Interviews with Ji Seong-ho

If I were to speak for my brother, I think he felt life under the North Korean regime was unfair and unjust. I discovered his true feelings while we were defecting to the South because we had a lot of conversations.

He was displeased with the lack of freedom, and that everyone had to monitor one another. He was also unhappy with the fact that he was not paid fairly for the amount of labor he was doing.

For example, we did not receive food rations from the regime, and the monthly salary a North Korean laborer received at that time was around one U.S. dollar or less, so it was really difficult to survive.

You could earn more as a merchant, but if you did not appear at your designated workplace, the regime could subject you to forced labor or send you to a concentration camp.

Because of these reasons, my brother was disgruntled. I think he was exposed to South Korean radio programs and movies and started to realize that there was a different world out there. I started to realize that something was wrong with the North Korean system back in the year 2000. Once, I had left North Korea for China in search of food.

When I entered China, I witnessed many things. I could see for myself how the ordinary Chinese people were living, and how developed Chinese society was. This also provided a glimpse into what the international community was like.

I stayed in China for about a month before returning to North Korea with food. The North Korean police caught me, tortured me, and verbally insulted me. It was around that time that I really began to tell myself that this was not a place where I wanted to return.

I decided that, regardless if it were South Korea or any other country, I wanted to defect at the next opportunity.

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.