Hello and welcome back to the Most Amazing Channel on the internet!
I am your host, Rebecca Felgate and today we have a really informative list for you,
we are talking about the Top 10 people who escaped from North Korea.
Before we get into the video, which I am pretty excited about, I just want to tell you a few
things we have coming up – the Most Amazing team will be at Playlist Live from the 27th
to the 29th April – so if you are local to Florida or nearby, come and see us!
We will also be hosting a Most Amazing Fan meet up in Toronto at Yonge and Dundas Square
on the 12th May this year from 2pm.
If anyone turns up to either event in a Most Amazing shirt we will be sure to sign them
for you.
We also have lots of goodies to give away at the meet up, so hopefully see you there!
Okay, back to North Korea.
Let's start off with a man who was recently honoured by Donald Trump for his heroic escape
from North Korea – at number 10, we have Ji Seong Ho.
Ji survived North Korean famine by living off roots and corn stalks, meanwhile his grandmother
died of hunger.
In 1996, when he was 13, he fainted from exhaustion when hauling coal off a train, losing his
leg and arm from the injuries he sustained.
Despite losing two limbs, he made his way to China for a better life.
He was caught by North Korean Police but managed to escape again = where he set up the Now
Action and Unity for Human Rights organisation.
What a guy!
9 -Nine Refugees Who Accidentally sailed to Japan
In 2011, nine North Koreans washed up in a small wooden boat around the Noto Peninsula
in Japan.
Their vessel had drifted wildly off course – crossing the Sea of Japan when the six
adults and three children on board had been trying to reach South Korea.
Of the group of escapees, one man told Japanese officials that he was a member of the military.
There is no doubt that an escape for a military member is even higher risk than for those
not involved in the countries defense.
Luckily the group were given safe passage to South Korea and accepted into the country
to start new lives.
8 - Fukui Prefecture Escapees of 1987 Escaping via the water now is one thing, but
escaping North Korea 30 years ago was something else entirely.
In January 1987, 13 North Koreans washed ashore in a small stolen boat.
The boat then sailed all the way to Taiwan before entering less dangerous waters to get
to South Korea where all refugees on board were allowed to start new lives in the country.
An article from the New York Times from 1987 says that a South Korean family welcomed them
in.
7 - Choi Kwanghyuk 55 year old Choi was sent to a work camp in
North Korea because of his Christian faith.
Christianity, of course, is not allowed in North Korea… in fact, it is the most oppressive
place in the world for the faith.
Choi said all he had was a bible and around 8 other fellow Christians to practice the
faith with.
Eventually the state found him and tortured him.
After being sent to a brutal labour camp, he was able to break free and escaped to China.
He later applied for Asylum in the United States.
After finally getting there, in an interview with Fox News, he said "The life in North
Korea is hell … life in America is heaven."
A guy with a VERY similar name but a different escape story up next
6 - Choi Kwang Hyouk That being said, while their stories are indeed
different, the way in which they risked everything to leave is pretty similar.
Choi grew up in tense times in North Korea.
He was seven when the countries founding leader Kim Il Sung died and his family were plagued
with economic hardship.
As a child, Choi began selling ice cream on passenger trains and would often ride on the
roof to avoid being caught by a ticket inspector.
One day, he slipped off the train when it was moving and his left foot was crushed.
As medical practices are basic in the country, instead of trying to save his foot, doctors
amputated below the knee.
Of course there were no prosthetics and the North Korean government is known to be harsh
towards those with disabilities.
Eventually he was smuggled out of North Korea and settled in South Korea, where he took
up Paralympic ice hockey.
Controversially, Choi Kwang joined the Team Korea team at the 2018 Winter Olympics in
PyeongChang.
5 - Park Sang-hak Park escaped North Korea aged 32 after a life
spent as a trusted party worker.
One day he witnessed an aerial South Korean propaganda drop, but was too involved in the
politics of the country to act on what he read.
That was, until his father left the country and saw how the rest of the world sees North
Korea.
Eventually, Park began to see that the regime was lying to him and his people and that they
were living in poverty.
Realising his family was in danger, he spent two months quietly arranging his escape.
After bribing a boarder guard, he was able to get out with his mother, brother and sister.
He now lives in South Korea and arranges for propaganda posters, like the one he saw so
many years ago, to be dropped over the boarder.
4 - Professor Kim Heung-kwang Kim was a teacher of Computer Science for
20 years before escaping North Korea in 2004.
He was privy to a lot of information about the countries cyber programme, and now works
to predict and prevent cyber attacks from the hermit state.
He also provides insight into the mood of the people living in North Korea
3 - Han Ga Hee Han is a North Korean Defector who now is
a radio host on the Free North Korea Radio, which airs news over the boarder illegally.
When she escaped, she had to do so in secret, leaving her family behind.
She likes to believe that they listen to her voice over the airwaves.
On her first attempt, she was caught and beaten by North Korean guards, but in her desperation,
she paid smugglers to get her out again.
On her second attempt, she made it to China but was a victim of human trafficking and
was sold three times as a bride.
She persevered in her struggle and eventually made it to South Korea.
2 – Thae Yong Ho Thae Yong Ho is the highest ranking diplomat
to ever flee North Korea.
He was the former Deputy Ambassador to the UK and shockingly made his escape in 2016
with his family.
He believes that a revolution will come that will one day bring down Kim Jong Uns regime.
He said he decided to deflect when Kim Jong Un continued to enforce dating rules and began
developing his nuclear programme.
While he was able to escape with some of his family members, he fears that his remaining
family in the hermit state are being made to suffer for his exodus.
In 2017, he provided news publication Al Jazeera with a tantalising interview about his escape,
which is worth checking out.
Finally at number one, we have a girl who captured the hearts of the world when she
spoke out against the regime….
In at number one, we have1 - 1 -Yeonmi Park
Yeonmi escaped North Korea age 13, but garnered world-wide attention in 2014 when she delivered
a powerful speech at the One Young World summit about her escape from North Korea.
Age 9, Yeonmi's father was arrested for illegally selling metals and, as a result,
her whole family was tarnished for three generations as is customary in North Korea.
She and her 11 year old sister survived by foraging for food in the mountains.
Eventually, Yeonmi and her family were able to escape by crossing mountains and a frozen
river into China, where her mother was raped.
China of course has deported deflectors back to North Korea in the past.
They then crossed the Gobi desert following a compass and the stars to freedom.
Her and her mother eventually stowed away to South Korea.
Yeonmi eventually then picked her life up and attends university in Seoul and has become
an activist and regularly speaks out against the regime and risks her life to do so.
So that was the Top 10 people who escaped North Korea, of course a few minutes each
in a top 10 list doesn't do their stories justice so I would really encourage checking
out all of these people for yourself.
Out
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