[22nd Rising Star] ⑤ Park Chung-kwon "Kind Friends Became Spies... Realized the Nature of North Korean Regime and Defected"

"Kim Jong-il's Socialist Praise Thesis Differs from Reality"
Defector Gathering Intelligence from Child of Weapons Developer
"Creating a Society Where STEM Fields Also Enable Social Mobility"

Editor's NoteThere are 131 first-term lawmakers entering the 22nd National Assembly. This is the lowest number since the 16th National Assembly in 2000, which had 112. The public hopes that amid the minority ruling party and majority opposition party structure, these lawmakers will lead politics of dialogue and compromise to achieve tangible results. We introduce the elected officials expected to bring a fresh breeze to the 22nd National Assembly. ① Park Ji-hye ② Go Dong-jin ③ Kwak Sang-eon ④ Park Soo-min ⑤ Park Chung-kwon

Park Chung-kwon, a proportional representative elected member of the People Power Party, is giving an interview to Asia Economy at the National Assembly on the 3rd. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Park Chung-kwon, an elected member of the People Power Party, is the fourth North Korean defector to enter the National Assembly. Around the time he graduated from university, Park realized the true nature of the North Korean regime and decided to defect. After coming to South Korea, he earned a doctoral degree from Seoul National University and worked as a researcher in automotive materials at Hyundai Steel. He dreams of a society that prevents the brain drain of science and engineering talents and where success is possible even if one pursues a career in science and engineering rather than medicine.

"They knew me better than I knew myself... it sent chills down my spine"

While studying as a third-year student in the Department of Chemical Materials Engineering at Pyongyang National Defense University, Park became a student leader and began to understand the North Korean regime. A decisive moment was meeting a security officer dispatched to the university. Park said, "You can think of it as an employee of the National Intelligence Service being at the school. They knew everything about me, Park Chung-kwon, better than I did, which sent chills down my spine." He added, "I felt I shouldn't be hostile with this person, so I often drank with him and became close. When I asked who the spies were, he said they were very kind, gentle, and quiet friends." The friends, who seemed innocent students, were actually spying on each other and acting as informants.

Park's decisive decision to defect came after reading a thesis called 'Nojak' by Kim Jong-il. Park said, "It was a paper praising socialism, but from my perspective, all the criticisms of socialism from outside were correct." He continued, "Kim Jong-il's rebuttal that socialism is the truth did not match any of the criticisms." Doubting whether the thesis was strange or if he was strange, he realized that what the regime taught and the lives of North Korean people were vastly different and miserable, leading him to decide to defect.

There are rumors that Park participated in North Korea's ICBM development, but Park introduced himself as "a major or worker, not a weapons developer." After defecting, he collected information on North Korea's weapons development from acquaintances to inform South Korea. He said, "The main institute of the Defense Science Research Institute was right next to the university I attended, and the Second Economic Committee was a bit farther away. Since the children of workers there attended that university, all the weapons development information was among those children." Park said he did not take notes for fear of being caught and memorized all the information before defecting.

Park Chung-kwon, a proportional representative elected member of the People Power Party, is giving an interview to Asia Economy at the National Assembly on the 3rd. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

He began studying at Seoul National University after reading an article in North Korea's Rodong Sinmun that praised General Kim Jong-il at "South Korea's top Seoul National University." Continuing his studies was the fastest way to adapt to the advanced society of South Korea, and he wanted to study at the best university. Originally, Park had prepared for the college entrance exam to enter Seoul National University's Business Administration department to earn money. He said, "While preparing for the exam with the mindset that I might have to work part-time due to financial difficulties, a professor from the Materials Science department at Seoul National University offered me an internship. He said I could help with the seniors' research for 1.4 million won per month and continue preparing for the exam, so I thought it was a perfect opportunity and went immediately."

"Samsung probably has a lot of my resumes"

Before earning his doctoral degree, Park interviewed with many leading companies such as Samsung and LG but was rejected. He said, "I think there was prejudice against North Korean defectors. Even if I were the person in charge of hiring, would I want to hire someone unfamiliar? If you hire a defector, they might not fit in the organization and could become a burden." He added, "I applied to Samsung's wireless, semiconductor, and memory divisions but was rejected everywhere. Samsung probably has a lot of my resumes."

Hyundai Steel was the company that accepted Park. When Park was about to give up on finding a job in South Korea and thought about going abroad, Hyundai Steel was recruiting at Seoul National University. He happened to meet an executive from Hyundai Steel who graduated from the same Materials Science department and talked with him. Park said, "Since he was a junior from the Materials Science department, we talked about various things, and maybe because he liked me, he invited me to visit the company. He said, 'Come to Dangjin, and if you like it, let's work together.' That invitation was very touching." He added, "I thought it would be very rewarding to work under such a person and decided immediately. They accepted me without any prejudice against North Korean defectors."

As a politician, Park's mission is to prepare for and anticipate the future. He said, "The estimated lifetime income of a doctor from age 20 to 65 is about 8 billion won, while a government-funded research institute Ph.D. or Samsung Electronics Ph.D. earns about 3.9 billion won." He emphasized, "I want to break the perception that the only path for economic advancement in our country is medicine." He added, "My goal is to create awareness that science and engineering are also career paths that allow economic mobility. That is the way to a prosperous nation."