Risking near-certain death to

escape from North Korea

Monday 12 May 2014
No one is really sure how many North Koreans manage to escape each year, ut
we do know that far fewer are getting out! "ince Kim #ong-un took power at the end of 2011,
the numer of defectors who make it to "outh Korea has dropped y more than 40 per cent!
$hat does not mean, howe%er, that people from this land of gulags and food-shortages ha%e
decided to simply stick it out at home! &$he desire to lea%e hasn't changed,( says $im )eters,
director of humanitarian organisation *elping *ands, ut &it's difficult to get out! $here are
more troops on oth sides of the North Korean-+hinese order!(
,t is not hard to understand why North Korea's ruling cli-ue re-uires its citi.ens to stay put!
/efectors carry something with them that is pro%ing increasing damaging to the regime0
e%idence of how the country works!
,n 1eruary, a special United Nations commission presented an excoriating
report on human rights abuses in this secreti%e nation, ased on information pro%ided
y hundreds of former nationals 2 some in pulic hearings, the ma3ority in pri%ate!
&$he gra%ity, scale and nature of 4human rights5 %iolations re%eal a state that does not ha%e any
parallel in the contemporary world,( said the report! $he commission's head, Michael Kiry,
went further, arguing there were &many parallels( etween the e%idence he had heard and
crimes committed y the Na.is!
No wonder, then, that some North Koreans are willing to risk it all to lea%e the country of their
irth - and they really are risking their li%es!
(Photo: John Sparks and CK Park, who helps North Koreans leeing their
countr!"
Plotting escape
,n north east China, we met a pair of defectors shortly after they had crossed the order! 6e
found them in a safe house on a desolate stretch of road, looking drained and nursing adly
frost-itten feet! 7 mother called 8oung-*ee )ark and her son #ae-6oo had een smuggled
across the order, into +hina, ut their escape plan had gone adly wrong!
$he man they had hired to guide them on the +hinese side of the frontier had not turned up!
&6e crossed the order into +hina ut the roker wasn't there so we had to hide in the
mountains for three days! 6e didn't eat and we thought we were going to die,( said 8oung-
*ee!
9%entually #ae-6oo flagged down a local us and dragged his unconscious mother on oard!
*e took a massi%e risk 2 +hinese soldiers regularly inspect %ehicles near the order 2 ut this
desperate couple were fortunate! &,t was %ery cold and the guards were huddled up! $hey
glanced at the us ut they didn't try to stop us,( #ae-6oo told us!
9%entually, they found a family willing to help them 2 memers of a network offering shelter to
defectors - ut they could not stay long! $ypically, North Koreans mo%e south, for countries
like $hailand and :aos, where they apply for citi.enship at "outh Korean emassies!
Suicide or execution
,t is a ha.ardous trip! ,f caught in +hina, the go%ernment's policy is clear 2 #ae-6oo and his
mother would e sent ack to North Korea and almost certain e;ecution! *owe%er, as you will
see in our e;clusi%e report, these two said they had no intention of eing taken ali%e!
$hey were carrying rat poison and lumps of opium - enough to kill themsel%es if captured! &6e
keep it in the mouth like this,( said 8oung-*ee, pointing to a all of opium wrapped in plastic!
&,f we are captured and cannot mo%e our hands, we can still chew and swallow,( added #ae-
6oo!
6ith the help of a "outh Korean missionary known as &the priest( and the financial support of
organisations like #elping #and, the couple were soon tra%eling south towards :aos! ,t was
a difficult 3ourney 2 si; ner%e-shredding days on a %ariety of different forms of transport,
filmed in its entirety y Channel $ News 3ournalist /anny <incent!
The cost of freedom
$he pair were frightened of eing captured y +hinese police and the state of their feet, ut
they e%entually made it to the capital of :aos!
,t was here, in <ientienne, that they learned the full cost of their epic 3ourney! /octors told
8oung-*ee that her feet were so adly damaged that all 10 toes would re-uire amputation! "till,
she told me she could li%e with it! &,t's =K, ,'m happy with this! 6hen , was in the mountains,
, didn't think , would sur%i%e!(
$hey also reaped the enefits of completing what must surely e one of the world's most
terrifying 3ourneys! Mrs )ark's daughters, who had defected from to "outh Korea years earlier,
graed a late-night flight to :aos, to greet their mother and rother in person! , can tell you,
there wasn't a dry eye to e seen!
48oung-*ee )ark and her son #ae-6oo are now in "eoul where they are recei%ing medical care
and support at the "outh Korean go%ernment's resettlement centre! "oon, they hope to mo%e in
with the rest of their family!5