How to escape from the North Korean prison state: Part 1

Part I: Getting to the Border

Congratulations on making the fine choice of deciding to defect from North Korea! If you’ve made it this far to this article, you must be determined; after all, only the highest cadres in the Communist Party in Pyongyang get to even see a computer, let alone connect to the Internet. But somehow you’ve overcome all difficulties and learnt enough English to read this, so that in itself is worthy of praise. But if you think it was hard getting to this point, just wait until what’s next: the defection itself.

Before we go any further, tell me a bit about yourself. No, I don’t want to know your name; I understand you don’t want to give it in case the authorities in North Korea find out about you.

You have lived with the propaganda that South Koreans don’t have it as good as North Korea, but may now have ideas that things aren’t quite that way, and what you’ve been fed by Pyongyang might not be true. You’ve probably sneakily listened to South Korean radio in the middle of the night, or surreptitiously removed the government block on your TV (you have a TV!? you ARE lucky!) and sneaked a view at the glamorous life that people have south of the 38^th parallel. You’re sick because of the “son’gun” policy where the military comes first and the ordinary people suffer. You’re probably fed up with the 12 hours-a-day indoctrination sessions about how great Kim Jong-un is. You might even know someone who’s been sentenced to 6 months’ imprisonment for not crying at Kim Jong-il’s funeral. Well, it’s time to take action. Do you want to see if the grass really is greener on the other side? Let’s take South Korea as our goal. Come on, let’s go!

Maybe you ARE even one of the cadres with permission from Kim Jong-un to use a computer. Well done on accessing this article. Defecting at such a high level is moderately easy, and won’t really need the advice I’m giving here, apart from: next time you go abroad on a state-sponsored jolly, slip away and head for the nearest South Korean embassy and seek asylum. However, back home in North Korea, your nearest and dearest are being held in case you don’t return, and that doesn’t bear thinking about.

Your background though, you’re likely to be a lowly factory or farm worker living far from the capital, Pyongyang, dying of starvation, collecting grass, tree bark and insects to survive. Life in North Korea is harsh, isn’t it? How many of your family have died from starvation through the years? That many? You don’t have many family ties keeping you in North Korea. Given the scarcity of food generally found in North Korea outside the capital, they can always surmise you died. The important thing is you don’t tell anyone of your plans to get out of North Korea, because everyone is so fearful, for the Party must know everything and the Party knows best.

Firstly, let’s find out where you are. If you are near the border with South Korea, bad luck as you’ll have the longest journey. Just to the south of you is the most militarised border in the world. If you can get directly across that, it’ll be a miracle. Don’t think of taking a boat from the coast or swimming, either. They told you those defences on the beaches were to keep the Imperialist Americans out, but they’re actually to keep you in. Your best bet is to follow all the others, and go the long way round. Get lots of money together, and head for a town near the border with China. It’s not going to be easy, because the trains, which used to run like clockwork, now run rarely, just whenever they can. Your other options are walking or taking some transport. However, transport is likely to be a donkey-drawn cart, so you’d better get some good shoes on or start waiting in the hope that a train might come. Don’t worry, you won’t stand out in the crowd, as there’ll be lots of people hanging around at the station, waiting for a train that might never come.

You might get hungry on the way, but this is a feeling you’ll be used to. Don’t think of stealing from farms, as many now farm opium instead, for Party officials to sell on the global black market for personal financial gain. Along the way, you’ll encounter various stalls. You might like to buy a bowl of noodles at a market place on your journey. If you are a true believer in the Juche (Korean communist self-support) ideology, you’ll know there’s no need for free enterprise such as noodle sellers because the Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un will provide everything you need, but let’s be honest: these elderly women selling food at markets is a sure sign that things are changing, at least until the next round of government clamp-downs which will force the noodle-sellers underground.

Now we’re almost at the border with China. There are various places to cross, but most involve getting wet. You might bribe a border guard to look the other way, but things are pretty tight on both sides of the border, so you might need to employ a people smuggler to help you across. Swimming of course is overlooked in the North Korean education system, so you’ll have to find somewhere shallow enough to get across, that’s why we recommend the Tumen River. It is shallow and not very wide, unlike the swift and deep Yalu River to the west. If you have people smugglers helping you, they’ll show you the best place to cross, otherwise you’re on your own. Don’t get caught, though, as you’ll end up in a North Korean gulag where starvation rations are a luxury and death is a welcome release.

Right, have you made it across the river and struggled up onto the Chinese side? Well done. Take a deep breath. Is that the first breath of freedom? No. You’ve simply swapped one oppressive communist regime for another. You still have a long way to go if you want to get to Seoul. The next article will take us the rest of the way on that journey.

Author: Damon Lord

Personal Site: www.damonlord.net

Twitter: @damonlordauthor