Don't Pay the Ferryman

Here's a bit of lost history; Korean ex-patriots living in post-WW2 Japan who were part of a exchange that sent them back to Korea along with their Japanese spouses and children. The only problem: they were heading to North Korea. No Solace For Koreans Coming In From the Cold

They were told a utopian society awaited them.

And faced with discrimination in Japan, many believed life could only get better across the sea as they boarded ships for North Korea under a repatriation program that sent more than 93,000 ethnic Koreans and their Japanese spouses to an uncertain fate.

The program, arranged by the Red Cross societies of the two countries, lasted 25 years. It was discontinued in 1984.

But what awaited many who took part was an even more harsh reality: an impoverished society that regarded them as enemy elements from the capitalist world, and relegated them to the lowest rank in society.

Many risked their lives to defect and make their way back to Japan, only to be classified as stateless people, unable to attain a stable life, on their return.

Incredibly, people are still straggling back to Japan from the Hermit Kingdom. God knows what happened to the thousands of others who went there:

Last July, a 50-year-old second-generation ethnic Korean man, his wife and two sons arrived at Kansai International Airport after fleeing North Korea.

It was the first time in 36 years that the man, who was born and raised in Osaka but left for North Korea at age 14, had set foot in Japan.

In North Korea, he managed to graduate from university and land a stable job, but his life took a drastic turn when an informant told authorities his wife had secretly kept a videotape of "Tora-san" from the popular Japanese movie series. She was incarcerated for two months.

"Once you get marked, the whole family gets purged, and it is impossible to climb out," the man said. In October 2008, the family traveled two days by train to a border town and slipped into China under the guidance of a broker.

Remarkably, there are some North Korean apologists in Japan who are willing to cast aspersions on the defectors:

Meanwhile, a former high-ranking official of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan who was involved in the repatriation program said it was wrong to generalize the experiences of those who had been repatriated.

"There are those who could not adjust to (North Korean) society and defected. There are also those who joined the elite class in the republic," the man in his 70s said. "One should not judge the entire situation by partial developments."

Despite everything (Viet Nam, the Cold War, hippies), Americans really did lead charmed lives in the 20th century. With a few exceptions - like the foolish progressives who moved to Stalin's Russia - we simply did not have to confront the basic existential questions of nationality and identity that can arise when you suddenly find yourself on the wrong side of a border after a war. For many, WW2 never ended because they could never return to a place where they could resume a normal life. We can only imagine the anguished life of one who is exiled from not one but two countries.