Guest blog by Catherine Dawkins, Programme Manager at Connect: North Korea

Not many people know about the North Korean community based in New Malden, South West London. Indeed, even local residents are sometimes surprised to learn their local high street is known as KoreaTown. Yet, the high street is filled with Korean restaurants and Hanguel, the Korean alphabet system, is strewn across shops, posters and signs.

The North Korean community has found a home in New Malden, with roughly 600 individuals settled in and around the area. The challenges North Koreans face as refugees are often overlooked, with people lumping them together with South Koreans or the wider East Asia diaspora. However, many people who manage to escape North Korea risk their lives, and leave those they love, only to find themselves trapped in a cycle of subsistence. Lack of qualifications, language and job skills, and mental health problems can contribute to them becoming trapped in low-paid work, where the possibility of finding fees – or indeed time – to study, to improve their situation, is slim or non-existent.

Connect: North Korea works closely with the North Korean community to address these problems. We have partnered with Roxy Rezvany this Refugee Week to screen her insightful film Little Pyongyang, which highlights the lives of North Koreans in New Malden. As an organisation we also aim to increase the representation of North Koreans both locally in New Malden, regionally in London, as well as nationally and internationally. Often our staff have been invited to events about North Korea, but too often there are no North Koreans speaking at these events despite their voices and experiences being the most important.

We want to change the picture; we want North Koreans confident and in employment and we want North Koreans confident and speaking on topics that matter to them. Enter our scholarships – we offer two types of scholarships, a vocational scholarship for employment and a postgraduate scholarship for community leadership and representation. Our ultimate goal is to help North Koreans fulfil their potential and be able to live the lives they chose. Roxy’s film is a great opportunity to learn more about this community and reflect on what it means to call somewhere ‘Home’.

Photo credit: Martina Amoretti for Connect: North Korea
Photo credit: Roxy Rezvany