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When Americans think of North Korea, they tend to focus on the country's dictatorial leader and the threat of nuclear war. It can be easy to forget that there are ordinary people living there, continuously suffering under the most repressive regime in the modern world. More than 200 of these ordinary people have defected to the United States, and their experience offers us insights that go well beyond the headlines.
One of these defectors agreed to be interviewed by the Kennedy School Review. Grace Jo, 26, works as a certified dental assistant and radiology technician at a clinic in Rockville, Maryland. She first escaped from North Korea to China in 1998 and finally resettled in the United States in 2008. This interview, originally conducted in Korean, has been translated to English and edited for length and clarity.1
KSR: Why did you escape from North Korea?
JO: In the mid-1990s, there was a devastating famine in North Korea called the "Arduous March." Millions of people starved to death mainly due to the failure of the public rationing system. My two younger brothers died from starvation, and my father, who went to China in search of food for my family, was caught and tortured to death by North Korean security agents.
My mother realized that the rest of my family had nothing to expect but death if we stayed in North Korea. In 1998, we escaped to China but were caught by the Chinese government and were deported back to North Korea. We escaped two more times afterward and finally settled down in China in our third attempt.
What happened in North Korea after you were repatriated?
We were deported back to North Korea by bus and were investigated by the State Political Security Department (SPSD) for several months. The interviewers are well trained in interpreting psychology and emotions of people by their verbal and non-verbal cues. Through numerous interviews and torture, they determine whether you should go to the labor camp or the political prisoners' camp.
For example, if you are caught just living in China, you would go to the labor camp, where you work in factories or farms for several months. However, if you are caught trying to get into South Korea or exchanging...