'Defector, Repatriation, and Re-defector' Youth Becomes Full Professor 18 Years After Arriving in South Korea

Busan University of Foreign Studies Professor Kim Seong-ryeol... Major in Diplomacy
"If You Never Give Up, You Can Achieve Your Goal"

A North Korean youth who settled in South Korea after defecting from North Korea, living in a North Korean prison camp, and re-defecting has overcome adversity to become the first full professor at a domestic university. The person in the spotlight is Kim Seong-ryeol (38), a professor specializing in diplomacy at Busan University of Foreign Studies.

According to Busan University of Foreign Studies on the 5th, Professor Kim is conducting classes on International Political Theory, Inter-Korean Relations, and U.S. Foreign Policy from the second semester. Busan University of Foreign Studies stated that this is the first time a defector has become a full professor at a domestic university.

Professor Kim Seong-ryeol, majoring in Diplomacy at Busan University of Foreign Studies [Photo by Busan University of Foreign Studies, Yonhap News]

Born in 1985 in Chongjin, North Hamgyong Province, Professor Kim had to endure a difficult childhood marked by poverty and hunger. At that time, food distribution in Chongjin was not smooth, and due to his family's circumstances, he survived on grass noodle porridge made by mixing grass and noodles. Professor Kim’s mother sold their only possession, a TV, to raise capital and started a flour business. She procured Chinese flour brought in by ethnic Chinese in North Korea and resold it at the jangmadang (market), but even that became difficult as foreign currency-earning companies appeared at the market and conducted direct transactions.

In March 1997, when Kim was 12 years old, his mother attempted their first defection by crossing the Tumen River with her two young children. Risking their lives, the Kim family desperately crossed the river and arrived in China, where they worked in a factory. However, in their third year, they were caught by Chinese public security due to a tip-off from someone nearby, and Kim, along with his mother and sister, was repatriated to Sinuiju and forced to do hard labor in a prison camp for three months.

After barely being released from the prison camp, the Kim family returned to Chongjin, but someone else was already living in their home, and there was no way to make a living. Eventually, Kim attempted to defect again after two months, settling in the Chinese factory where he had worked before, and two months later, his mother and sister also escaped North Korea and arrived in China.

Kim came to South Korea in 2005 when he was twenty years old. His journey to South Korea was made possible through a broker his mother, who was working at a guesthouse in Beijing at the time, happened to meet.

Having deeply felt the limitations of North Korea, where educational disparities lead to social status disparities, Kim developed a strong desire to study what he wanted in South Korea. In North Korea, he had not even properly attended the elementary-level People’s School, equivalent to South Korea’s elementary school curriculum. In South Korea, he attended an alternative school for North Korean youth and passed the elementary, middle, and high school equivalency exams within about a year.

In 2007, Kim enrolled in the Department of International Language and Literature at Handong Global University and graduated after seven years. He then decided to continue his studies related to international politics and diplomacy. After attending graduate school at Yonsei University, he entered the Maxwell School at Syracuse University in the United States as a Fulbright Program scholarship student for North Korean defectors and earned his Ph.D. in just one and a half years. The Maxwell School at Syracuse University is a prestigious political science school from which U.S. President Joe Biden graduated.

Professor Kim said, "Like me, who did not receive proper education in North Korea but became a university professor, I believe that if you have passion and never give up, you can succeed," adding, "Even in difficult situations, if you have a vision and keep trying until the end, you can achieve your goals."