For the first time in South Korea, July 14 marks the day dedicated to North Korean refugees. A new commemorative date established by the government to honor the memory of those who did not manage to escape the regime. On this occasion, young North Korean refugees, who became artists in the South, were honored in an exceptional exhibition.
2 min
with our correspondent in Seoul, Celio Fioretti
A small house, shrouded in mist, that seems far away from everything. Memories of a past life that An Sumin tries to share with visitors to the exhibition through her paintings. Arrival in South Korea At the age of 17, the thirty-something artist has now become a renowned painter with an exceptional life story.
” My father was a painter for the regime’s propaganda, it was thanks to him that I learned to draw, she says. In the North, I attended the Academy of Arts, I could have had a career as a painter there. After we fled to South Korea in 2011, I continued to study painting at university. With my paintings, I try to show my memories of my hometown in the manner of Marc Chagall who is one of my great influences. He too was a refugee, a Russian living in France.
An Sumin is one of the seven artists of North Korea of the “Flowering” exhibition like An Chungguk. For him, exhibiting his art is a way to raise awareness of the lives of North Korean refugees. The challenge for us refugees is to integrate well into South Korean society. I think art can be a bridge between the South Korean public and our life in the North or here as refugees.”
Fewer and fewer refugees are reaching the South. Only 600 since 2020 compared to nearly 3,000 per year at the end of the 2000s.