How do you unmask the workings of a secretive state like North Korea, or expose the dark underbelly of a fiercely protective institution like the Catholic Church?
In their session, ‘Piercing the veil of secrecy’, Suki Kim and Michael Rezendes spoke of the ways in which they attempted to penetrate the impenetrable, governments and organisations who have everything to hide, who are accountable to no one but themselves.
Kim went undercover in North Korea, a non-Christian posing as a teacher with an Evangelical school, to get to the heart of the rotten core that is North Korean society. “It became unacceptable in my mind to ignore this, and I wanted to investigate, to get to the truth,” she said. “I wanted to get information out of North Korea but I didn’t know if that was possible.” Rezendes, born and raised a Catholic, was part of the famed Spotlight team at The Boston Globe which in 2001and 2002 uncovered the dirty history of the Catholic Church (the investigation became the plot of amovie, ‘Spotlight’). Like North Korea, here was rot concealed by lies, the difference being that in this case there was the superstructure of a cover-up.
The investigation took place across 2001 and 2002, and blew the whistle on the cover-up of the widespread sexual abuse that had been taking place, in Boston, the US, and across the world. “Turned out the story was bigger than even we had figured,” admitted Rezendes. “But our reporting was bulletproof, and every sentence we wrote was horrifyingly accurate.”
Kim had to keep her guard down, to not raise suspicions. But being under surveillance 24X7, with the fear that she could, any time, be found out and taken hostage-executed, even- took its toll. “It’s exhausting trying to control what you’re saying, and being perpetually scared is the most tiring feeling,” said Kim. It was an experience that left her traumatised but defiant, as shown by her claustrophobic expose, ‘Without You, There Is No Us: Undercover Among the Sons of North Korea’s Elite’.
Source : timesofindia