The Story Of A North Korean Refugee Who Risked His Life For Freedom

Photography by Tim Franco for Rest of WorldNorth Korea, country of… what actually? North Korea is mostly known for its totalitarian regime led by Kim Jong-un. Officially, it's called the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which has the same feeling as the German Democratic Republic: everything but democratic.

The Korean Peninsula was united and independent for nearly a thousand years - successively under the Goryéodyna, Joseon dynasty, and Empire of Korea - when Japan occupied Japan in the early 20th century. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, Korea was divided in two.

Attempts to reunite the country failed, leading to the birth of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in 1948. The Korean War (1950–1953) ended in an armistice through the intervention of the United Nations. On the border with the south was then a heavily guarded demilitarized zone established.

North Korea has no freedom of movement; leaving the country without permission is seen as treason. Defectors sent back to North Korea can be punished by law with hard labor, five years in prison, and the death penalty.

The Story of Jun Heo.

In an interview with VICE, Jun Heo tells about his experience and his life. How did he escape from this country? Jun Heo believed for most of his life that North Korea was the richest country in the world, financially as spiritually. North Koreans really don't have a clue of what the rest of the world looks like.

The day he followed two human smugglers and crossed the river Tumen on the border of China and North Korea, he realized that his whole world and life collapsed because it was based on lies and propaganda.

Jun grew up in dire circumstances in Ch'ŏngjin, a city in northeastern North Korea. In 2004, when he was 13, his mother decided to flee to China. A year later, she had managed to arrive in South Korea. For many North Koreans, that is the ultimate goal: they can apply for refugee status in South Korea.

Things didn't go as smoothly for Jun. A week after he arrived in China, he was hiding with ten other refugees from North Korea in the home of a people smuggler near Beijing. They were not allowed to leave the house. They fell into the hands of the Chinese police.

Fleeing in the country of North Korea most certainly results in a lifelong prison sentence, although children get punished less severely. Jun got sent back to the village where he grew up, but he couldn't live the same life he always had.

The Second Escape

When Jun Heo returned to Korea, he dragged around with the knowledge of how the world looks like outside of Korea. He couldn't tell anybody. It would lock him up in prison for the rest of his life. The secret police of Korea also followed him, and he had to check himself in with those officers.

Jun wasn't allowed to go to school anymore, which meant he didn't have any social contacts and couldn't talk to friends; in the village where he lived, there was no electricity, and everybody was hungry.

"For three years I climbed the same mountain almost every day. It was one of the few things I was allowed to do. " - Jun Heo

In December 2008, three years after he was sent back to North Korea, he fled again. Someone helped him cross the Tumen. He would rather not give details of the escape. He does not want to give directions to the North Korean regime. That regime has tightened border controls since 2017 to ensure that hungry people cannot flee.

Getting to China is the first step of many to accomplish freedom, which he found out during his first attempt. He spent his first months in China hiding in a small place in the North East of China. There are many North Korean spies there, but after three months, he reached Shanghai, which was a much safer place. Jun also got a job in a restaurant as he pretended to be South Korean. The restaurant belonged to Chinese people who couldn't recognize his accent.

From Shanghai, he managed to contact his mother. In 2005, the smugglers gave him a number to reach her in South Korea. His mother had been through a rough time, but after two years, she had gathered enough money to get a smuggler who would take him to South Korea.

Jun entered Thailand illegally thanks to the smuggler's help. From there, he applied for refugee status in South Korea. He spent two months between Chiang Mai and Bangkok before flying to Seoul.

Jun Heo's Life Now.

In June 2018, Jun lived in Seoul; he's studying Political Science for a year now at Teaching North Korean Refugees, a British non-profit school for refugees. He is 27 years old and has been living in Seoul for six years now.

It was quite a change for Jun after fleeing from a city with no electricity to such a big capital city with electricity and vehicles everywhere.

When he was forced to stay away from school in North Korea, he could see other's go to school, and now he realizes you only know what you're missing when you don't get it anymore. He knows what it is like not to be able to study. Now he never wants to stop.

In South Korea, life for North Korean refugees is still hard, they get to live in small apartments, and they are not certain of getting a job, but he didn't want to go back now. He had taken so many risks to be where he is right now.

His ultimate goal is going to college but not just some college, no. He wants to attend the University of Seoul, which is the best school in the country.

A few years later, Jun is now graduating in political science.

There is one place where Jun will never follow his classmates: on top of a mountain. Climbing is very popular in South Korea, but it is no longer in Jun.

"I hate the mountains."

References & Sources

• https://restofworld.org/2021/north-korea-pivot-to-video/
• https://www.vice.com/nl/article/3k7bxw/een-noord-koreaanse-vluchteling-over-zijn-vlucht-uit-het-beste-land-ter-wereld