Fifty happy couples made their vows and tied the knot at a mass wedding ceremony in Seoul recently. South Korea is no stranger to group weddings, but what made this particular one special was that each marriage involved a migrant or a North Korean refugee. The event was organized by the government-run Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), the country’s largest broadcaster, to help “the marginalized in society.” All were unable to afford to pay for their own special day primarily because the foreign partners or the refugees are finding it hard to adapt to life in South Korea, said KBS President Kim In-kyu, who officiated at the wedding. According to the Unification Ministry, as of November 2011, just over 50 percent of the nearly 23,000 North Korean refugees living in the country were unemployed One couple, however, had to wait 15 years and overcome personal hardship, separation and imprisonment before they could finally marry. Kim Hwa-sun, a pseudonym, met the Chinese man who was to become her husband in 1997 not long after she entered China following her escape across the North Korea border. The real problems began a few years later when Kim was arrested by police for being an illegal immigrant. She had come out of hiding to see a doctor after getting pregnant. Luckily on this occasion she was released after paying a fine. Kim’s luck ran out however after she gave birth to a baby girl. Police arrested her again and sent her back to North Korea, where she was immediately thrown into prison. "The Chinese police were given a quota of North Korean refugees to arrest and send back," Kim said. In the North Korean prison, “I had to get up at 4am to work. They also forced us to run with heavy stones tied to our bodies and to memorize the prison rules at night." “They gave us a spoon without a handle to prevent us from attempting suicide because many had tried to kill themselves with sharpened spoon handles to escape the suffering,” she added. After enduring the harsh conditions for six months, she was released and went back to her home in Hamkyongbuk-do province. But she didn’t feel safe. Every three months North Korean people have to be “educated” about communism and the government system in order to deter them from trying to leave, Kim explained. "Border crossers like me are often rounded up and tried in the People's Court during this education. I knew if this happened to me I would be shot," she said. So Kim decided to escape again. She re-crossed the border but was again caught by the Chinese police. Knowing she would be killed if she was sent back, she escaped from the truck taking her to prison. She now knew that the only place of safety lay in South Korea. With her future husband’s help she paid a broker who got her to South Korea in 2007 via a long and arduous journey via Vietnam and Cambodia. She was joined the following year by her husband and her daughter. We came here with nothing after going through so much and it has not been easy adjusting, she said. She said she is lucky to have work but she has to send money to North Korea via brokers, who take 30 percent and that her family members back home are forced to use most of what they get to bribe officials to leave them alone. "Actually I am working hard here to feed the officials, instead of my beloved family," she lamented. After the recent wedding ceremony, Kim, holding her husband’s hand, struggled to fight back the tears. “I was beginning to think this moment would never come, but finally it has,” she added. KBS says it plans to hold a mass wedding service annually from now on. Related reports Migrant families taste traditional Korean culture
