Story About Hyeonseo Lee

In February 2013, a young woman named Hyeonseo Lee, stood up on a stage in Long Beach, California, on a platform called Ted Talk. She chronicled the story of how she escape North Korea to China and living there as an illegal immigrant before finally reaching South Korea which she said is a beacon of hope that symbolized freedom. With trembling hands and a voice that shook, she told the story of what triggered her to flee.

During the 1990’s North Korean Famine, occurred in North Korea from 1994 to 1998 after the loss of support from the Soviet Union, her family is considered privileged, therefore she was sheltered from the truth. It all changed one day when her mother brought home a letter from a co-worker’s family explaining that by the time they read this letter, their 5 family members will no longer exist in this world. They had not eaten for 3 weeks and their bodies are so weak they’re waiting to die. At the age of 14 her Hyeonseo Lee’s family started to plan for her escape.

She crossed the Amnok River that bordered North Korea and China. In China, she lived with distant relatives. She lived in fear of being ousted to the Chinese authorities as all North Korean are considered illegal immigrants. Once she had become more stable, she moved to South Korea where she is able to renounce her North Korean citizenship and took up South Koran ones. After a few weeks of living in South Korea, she received a letter from North Korea saying that the money she sent to her family every month has been intercepted and as a result her remaining family in North Korea would be sent to an undisclosed location in the countryside which she knew would be one of the labor camps.

She returned back to North Korea to fetch her family and took a bus to Southeast Asia. The journey took 1 week and she was almost caught several times. She had to bribe the border guards in Laos at which she spent all her money. When her parents were arrested in Vientiane she had spent all her money and it was her lowest point. Until someone asked her what’s wrong and she explained it all about her predicament. Without hesitance that person goes to the ATM and took enough money to free her parents and the other caught North Koreans.

Hyeonseo Lee’s story is one of perseverance and courage. To have gone through all she had gone through as a young girl. Living with relatives in fear of being ousted to the Chinese police. One can only imagine what had gone through her head and her feelings then.