) % Internet users 92.8% 28th Suicide ranking 10th (top in OECD) Source: World Bank, UNDP, CIA, Freedom House, Reporters without Borders ITU, WHO
- 4. North Korean women in South Korea • About 31,000 settled in South Korea • Feminization of NK migrants since 2005 Migrants Agents Women ICT Users Transposed from a totalitarian socialist society to a highly competitive capitalist society Switched their structures in the search for a better life Living in the two changing patriarchic societies From the most digitally-oppressed society to the most digitally-oriented society Research Context: The Flip
- 5. “Journey” through the flip • Migration as a process, a journey • Following their experiences, foregrounding their voices and diverse agency
- 6. “Mobile” in the journey through the flip • Mobile as a lens to understand their experience of the structural flip • Mobile becoming a part of the social structure (Campbell, 2014; Ling, 2008; 2017) o Individual addressability, micro-coordination, etc. o Shifting from “Nice to have” to “Must have” o You are a problem if you don’t have a phone (Katz, 2017) • ICT/mobile for empowering migrants (Chib et al., 2013; Madianou & Miller, 2013) • Disempowering effects: autonomy of use (Norwegian teens, Ling 2000; South Korean teens, Yoon, 2006; Singaporean maids, Thomas & Lim, 2009; knowledge workers, mazmanian et al, 2013; hospital workers, Stephens et al, 2017)
- 7. About the study Research Question • How do mobile phones play into the transitional experiences of North Korean women during their journey from North Korea to South Korea? Interview with 20 NK women living in South Korea (Aug – Dec 2016) Following up interviews and observation at the IT class for NK residents Almost all from Northern Province (borderlands); Age between 24 – 58; left NK between 1995 – 2015
- 8. “My husband crossed the border first and gave his (Chinese) mobile phone to me. I was afraid of the police searching my house so I buried the phone in the ground. Then, I would turn it on only when I needed to use it. It was a dangerous situation.” • Limited Access o Domestic mobile phones are increasing (conspicuous ownership: “for showing, not for using”) o Internet/International calls are illegal o Borderlanders used smuggled Chinese phone to call outside or phone brokers • Fraught Use of Chinese Mobiles o Fraught with fear and danger o Going up in the mountain o Encrypted, broken conversation o Risky and long travel to get the signal mobile use in North Korea
- 9. mobile during the crossing “Mobile phone was very useful during the escape. I contacted my relative to set up a date and place where the border guard will overlook my escape. I used it until I crossed the border to contact the broker and set up the meeting points.” • Mobile plays a critical role in preparing the escape o to communicate with family outside o to coordinate the journey (broker, payment, meeting points, etc.) • Risk of getting caught vs. agency to find a better life o Long risky journey to use mobile to call o Desire for better life beyond the border outweighs the risk
- 10. trafficked for forced marriage “I saved money and bought a mobile phone. I used it when I was running away to contact the broker. I had been caught twice, so I knew I couldn’t take a bus... He picked me up and got me out.” • Restricted use of mobile after trafficking o Increasing trafficking for forced marriage in rural China demanding cheap caseworkers o Many are allured by short-term job in China; some are voluntary or forced to be voluntary (e.g. to support family; to survive) o Mobile use during the trafficking was restricted (language, know no number to call) • Critical facilitator for escaping o mobile not a sufficient condition but a critical facilitator (aspiration to escape; number to call for help)
- 11. survival in South Korea • Rapid transition to mobile-oriented life o Feeling: “stepped out of a time machine” o Granted access to smartphone (first thing to buy at local Hana Center) o Self-doubt: “When would I be able to use that kind of thing?” o Low difficulty in learning (except English loanwords) o Pressured to use mobile phone for survival (bus, navigation, text than calls) “In South Korea, everything is done by mobile phones and computers…we need to learn to use mobile phones to survive here.”
- 12. “Katzian Flip” Mobile in the North Mobile in the South • Restricted access You are a problem if you have a phone • Mobile use is fraught with danger and fear (e.g. hiding, encrypting, short calls) • Plays a critically instrumental role for a life-changing escape NK; rescued from trafficking • Granted/Required Access You are a problem if you don’t have a phone • Mobile use is ingrained into structure and assumed in the social sphere (e.g. NK women learns to use mobile for survival) • Free but less instrumental use Using mobile for survival
- 13. Implications • Delivering small people’s unheard stories going through the structural tragedy • Individuals exercising agency through two contrasting use contexts • Mobile use being restricted, risky and dangerous • Mobile use for survival, conforming to social norms • Autonomy of using or not using is heavily restricted • Comm Scholars: How these women’s use of mobile free and autonomous in North and South Korea? How much autonomy do we have? • Policy: Are South Korea ready to receive these migrants in a bigger scale?
- 14. Related work in progress • North Korean women’s identity management via online anonymity to cope with discrimination in South Korea • North Korean women migrants’ negotiated restricted agency expressed in their use of mobile throughout two patriarchic societies in Korea
- 16. Defining North Koreans in the South • Witteborn (2011) Social Labeling of migrants • Controversial labeling of North Koreans escaped from North Korea • Migrants: those who exercised their agency to move their places and are in the process of settling Defectors Refugees SK Citizens Tal-buk-ja (脫北者) Heroes, Returned Brethrens, News Settlers, NK residents outside NK
- 17. North Koreans in South Korea • Total 31,339 settled in South Korea (Dec 2017) o Mostly women (71%) in 20-40s (75%) from North-eastern provinces (76%) with high school education (70%) • Feminization of NK migrants since 2005 o relatively loose control; increased roles as breadwinners • In SK, 55% employed; 25% on welfare cash aid 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 ~1998 ~2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Male Female Children (4%) Teens (11%) 20s (29%) 30s (29%) 40s (17%) 50s (6%) 60s+ (4%) Source: The Ministry of Unification of the Republic of Korea, 2017
Editor's Notes
- Regardless of Trump canceling the Singapore summit, on April 27, the world has observed the two leaders of Korea have met on the border that divided the Korean peninsula for the last 65 years. They met, shook hands and crossed the border together twice – up and down. As one Korean journalist puts, their action on that day made the border nothing but a simple line on the ground. However, the border means everything to many Koreans, especially for those separated families who could not see each other almost for life, and for those more 100,000 people who risked their life to cross the border, as in the case of North Korean women that we will show in our study.
- In the last 65 years of separation, two Koreas have evolved into two very different, even contrasting societies. I’m not going through all the statistics but as you see, they also have a very different communication environment.
- We focus on North Korean women who managed to settle down in South Korea. Currently, there are about 31,000 people and, surprisingly, 70% of them are women. We study them because first, they are “migrants” who transposed themselves from a totalitarian socialist society to a highly competitive capitalist society. They are also “agents” who actively switched their structures in the search for a better life. And they are “women” who experienced two changing patriarchic societies. Finally, for communications researchers like us, they bring up an interesting case that they are the ICT users who came from the most digitally-oppressed society to the most digitally-oriented society. We frame these research contexts as “the flip”.
- We also follow their migratory experiences as a “process”, more like a journey. In migration studies, there are many studies looking at their departure (like why they migrate) or their arrival (like how they acculturate in a host society). However, there’s a shortage of studies examining the holistic picture of migration as a continuing process of changes and resistance. We want to follow their journey, foregrounding their voices and diverse agencies exercised in the transition. This diagram is the reconstructed journey from our interviews. I’m not going into the details. These are well-documented in many journalists’ reports which are not our focus of the study.
- Lastly, we focus on their use of mobile phone. Why? Because we believe mobile is a great lens to understand what they experienced, how they perceive and position themselves within the structure. These days, mobile is increasingly ingrained into our everyday life, almost becoming a part of the structure. Its position has been changed from a ‘nice to have’ gadget to a ‘must have’ item. To paraphrase James Katz, these days, “you are a problem if you don’t have a phone”. At the same time, there are growing literature analyzing how mobile phones are empowering migrants or refugees. However, some studies suggest having mobile is not always positive and it can be disempowering. Sometime, mobiles are used as a means of control especially for those who have less autonomy of use mobile like Korean/Norwegian teenagers under the parent control or Singaporean maids tightly managed by the boss.
- Based on these literature, we ask the role of mobile phones during their journey through the flip. We interviewed 20 North Korean women living in South Korea and did some follow-up interviews and an observation at the IT class offered for NK migrants by South Korean government. Our participants are all from Northern provinces bordering China, they are mostly in their late 20s-40s. the time of their departure varies but mostly around 2009.
- Information about North Korea is quite restricted, but we know that they have their own domestic mobile services with 3G networks and smartphones manufactured in North Korea. Phones are increasingly popular in urban cities and becoming a symbol of conspicuous consumption. But the internet is not available and international calls are strictly illegal. Because our participants are mostly from rural areas, they didn’t have access to such phones. Instead they could receive Chinese mobile signals using a smuggled Chinese phone or phone brokers who lend their phones for certain fee. They used these Chinese mobile phones to call their families outside and it was fraught with fear and danger. As you can see from the quote, they buried their phone, went up in the mountain for an hour, went into an empty building with no electricity and covered their phone under the blanket to avoid the local surveillance. Those who didn’t get a Chinese signal, had to travel 4-5 hours with the brokers in secret as they didn’t have a permit to travel within North Korea. They also encrypted their conversations by not to mention names, certain words. They also made their calls short as 2-3 mins to avoid tapping.
- Despite the danger, their agency to seek for alternative life outside North Korea was stronger than the risk, and mobile phones played a critical role helping their escape. Our participants used the phone for calling their family members in South Korea, contacting the brokers(human smugglers), micro-coordinating the meeting points and arranging the payment. However, once they crossed the border, the brokers usually didn’t allow them to have phones – which is quite different from Syrian or Iraqi refugees who used smartphones as a lifeguard almost as important as food or water.
- Quite surprisingly, six out of the 20 interviewees were trafficked as a wife for rural Chinese men and then they escaped. Due to the 30 yearlong one child policy in China and the cultural preferences on boys over girls, many poor and uneducated men in rural areas cannot find wives easily. We say it’s a forced ‘marriage’, but in fact these men are actually looking for women who is also a housekeeper, child-bearer, caretaker for their elders and a subsistence farm worker. Some of them used a mobile phone to escape from the trafficked situation. One woman negotiated with her husband for long to get a secondhand phone; the other saved money secretly to buy her phone. Then, they used to call the brokers or relatives as in the quote here. Clearly, mobile phone plays a critically instrumental role as a facilitator of their escape. But we should also note that mobile phone itself was not a sufficient condition. In this hopeless and impoverished situation, what she needed first was “the idea she can escape” or “motivation she wants to escape” and most importantly the “number to call for help”. When these other conditions were met, the mobile phone played a crucial role to change their life.
- When they arrive in South Korea, they go through a six-month long resettlement program organized by the South Korean government. This transition is so rapid and confusing as one of our participant says she felt like ‘stepped out of a time machine and traveled to the future’. Getting a mobile phone is one of the first thing they do as local social workers help them get a new phone. However, some participants, especially older, felt inadequacy and self-doubt. One participant wasn’t sure if she could use such a nice thing as smartphone, so she instead chose a flip phone and waited until her husband to come and help her get a smartphone. Interestingly, many people find learning to use mobile phone was not difficult and they picked it up by themselves.. However, what was difficult was learning to use mobile in their everyday tasks and adjusting to the mobile-based south Korean culture. They were pressured to use mobile not to get lost in the city, to get the news and job info, to reach out their colleagues or friends. In South Korea, mobile became an essential channel that they can engage with the society, without much choices of not using. Ownership, use and constant engagement over mobile was the given social contexts they must comply with for survival.
- In sum, referring to Katz, we call this as ‘Katzian flip’ describing this contrasting mobile use contexts. To a lesser degree, we’ve all experienced this transition over a long time period. And some migrants from developing countries to the developed world also experience something similar. I also live in a Macau where the border to mainland China is so near and the communication context is flipped with no google map, no facebook or twitter. Across the flip, mobile use is never free and autonomous and is constrained by the given social structure
- In this study, we first document these unheard voices of people who has been through the structural tragedy. We present the case with two contrasting mobile use contexts but their autonomy of using or not using is situated within the given contexts.
- This is one of the three studies we are working on and is currently under review of IJOC. Two other papers are also on the way so please stay tuned. Thank you for your attention.