How To Escape From North Korea (The ONLY 9 Ways)

Do you have any idea what it's like to live in North Korea? Let me give you an idea. You wake up early in the poor rural area you call home. It's the middle of winter, barely 20 degrees Fahrenheit outside, and your

only

source of heat is a small firewood. the stove is not enough to keep you warm, you have breakfast and realize that you have enough food for a meal that should last you the next three days, when the rations are distributed to you, thirsty, you collect ice from the local river to melt it because there is no infrastructure here To provide running water, you drink and wash in the dirty water before spending the entire day attending a local farm.

It is 12 to 16 hours of exhausting work because the agricultural industry here has not been mechanized, so everything is done by hand or with animals while you walk several kilometers home because there is no public transportation here and you are too poor to have a bicycle let alone a car you find a dead rat in a ditch and you take it home to eat because you are so hungry While you are cooking, the door of your house bursts open and a group of soldiers enter, loot your house, They serve the little food you have and let you feel lucky, yes, because they have the indisputable authority to sentence you to years of hard labor.

In a labor camp at any time with even less food, more work, corporal punishment by the guards and worse, you consider doing what you have done before, making soup with grass and weeds, extracting grain from animal manure or even eat the dung itself. to calm your hunger but you are too exhausted, so cold and hungry, you try to sleep on a mattress of rotten straw knowing that you will wake up and do all this over and over again until there will be no more if this were your country. You would want to leave, wouldn't you? But what if you couldn't?

This is the harsh reality currently facing a staggering 60 percent of North Korea's poverty-stricken population, as the entire country struggles with significant food insecurity issues stemming from severe economic problems. bad management, but why can't they leave? And if you were in their shoes, how would you stay with me as we take a closer look at why it is so difficult to

escape

North Korea and the

only

nine

escape

routes available? So how did things get like this? Wrong, well, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, more commonly known as the DPRK or North Korea, was founded by Kim Il-sung in 1948.

This was after World War II divided the Korean Peninsula and pitted the two against each other. countries against each other in a struggle that continued into the Cold War era South Korea backed the US but North Korea backed the hapless Soviet Union all this time the

north

prioritized government spending on military assets governing The population with an iron fist bombarded its citizens with propaganda and ideology demanding loyalty to the Kim dynasty. It banned independent media and isolated it from the rest of the world when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. North Korea's economy collapsed and its allies Food production and imports declined rapidly and when a series of floods, droughts and agricultural reform failures began in 1994, famine gripped the Hermit Kingdom, the government initially claiming there was no famine, then backtracked and admitted there was, but in reality it had only affected about 235,000 people; some 3.5 million North Koreans are believed to have died of starvation in the following four years.

Even then, more than 10 percent of the population North Korea did not abandon its war against South Korea and continued to funnel money into its military while the country starved, but even words like famine and starvation were banned from discussion because it implied a government was failing them. Those who spoke out would be silenced by the authorities, usually thrown into political prison camps, but this did not improve the situation during the Covid-19 pandemic, when North Korea closed its borders completely, even to trade, the failures of its government and infrastructure problems led to 10 million North Koreans. Koreans suffered from hunger, which meant that a staggering 41 of the country's total population was malnourished between 2019 and 2021.

Well, then why not just do well to begin with? The North Korean government has prohibited its citizens from leaving the country without explicit permission from the government, this type of control is designed to prevent its citizens from learning anything about the outside world, allowing the government to continue feeding them propaganda that Korea North is Paradise, that the Kim Dynasty is supreme and that life cannot be better than this, so attempting to cross the border on a plane, train, official ship or even in a car without proper documentation is, in a word, impossible, now anyone who is allowed a special exit visa, such as athletes competing in international tournaments or government officials, are issued passports that must be handed back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when they return, but once they leave , why do they come back well?

North Koreans who attempt to believe illegally and are caught can face serious consequences, including forced labor, corporal punishment, and even life in prison. camp, but not only them, testimonies from deserters reveal that up to three generations of a criminal's family can be imprisoned, punished and even executed along with them for their crimes, regardless of whether they are successful or not, who could be their parents , children and grandparents, all paying the price. The price for a family member daring to escape, for many citizens, this threat is incentive enough to return home or stay where they are. Although people have managed to escape, deserters have told their stories to the press and humanitarian agencies, so we know it is possible. but how well, given the country's position, there are only nine

ways

deserters have managed to escape that we currently know of.

The first may seem the most obvious and that is to cross the border from North Korea to South Korea while the two countries are still technically at war. South Korea is pushing for reunification plans in the future. Part of that plan includes a special law that allows for the unconditional protection of

north

ern defectors, providing them with supportive language lessons and the resources they need to resettle. There's only one problem in 160 miles long. problem the demilitarized zone also known as DMZ this is the most fortified and dangerous border in the world marked by electric fences guard posts artillery tanks and about 2 million active and armed troops on each side at any given time remember that these two countries still They are technically at war and neither is willing to risk an invasion by the other until a peace treaty is signed.

As such, this 2.5 mile wide buffer zone is constantly patrolled and even when the guards aren't looking, someone brave enough to cross Mad Dash would need an incredible amount of luck to avoid the 3 million antipersonnel landmines and buried throughout, while very few attempt some like Oh Chong Song. In 2017, this soldier, the son of a high-ranking military officer, committed a serious crime in terror. As punishment, he made this quick decision to run across the DMZ in a car. They chased him and shot him more than 40 times before exiting the vehicle, he crossed the border and collapsed behind a low wall on the South Korean side below deck. of Darkness South Korean agents took him to safety and fortunately he survived, while a soldier in a car could defect this way, a civilian on foot would have no chance, so crossing the border is generally a prohibited option, making him that takes us For route number two passing under the border in the 1970s, two small tunnels, one three feet by four feet and another seven by seven feet, were discovered leading from North Korea to South Korea under The DMZ, in which booby traps had been placed, apparently designed to allow North Korean soldiers to pass undetected, however, in 1978 a defector revealed that there was a third tunnel leading just 27 miles from Seoul, the capital of the South, and in 1990 a fourth was also discovered.

The method of their construction is almost the same indicates that these were professionally dug tunnels originating on the North Korean side with intentions of using them as subterfuge, although they initially claimed it was part of a coal mine. There are believed to be up to 20 more tunnels dug beneath the border, although where are they. No one can assume that deserters use them to cross, although it is possible to see how deserters know about them. These tunnels are over a mile long and traverse bedrock, occasionally made of granite up to 240 feet underground. It would take years to excavate a coordinated work team.

Through what sounds difficult but not impossible, the known tunnels are now heavily guarded on both sides, but that does not mean that the secret tunnels have not yet been discovered and are being kept quiet so as not to endanger any deserters who plan to use them, currently unsuccessful. The defector has claimed to have survived passing through these tunnels, so that's going over and under the border. How about turning around and that brings us to route number three, the sea with an east coast and a west coast, sailing over the Yellow Sea or the Sea of ​​Japan for South Korea would be an easy option, well no Exactly to start, many sections of the coast are reinforced with electric fences and remember that most deserters are poor and don't even have money for a motor boat, which means rowboats are often used.

Still, all that's available for departure from North Korea's westernmost point is still a 60-mile trip over the waves to the shores of South Korea, and even if you somehow saved the money to buy a boat and the possibility of rowing, North Korean naval patrols are well aware of this route and actively prowl the waters in search of fugitives. Sailing from somewhere further north to avoid patrols is another option, but that would mean rowing about 200 miles to safety and without any navigation or weather equipment. The seas can be a very dangerous and unpredictable place. Several ships have been caught in strong currents and swept back to North Korea and China, wait, China, well that's good, surely that counts as an escape, no, no, if you're North Korean, while the Kingdom hermit no.

He doesn't have many allies. China is one of them. China does not recognize North Korean defectors as refugees but as illegal economic migrants and will return them to North Korea despite knowing the horrors they will face. So what about the east coast? The Sea of ​​Japan is a semi-enclosed sea like the Yellow Sea, but it regularly experiences typhoons and storms coming in from the Pacific Ocean, making it more unpredictable and dangerous, but the positive side is that the wind blows it off course and will send to Japan, a country that sympathizes with the plight of North Korean citizens and will facilitate their travel to South Korea, but getting there is complicated since it is about 500 miles from the safest launch point, which is a great distance to survive at sea, assuming your flimsy little fishing boat remains upright as such only three deserters are recorded as having crossed the sea to Japan alive, but what about swimming around the border?

The average temperature of these seas is around 55 degrees Fahrenheit, so assuming you don't freeze to death, border patrols won't catch you, and you're a really strong swimmer, makeshift rafts may have also been used successfully, in some cases made of wooden planks, old tires, even fishing floats showing how desperate people are to escape the regime. And what if you're not a swimmer? Good swimmer and I can't afford a boat, but hey, then there's option number four. The northern border, unlike the DMZ, this 882-mile border with China is generally less defended and patrolled, making it easier to cross the border. and the two men the two men are generally shallower and move more slowly, making it an easier crossing point, but most citizens can't swim, so unless the river is shallow and passable, it can sweep away unsuspecting deserters.

What's more, since 2003 China has been installing and developing wire fences along the Tuman River to block major desertion routes. Lower bank areas along the EULA River were also reinforced with concrete and barbed wire fencing ranging from 8 to 15 feet in height; However, since 2011 it has been noted that these sections are somewhat of an exception to the rule where the rest of the river is unfenced and unguarded by anyone, so as long as they canCrossing the water is often done by crossing it in winter, when the ice freezes the rivers, and then leaving the river. However, the country is possible in 2020, during the height of the pandemic, North Korea established buffer zones extending about a mile from the northern border, effectively turning it into a second demilitarized zone.

The soldiers were ordered to unconditionally shoot anyone they saw approaching from the North Korean side. A place like this route wasn't dangerous enough anymore, but what happens if you're lucky and make it across safely, like we established? China will send any defectors it discovers back to North Korea. That's why most defectors use an intermediary, a Chinese contact who is illegal. arranges jobs and housing for the defectors, keeping them hidden from the Chinese government, but this costs the defectors between five hundred and one thousand dollars, considering that the annual salary of a North Korean can be as low as six hundred and fifty dollars, which is usually a Los The defector's life savings mean that when they arrive in China they have absolutely nothing, putting them at great risk of exploitation.

Disturbingly, the North Korean human rights database and Transitional Justice working group indicates that up to 80 percent of North Korean refugee women fall into the hands of human traffickers where they are sold to become wives or slaves. A much darker industry, men are sold into slavery facing a life of hard labor, exactly what they were trying to escape by trusting these brokers. It is risky, but often the only option available; However, China is not usually the intended final destination. Most defectors still want to travel to South Korea, so many will head to Beijing, where they can find the South Korean Embassy.

Foreign embassies like this act as sovereign terrain. meaning that any defector within it is protected by South Korean law. If they cannot reach Beijing, they can try to reach the South Korean consulates in Shenyang, Hong Kong or Shanghai, as Zhang Yul re did in 2016. Reuse the fifth round of escape Bree was an honor student from a high-income family rank under the North Korean regime and was therefore granted permission to leave by the North Korean government to participate in an academic competition in Hong Kong, but he escaped the country. surveillance team that he and the rest of his school were escorted and requested asylum at the consulate.

He had to stay there for more than two months while the Beijing government processed his permission to leave and was eventually extradited to South Korea, but if he was part of the privileged Elite, why leave, while North Korea offers a level of decent life for those working at the upper levels of government and the military? It still represses intellectual, religious and political freedoms. Sure you'll have food on your table when the rest of the country is starving, but you still live in constant fear that saying the wrong thing could land you in a political prison camp, as many well-to-do North Koreans have tried to defect in recent times. years using their privileged ability to obtain permission to leave to direct going directly to the nearest embassy or consulate to them almost sounds easy, however, China's police will often have South Korean and other foreign embassies and consulates under Close surveillance, ready to arrest anyone they suspect is a defector, so trying to escape through China is dangerous.

It means that the next best option is to travel through China to a border country and seek asylum at an embassy there. The only problem is China's enormous thousands of kilometers wide in any direction. How can you get through all that without any official travel documentation or money? Which brings us to the sixth Escape Route: the Underground Railroad is not a real railroad but a secret network of activists who helped the North Koreans navigate through China. . They do this by approaching them through Brokers and then escorting them along secret routes to the south. moving them from one safe house to another, arranging transportation and communicating with locals and officials to avoid any suspicion on the part of the deserters.

North Korean accent, all without expecting a fee, but his work doesn't stop at the border between Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. Triangle is unsympathetic to the plight of North Korean citizens and is also instructed to return defectors to North Korea. Thailand, however, is understanding. To avoid detection at checkpoints along the borders of Laos and Myanmar, the railway helps deserters through the dense jungles of the Golden Triangle to reach Thailand, here deserters surrender to Thai police and from there they will be deported to South Korea. In total, the journey can take up to 3,000 miles, which is crazy when you remember that the border separating the two countries is only 2.5 miles wide, charitable heroes working for the Underground Railroad risk their lives to give others the chance to live theirs and have helped more than 700 defectors reach the South, meaning the organization has become a major target for current North Korean leader Kim.

Jong-un and China in 2001, barely a thousand defectors arrived in Seoul, in 2007, with the help of the underground railway, that number skyrocketed to almost 2,500. This led China to crack down on them, and in 2020, many missionaries disappeared. The number was just 230. Therefore, while it is possible to use the railway, it is not as viable an option as it used to be, leaving many deserters facing the seventh option. Cross into Mongolia like Thailand. Mongolia also sympathizes with North Korean defectors and will deport them to the south. However, getting to Korea is one of the most physically demanding routes imaginable thanks to the Gobi Desert, this huge arid region of cold desert spanning northern China and southern Mongolia with dunes that average 660 feet high. altitude and extreme temperatures that reach -4 degrees.

Fahrenheit By Night Surviving here is not easy, especially considering that poor deserters rarely have equipment, food supplies, or warm clothing. That is essential to staying alive in these conditions and the walk from border to border is still about 770 miles, at least 770 miles is still much less. of three thousand, however, China's stricter border control has seen fewer and fewer deserters managing to cross the Gobi, making the route more dangerous than ever now, while South Korea offers a lucrative resettlement plan, not It is the only country that offers sanctuary and that is the eighth. An outlet for the search Western foreign embassies in China provide a sovereign-governed terrain and most Western nations such as those in Europe, the UK, the US and Canada recognize North Koreans as refugees in those respective embassies. , they can apply for asylum or, alternatively, they can make the long journey through China.

He said countries alert a border patrol agent and request asylum. The only problem is that Europe and the UK especially don't have a great track record of approving asylum claims. The United Kingdom, for example, rejected 30 of 40 applications submitted by North Korean defectors in 2013. That same year, Belgium rejected 99 of the 126 applications it received, while the Netherlands and France rejected the 128 and 129 they received respectively. This huge rejection rate is because the defectors have no reasonable fear of being persecuted in South Korea, where they are located. Governments know they have the right to reach an agreement, however, Canada is a little more lenient and understands the discrimination North Koreans often face in South Korea due to language barriers and negative perceptions of their country.

As of 2016, it is estimated that about 970 defectors now live in Canada. and although the United States has legally admitted about 150 refugees, there are believed to be around 200 who have entered the country illegally after traveling to South America and crossing the border into Mexico, but what if you are in a part of North Korea which is strongly blocked without the privilege of the elite the ability to reach the northern border or even escape from it through the demilitarized zone well, all is not lost because there is an unexpected and even more dangerous ninth exit Labor subcontracting now is not It is no secret that North Korea keeps its dissidents in political prison camps or sometimes called job training centers.

There are believed to be around 20 sites in the country containing up to 250,000 people. officials who are considered to have performed poorly in their jobs. People who have criticized the regime and anyone suspected of participating in anti-government activities can be sent there. Worse, the three-generation rule is applied and entire families are sent to the same camps, although they themselves may have not committed any crime. Sentences are usually life-long, but the reality is that they only last a few years. The lack of food, clothing and resources provided means that approximately 40 percent of those there die from malnutrition, disease, frostbite, and accidents due to the hard work they are forced to do drive up that mortality rate.

Beatings and inhumane corporal punishment are common among survivors and defectors who detail horrendous scenes and treatment that occurred day after day, but this does not happen only in North Korea, incredibly, in at least 15 countries, including Algeria, Ethiopia, Malaysia, Poland and Russia, more than 50,000 North Korean workers are being used for forced labor, mainly in mining, logging, construction and textile industries, this injects some $2.3 billion directly into North Korea's pockets, while forcing the workers to work up to 20 hours a day and pays them only one hundred and fifty dollars a month, which they themselves often divert to the North.

Korean government workers are also allowed only two days off a month, do not have enough food, and are watched by North Korean security details, but as horrible as it may seem, many North Koreans see this as a golden opportunity. not to support their family but to escape if they can escape the watchful eyes of their guards there are no landmines or barbed wire fences or demilitarized zones blocking their path to freedom, however not everyone works here candidates are thoroughly vetted and selected based on their loyalty to the DPRK, their physical condition and They must have a family with children who can be kept as collateral unless you can also find a way to smuggle them out of the country.

They are basically hostages. This forces many people to choose between family and freedom. A barbaric choice but sometimes necessary. In 1994, several hundred North Korean loggers at a mining camp in Siberia successfully invaded the gulag-style camps in which they were forced to work. In the mass escape, 150 loggers coordinated the escape in an attempt to reach South Korea (initially the North). Korea denied the reports. I call them rumors and fabrications. It was only when one of the defectors contacted journalists in the Far Eastern Siberian city of Vladivostok and confirmed it was true. He revealed that the workers had had their passports taken away.

The Russians are not. allowed in the camps and that they were routinely beaten and underfed by North Korean security. He himself had a wife and family in North Korea, but received news that his wife, whose rations had been cut off, had turned to the black market, a crime for which was discovered. and punished because she was deported to a mountain state along with her two children, she had no hope of finding her again and with nothing to lose she decided to escape, we do not know whether or not she made the 5,000 mile journey to the The Korean diplomatic post of the Nearest south in Moscow we will probably never.

That is the harsh reality of trying to escape the regime. These are the kind of sacrifices that happen on the other side of the barbed wire and propaganda that the Hermit Kingdom hides behind the choice between freedom and family. and survival is impossible to balance and most of the time anyone who dares to leave ends up paying with their life, so knowing all the options, if you were in this situation, would you try to escape North Korea and if so How do you notify me? the comments and thanks for watching