Every escape from North Korea is remarkable but Mr. Kim took a stomach-churning risk with the borders sealed because of the pandemic he fled by the sea with his entire family on board this ship his wife pregnant his brother's young children hidden below the deck we put the children to sleep with sleeping pills and hid them in Grain sacks I was almost Paralyzed by fear I knew my entire family could be executed if I
Made one mistake the boat was very loud but all I could hear was my heartbeat the family crossed into South Korean Waters undetected and were rescued by the Navy with defections now at a trickle they pulled off the seemingly impossible sea between North and South Korea where Mr Kim's family crossed it is so unusual for escapes to come this way directly to South Kore Korea must go through China meaning Mr Kim and his family are the
First to have escaped this year and made it here and so their testimony is so important because it's some of the most up-to-date information we have about what's happening in the country the Border closures have brought immense suffering he told me two farmers he knew starved to death as food prices soared while the pandemic restrictions made life more desperate when there were cases of Co everyone would be locked up and the
The entire area was sealed off, the people inside had little or nothing to eat after they had stared for a while the government would bring in truckloads of supplies to sell so people would praise them it's like starving your baby then giving it a small amount so it would thank you people started asking whether this was the state's plan to profit from the pandemic now safely in Soul and these streets aren't as unfamiliar familiar as they should be Mr Kim grew up watching
South Korean television in secret like for so many was his source of Enlightenment but now he says the authorities are ruthlessly cracking down on anyone courageous watching it people started calling the Crackdown officials mosquitoes like vampires sucking out our blood they're ruthless they'll shoot you kill you or send you to a labor camp last year they publicly executed a 22-year-old man for listening to South Korean songs and sharing them with his
Friends said they were punishing him harshly to set the right precedent everyone is afraid in South Korea the government has criticized its neighbor for violating its people's human rights but with Pyongyang shunning diplomacy there's the le soul or anyone can do but as a human being I feel very much helpless in some cases but we have the very limited tool but uh I mean that doesn't mean that we should be silenced you
Now I mean uh but we just keep raising these issues we need to mobilize all those International public opinion this New Freedom hasn't quenched Mr Kim's fear he worries about repercussions for speaking out his baby daughter is only a month old she gave Mr Kim the final push to escape to free her from what he calls a hell hole G Mackenzie BBC News insole
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