Editor's note: Hyeonseo
Lee was born in North Korea and left for China in 1997. She now lives
in South Korea and is an activist for North Korea refugees. Lee spoke at
the TED2013 conference in February. TED is a nonprofit dedicated to
"Ideas worth spreading" which it makes available through talks posted on
its website.
My family was not poor,
and I had never experienced hunger. But after my mother read me a letter
from a coworker's sister who said that her family was dying of hunger, I
realized that something was very wrong in my country. A huge famine hit
North Korea in the mid to late 1990s, and I began to see suffering,
hunger and death around me.
I can't reveal the
details of how I left North Korea, but I can say that during the dark
years of the famine when I was a young girl, I went alone to China to
live with distant relatives. I thought I would be separated from my
family for a short time. I could never have imagined that it would take
14 years for my family to live together again.
Since North Korean
refugees are considered illegal migrants in China, I lived in constant
fear that my identity would be revealed and I would be repatriated to a
horrible fate back in North Korea.
One day, my worst
nightmare came true when I was caught by the Chinese police and brought
to the police station for interrogation. Someone had accused me of being
North Korean, so they tested my Chinese language abilities and asked me
tons of questions. I thought my life was over, but I managed to control
all the emotions inside of me and answered their questions. They let me
go. It was a miracle!
Hyeonseo Lee
After 10 years of hiding
my identity and living in fear in China, I decided to risk going to
South Korea. Even though adjusting to life in South Korea was not easy, I
made a plan and started studying for the university entrance exam. Just
as I was starting to get used to my new life, I received a shocking
phone call -- the North Korean authorities intercepted some money that I
sent my family through a broker, and as punishment, my family was going
to be forcibly removed to a desolate location in the countryside.
They had to get out of North Korea quickly. So I started planning how to help them escape.
I took a flight back to
China and headed toward the North Korean border. Since my family
couldn't speak Chinese, I had to guide them, somehow, through more than
2,000 miles in China and then into Southeast Asia. The journey by bus
took one week, and we were almost caught several times.
One time, our bus was
stopped and boarded by a Chinese police officer. He took everyone's ID
cards and started asking questions. Since my family couldn't understand
Chinese, I thought we were going to be arrested. As the police officer
approached my family, I quickly stood up and told him that these were
deaf and dumb people that I was chaperoning. He looked at me
suspiciously, but luckily, he believed me.
We made it all the way
to the border of Laos, but I had to spend almost all of my money to
bribe the border guards. Even after we got past the border, my family
was arrested and jailed for illegal border crossing.
After I paid the bribe
and fine, my family was released after one month. Soon after, they were
arrested and jailed again in the capital of Laos. This was one of the
lowest points in my life -- my mind and body felt completely drained,
and I felt like a failure. I did everything to help my family get to
freedom -- and we came so close. And now my family was thrown in jail
just a short distance from the South Korean embassy.
I went back and forth
between the police station and immigration office, desperately trying to
get my family out ... but I didn't have enough money to pay the bribes.
I lost all hope.
At that moment, I heard a
man's voice asking me: "What's wrong?" I was so surprised that a total
stranger cared enough to ask. He would only give me his first name. With
my broken English and a dictionary, I explained the situation, and
without hesitating, the man went to the ATM and paid the rest of the
money for my family and two other North Koreans to get out of jail.
I thanked him with all
my heart, and then I asked him, "Why are you helping me?" ... "I'm not
helping you," he said. "I'm helping the North Korean people."
I realized that this was
a symbolic moment in my life. The kind stranger symbolized new hope for
me and other North Koreans when we needed it the most. He showed me
that the kindness of strangers and the support of the international
community are truly the rays of hope that the North Korean people need.
Eventually, after our long journey, my family and I were reunited in South Korea.
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/14/opinion/lee-north-korea-refugee/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
Blessings ♥
