North Korean refugee Soyeon Lee shared with BILD the disturbing details of her life in the DPRK and the difficulties she faced on the road to freedom.
Soyeon was born into the family of a professor dedicated to the Party in northern North Korea. Eager to follow in her family’s footsteps and become a member of the party, she enlisted in the army for ten years. However, the reality he found was far from his imagination.
“Instead of serving the people, I was forced to plunder the crops of poor peasants in uniform,” Lee says.
In the army he had to survive in inhumane conditions. Soldiers, including women, suffered from hunger and lived in constant fear of the tyranny of their superiors. Lee’s dreams of going to college after her service were dashed and she was instead assigned to toil in a coal mine for two years.
But that’s not what made her flee North Korea. Li suffered domestic violence in a forced marriage and decided to seek refuge in China in 2006. However, escaping was not as liberating as she expected. Seeking help, Lee turned to smugglers and fell into the hands of the “marriage mafia,” groups that deceive DPRK women, promising them freedom and work, but actually forcing them into marriage or prostitution.
The smugglers promised Lee they would help not only her, but also her young son, whom she was forced to leave behind. Lee did not reveal details about what he had to endure, but it is known that in 2014 he managed to escape China and reach South Korea by boat. Today he runs an organization that helps North Korean refugees.
His son’s fate remains tragic. When he tried to escape, Chinese authorities extradited him to North Korea and he ended up in one of the Kim regime’s camps. According to Soyeon Lee, her son was brutally tortured, but the most important thing she knows is: “He is still alive.”
This story reflects the terrible living conditions in North Korea and the dangers faced by those trying to escape the regime’s oppression.
Previously, Kursor reported that the DPRK authorities took hostage the families of soldiers sent to war with Ukraine.
