“Ask a North Korean” is an NK News column penned by North Korean defectors, most of whom left the DPRK within the last few years. 

Readers may submit their questions to defectors by emailing [email protected] and including their first name and city of residence.

Today’s question is from Mark in Washington, D.C., who asks how many North Koreans learn to swim. In July, a North Korean defector re-defected by swimming somewhere between 2.5 and 3.5 kilometers — a feat for even seasoned swimmers – across the inter-Korean border. This begged the question as to whether ordinary North Koreans were also exceptional swimmers.

In-hua Kim — who lived in North Korea for decades before defecting in 2018 — talks about her experiences swimming in the DPRK.

Got a question for In-hua? Email it to [email protected] with your name and city. We’ll be publishing the best ones.

Back in July, I saw on TV that a North Korean defector had re-defected to the DPRK by swimming across the inter-Korean border. “This guy really has some guts,” I thought. “Does he not care about his own life, going back to North Korea like that?”

Then again, I wasn’t that surprised. North Korean defectors have such a hard time adjusting to life here in South Korea.

After arriving in South Korea and finishing my crash course on South Korean society at Hanawon in early 2019, I went out into the world believing that, if I worked hard and lived honestly, I would be able to adapt to and live well in my new surroundings.

But even now, I still feel like an outsider wandering the fringes of South Korean society. So I can relate to the man who swam across the border to go back to North Korea.

Even though it seems the man is from Kaesong, I thought he must have come from a seaside town, or be a smuggler from one of the riverside border areas. To swim that far across the inter-Korean border requires incredible perseverance and swimming ability.

North Korean children learn how to swim at school. I’m from Hyesan, so we would go to the nearby Yalu River, which separates North Korea from China, for our swimming lessons.

During that time I actually never saw a swimsuit. We would do the class in our school uniforms and then return home in our soaking clothes. Swimming lessons were always fun, though, so we students loved it.

These days, a lot of life belts and swimsuits come into North Korea from China, so children will wear these even when swimming in the creek.

Hyesan authorities tried to mobilize students to build a swimming pool near the Pochonbo Monument, but the swimming pool is still incomplete ten years later. Unable to swim in a proper swimming pool or go to the Yalu River, students instead kick a ball around in the schoolyard during swimming time at school.

However, unlike when I was young, the Yalu River is now blocked by barbed wire. You can’t go there to swim anymore, no matter how hot it is. Instead, children swim in the nearby Oshi River, which comes down from a mountain valley and joins with the Yalu River.

There are some smugglers that swim across the Yalu River, even when it’s been flooded by summer rain and filled with trees and animals carried away in its currents.

This is because, when the water levels are high, the border security force does not dare enter its waters, so there’s isn’t any risk of being caught.

The more courageous smugglers will strap a load of expensive goods to their bodies and leap into the raging torrents without the slightest hesitation. Smugglers from Hyesan are so good at swimming that they could probably win gold in the Olympics.

Borders guards just look on in astonishment as they make their way across the waves. Once the smugglers have crossed over to the other side of the river, they might even casually wave back from the Chinese side at those watching them. The border guards lose their minds at this taunting.

North Korean soldiers will also have swimming practice. When my now-deceased husband was doing his military service – before the barbed wire was put up around the Yalu River – I took the opportunity to clean the house and do some chores while he was away all day doing swimming training.

However, I heard some children making noise outside, and when I went to take a look I also couldn’t contain my laughter.

Military officers, standing in front of their battalion in their underwear, dived into the Yalu River and did breaststroke all the way to the family houses below the military base.

It was so funny we clutched our bellies, tears in our eyes. But now, when I look back on those times, I feel sad. Swimming culture in North Korea is just so backward compared to the South.

Edited by James Fretwell