Human rights groups say 36,000 North Koreans defected to South Korea in the last two decades, including Mrs. Son, a former official of the North Korean military. During the great North Korea starvation in 1998, Mrs. Son served in the military, as caretaker of supplies and later as a broadcaster of the Juche, North Korea’s propaganda outlet.
She told CBN News, “My father was the provincial governor and bribed the military officer with a pig so I could get in because it was a way we can get food rations and not starve like the rest of the country. But things got bad when my father lost the elections. He became very sick and died. My brother was detained and died of starvation in prison.”
In order to survive, Mrs. Son and her mother escaped to China.
“We swam across the Tuman River for two days and bribed the North Korean soldiers and brokers in China. There we found a Christian church who helped us,” Mrs. Son said.
After a few months, Chinese police began to trail them. Mrs. Son shared her harrowing experience.
“My mom noticed the police. She told me to jump out of the van when it stopped. I took off my
The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at CBN