Listening exercise with transcript #3: Execution in North Korea

One of the privileges that you get from speaking Korean is the fact that you have access to a ton of interviews by the North Korean refugees (we call them "탈북자": the letter "탈" is Chinese for "exit." For example, "to escape" is "탈출" in Korean; to wring out water is "탈수". The letter "북" means "north," and "자" means "person": "남자" means "man," "망자" means "the departed (the dead).") The vast majority of these interviews are not translated into any other languages, so speaking Korean means that you have extra insight into the lives of the North Koreans that is otherwise unavailable.

The following short clip is a part of a TV show called "이제 만나러 갑니다" (Now we go meet them). Most of the people on the show are 탈북자. They all have heart-wrenching stories of how they left North Korea, risking their lives, as well as their families' lives, and now they are very outspoken about educating the public about the realities of living in North Korea. They do have a slight 북한 사투리 (North Korean accent), but they are barely detectable, so see if you can pick up what they're saying. The transcription follows:

Host: 반동 (this is a North Korean word; it does not mean "reaction," but rather it refers to anything anti-communism) 행위로 죽는 사람이 있는거죠? 총살당해서 사람이 죽는걸 보신분? 어렸을때부터.
Woman 1: 중학교 3학년부터 단체로 가서 봐요.
Man 1, talking to people around him: 나도 가서 봤어. (그래요? 진짜로요? 네. 공개처형이요? 네. 공개처형.)
Woman 1: 다 봐요. 학교에서 줄서가지고 뭐한대 막 종 때려요. 그렇게되면 총살한대 그러면 가서 봐요.
Woman 2: 장마당 (this is an old word in Korea now, it refers to a large open space "마당" where a market "장" opens at a regular time interval; of course, there aren't so many of these in Korea, but it seems that this tradition still exists in North Korea) 이나 학교 운동장같은데 가보면 표고문이 있어요. 몇월 몇일 몇시에 어느 장마당 운동장에서 총살 한다고 그렇게 붙여놔요. 그러면 온 동네사람들 아이들까지 다, 애기엄마 애기업고 다 와서 봐요.
Host: 몇명이 쏴요 총을?
Woman 2: 우리가, 우리 삼촌 사형할때는 일곱명이서 네명을 사형하더라고요.
Host: 한번에 다 쏘는거에요?
Women 1&2: 예.
Woman 1: 보통 규정이 세명의 사격수들이 한 사형수에게 세발씩 각각 아홉발을 맞아요.
Man 2 그럼 유현주씨 (this is the name of Woman 1), 그걸 봤을때 한번이 아니라 여러차례 몇번 봤을것 아니에요. 볼때마다 무서워요, 아니면 그냥 그러려니 해요?
Woman 1: 그러려니 해요. 처음에는 꿈에서 나타나고 그러는데 두번째부터 보고 또 세번째 보고 네번째 보잖아요. 아무렇지도 않아요. 어우, 죽는구나. 난 저렇게 죽지 말아야지. 그냥 이런 생각이에요.

You may have doubted your ears about what you're hearing; they often talk about these cruel and inhumane topics in a completely nonchalant way. This breaks my heart to realize that these kinds of things were so commonplace that they are immune to the usual reaction.

Anyway,  I hope that you take advantage of your Korean knowledge, and educate yourself about the goings-on in North Korea, because it seems like a real privilege to be privy to all these information. The information available in English is really a fraction of what you can readily find using Korean!