Interviews with Ji Seong-ho

Human dignity or respect for human dignity is simply non-existent in North Korea. I’m able to now study at a university in South Korea. The reason why I decided to leave the North was because my own human dignity was trampled upon.

In 2000, when I returned to North Korea after entering into China [to find food], I was arrested and tortured. I could endure the physical pain and torture but when the officials accused and harassed me saying that I tarnished the image of North Korea and the great leader, that made me very angry.

I constantly asked myself: “Why did I have to become a physically disabled person? Why did I decide to cross the river?” I am reminded of all the lies the North Korean government told me. So, the most decisive factor in my defecting was the fact that my human dignity was not respected in the North.

Ji Seong-ho is a North Korean defector and freedom activist. Growing up in the midst of North Korea’s great famine in the mid-1990s, he helped support his family by stealing coal and selling it. While doing so, Ji Seong-ho fell off a train and crushed his left hand and foot; portions of his limbs were amputated forcing him to move around on crutches.

In 2006, Ji Seong-ho escaped North Korea with his brother. They crossed into China via the Tumen River where Ji Seong-ho nearly drowned. After crossing over, Ji Seong-ho urged his brother to leave him fearing his disability would get them both captured. With the help of brokers and religious groups, he trekked across China on his crutches and eventually reunited with his brother in South Korea.

Since escaping, Ji Seong-ho has raised awareness about North Korea and encouraged activism to improve his country’s human rights situation. He founded the organization Now, Action, Unity, Human Rights (NAUH) and initiated various projects geared towards helping North Koreans and preparing for the Korean peninsula’s unification. These efforts have included enhancing mutual understanding and social integration between North and South Koreans, broadcasting information to North Korean youth via Radio Free Asia and Far East Broadcasting, and helping defectors escape and resettle in South Korea.