My Vacations in North Korea

My name is Kai Lee and I worked for Triconex for 20 years as a QA inspector in the manufacturing facility.  There was great pride in our work, because we knew we were making the world's best safety system under the strictest quality assurance guidelines.   We believed in the product, and the company.  There was an IPO in March, 1992, and each of the employees (there were less than 100 of us then) had shares in the company.  Over the years, I was called upon to serve as a translator for our Korean customers that were visiting the Triconex facility in Irvine. 

I am originally from South Korea.  When I arrived in Orange County, California, I joined an evangelical church that had many other Korean members.  We decided on a charity mission, an attempt to go to North Korea and give aid to those who were handicapped in the country.   When we made contact with North Korean officials, they told us that there were no handicapped people in the country, the government would never acknowledge this to the world.

However, our group was persistent, sincere, and very respectful of the North Korean government's concerns.  Over time, we convinced them that we could help this group of people, and never exploit our mission so it could be used by others to make political points.  We viewed this as simply our duty to our faith to perform charity work.  We knew that the South Korean and American governments could not support us, so we acquired diplomatic skills to keep our mission active.

Over time, the North Korean government became convinced by our sincerity and finally granted us permission for our mission to visit in the early 1990's.  We were overjoyed!  Our first mission went very well, our North Korean minders kept close watch on us and we earned their trust by providing aid and most importantly to them, not drawing attention.   I accompanied my church a total of 3 times on these missions.

I am now retired from Triconex but am still active in my church.  I am 72 years old and run at least 20 miles a week, sometimes more. 

Kai Lee