Jo escaped from the dictatorship after almost starving to death as a child.
The 100,000 North Korean “volunteers” reportedly being offered up to Russia to join the war on Ukraine would be people from the lowest “social class,” most likely forced to go by the government, North Korean defector Grace Jo told National Review.
Russian talk show host Igor Korotchenko mentioned the new development in North Korean–Russian relations on Russian state TV this week, saying, “There are reports that 100,000 North Korean volunteers are prepared to come and take part in the conflict.”
In North Korea, “volunteer” doesn’t have the same definition as in the U.S., Jo said.
When the government issues an order to “send a number of people to support Russia,” they choose people from the lowest “social class order” to go first, she explained.
North Korea uses a sociopolitical classification called the “songbun” to determine one’s social rank. One’s “songbun” is largely determined by their ancestor’s loyalty to the regime, and one has no control over this rank. There are three main classes divided into 51 categories, and one’s status impacts their education, military service, housing, and even food supply.
Those in the lowest rank make up 27 percent of the population. They are “descendants of landlords, capitalists, religious people, political prisoners, those who had assisted South Korean forces during the Korean War, or were otherwise judged anti-Party or associated with external powers,” according to Liberty In North Korea.
PHOTOS: Pyongyang Military Parade
Jo is one of 370 refugees from North Korea who has settled in the U.S., having escaped from the dictatorship after almost starving to death as a child. Her two brothers and father died from starvation while living in North Korea, and her older sister went missing while going to China to look for food.
Now, at 30 years old, Jo is studying interior design in the U.S. and speaking to students about the dangers of socialism with the Dissident Project.
When asked why North Korea would send “volunteers” to Russia, Jo said there is “no reason” for North Korea to refuse, since Russia is its “parent” and the two have been building closer bilateral relations.
North Korea is one of the only countries in the world that recognized the independence of the Russian-occupied Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR) in Ukraine.
North Korean “builders” are also reportedly expected to be sent to rebuild Donbas, Alexander Matsegora, the Russian ambassador to North Korea, said in an interview in July.
“Korean builders who are highly qualified, hardworking, and ready to work in the most difficult conditions will be a very serious” part in rebuilding the destroyed infrastructure in Donbas, Matsegora said.