By Kang Hyun-kyung
Hong Sung-il, a North Korean defector, found himself alienated in his first English class on the first day of high school in Seoul in 2000. Hong was 17 then.
“I had never studied English before,” said Hong, a 29-year-old Yonsei University graduate with a bachelor’s in psychology, in an interview with The Korea Times Wednesday. He is applying for master’s degree.
He instantly realized that he couldn’t overcome the English divide with his classmates in a short time period. His classmates had studied hard to have a strong command of English through private tutoring since they were young.
“I spoke Chinese well since I had lived in China for years. So I honed my Chinese language skills to enter university, while putting off English for the time being,” Hong said.
He and his mother escaped from the reclusive nation in 1997 when Hong was 14. They had spent two-and-a-half years in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang before they embarked on another dangerous journey for freedom.
After making a long, journey via Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, the mother and son finally arrived in Seoul in August 2000.
“In my third year of high school, I heard that there was a private academy providing English programs for North Korean-born students who are preparing for the college entrance exam. The total tuition was 920,000 won.”
He only had 200,000 won.
“I went to the academy in southern Seoul and told the people there that was the only money I had. I asked if they could let me in, which they did. I studied English for three months there from March. The three months were all the time I studied English before entering university.”
A 2010 survey of 110 North Korean-born college students found that English is the No. 1 stress factor and this made it difficult to adjust to campus life. Six out of 10 young North Korean defectors feel that their English level falls far short of that of their South Korean-born classmates.
Three out of 10 North Korean defectors drop out of college after finding that they can’t match their classmates’ English level.
Hong also saw many young defectors stressed out because of English, although the foreign language is not the only reason which makes their life here tough.
Hong’s life took a fresh turn after he joined the British Council’s “English for the Future” program tailored to North Korean defectors. North Korean defectors here are entitled to attend the course for free. Since its launch last May, nearly 50 people are now attending the course.
The psychology major has taken the course for three to 15 hours per week, depending on his schedule. He also interned with the political division of the British Embassy in Seoul for three months from January.
He now describes his English level as intermediate. He is one of the winners of a 2012 Chevening Scholarship awarded by the British government.
He plans to study social and cultural psychology at graduate school and is awaiting the results after applying to three universities in Britain.
After returning to South Korea, he said he would like to do research on ways to cushion the culture shock that people in North Korea would feel in the event of unification.
“I have spent half of my life here in South Korea. Sometimes I ask myself who I am. I know that even though I wear Nike or Adidas shoes, people in the mainstream of this society would not accept me as one of them.”
He wants to help North Koreans adjust to the capitalist South with a set of policy measures to ease the culture shock he felt 12 years ago.
탈북 대학생의 영어정복기
탈북자들에게 영어가 가장 어려운 과목인 동시에 스트레스를 유발하는 제1요인으로 인식되고 있는 가운데 한 탈북자 출신 대졸자의 영어정복기가 관심을 끌고 있다. 주인공은 올해 29세인 연대 심리학과 출신의 홍성일씨. 홍씨는 올해 영국정부가 자국에서 대학원 과정을 공부하는 외국학생들에게 수여하는 한국인 쉐브닝 장학금 수상자 중 유일한 탈북자 출신이다.
홍씨는 14세이던 1997년 어머니와 함께 탈북을 해 중국 선양에서 2년 반 정도 머문 후에 베트남, 캅보디아 등을 거쳐 2000년 서울에 도착했다. 안도의 한숨을 내 쉬기도 전에 홍씨는 또 다른 커다란 도전에 직면하게 되었다. 모든 탈북자들이 어려워하는 영어과목.
코리아 타임스와의 인터뷰를 통해, 서울에서 고등학교에 진학해서 “영어를 처음 접했다”고 밝힌 홍씨는 어린시절부터 사교육으로 무장한 동급생들을 따라가기 힘들다는 것을 깨닫고 중국에 머물면서 익혔던 중국어에 집중 투자해서 연세대에 진학하게 되었다고 밝혔다.
연대를 졸업한 이후, 작년 5월부터 영국문화원에서 탈북자들에게 무료로 제공하는 영어프로그램을 올해 7월까지 이수하면서 동시에 올 1월부터 3개월간 영국대사관에서 인턴으로 활동하기도 했다.
영국의 3개 대학에 지원을 한 후 결과를 기다리고 있는 홍씨는 자신의 현재 영어실력을 중급이라고 했다. 최근 한 조사에 따르면 탈북대학생들이 가장 어려워하는 과목이 영어이며, 상당수의 탈북자 출신 대학생들이 영어 때문에 학교를 중단하는 사례가 빈발하고 있다.
홍씨는 “어려울때마다 고생했던 어머니를 떠 올렸고” 어머니로 인해 모든 어려움을 극복할 수 있었다고 말했다. 홍씨는 영국유학을 마치고 한국으로 돌아와서 통일 이후 북한 주민들이 경험할 문화적 충격을 완화하는 방안을 연구하는 일을 하고 싶다고 포부를 밝혔다.
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