I spent a day with NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS

My name is Antonio Padilla. Today I will spend a day with North Korean

defectors

to learn the truth about being born in a country with a harsh and isolated dictatorship, the lengths they went to escape, and the difficulties of adapting to a completely new world and concept of life. freedom. At the end of this video, we will find out if these fugitives have been able to face life outside North Korea with a sense of hope or if living the torturous nightmare that was once their reality has proven too traumatic for them. ever find a true sense of peace.

Hi Lucia. Hello. -Cherie. -Hello Antonio. Do you feel like you are risking your safety by coming here and talking about your escape story knowing that North Korean authorities could see this video? It would scare me a lot, but right now I'm a citizen of South Korea, so I'm very protected by this government. My father was tortured in prison in North Korea and suffered all his life. My mom's sister was recently sent to prison and was cruelly tortured and is now in a serious condition. Now my mother and sister support me to speak out against the regime.

This is significant work for our people in North Korea. I feel like most people watching have no idea what North Korea is really like. Can you explain the extent of the strict regulations and repression faced by North Korean citizens? -North Korea has countless ridiculous rules that North Koreans must obey, many safety enforcement regulations. One of them is the electrical inspection. Often, security officers enter your home unannounced to check whether you are using electricity or not. If you don't have money to bribe them, then they sent you to forced labor camps. Security officers enter your house in the middle of the night, of course without warning, to check if there are strangers sleeping in your house.

North Korea does not have freedom of movement. Even within North Korea, we cannot travel freely within the country. The government has to know where you are at all times -Exactly. and you have to be where you're supposed to be. -If you ask someone from North Korea what they have to have in their house, they would have to have the portrait of Kim Jong-il, Kim Il-sung and right now Kim Jong-Un. I remember as a child bowing down to the image as if it were God. At that moment, I really thought he was God. I thought he wasn't human.

It is the family's duty to keep the portraits clean at all times. Security officers often enter his house to check for dust on the portraits. The punishment for having dirty portraits is to send you to a labor camp. It seems like that's the punishment for everything. -Yeah. Everything we do in North Korea is about worshiping the Kim family and being loyal to the Kim family. Did any of these things seem strange to you at the time or were they just a normal part of your life? At the time I thought it was completely normal because if I looked to my right or left, everyone was doing the same thing.

There was nothing to compare me to. North Koreans are systematically brainwashed from a young age. I thought the Kim family was God. When he was born, the whole world was so happy that two rainbows appeared in the sky to celebrate his birth. -It formed a double rainbow at his birth. -Yeah. The regime has begun to work to idolize Kim Jong-un, which is why Kim Jong-un was able to drive a tank at the age of six. The North Koreans don't do it. Yeah, I mean, when you're taught something forever, it doesn't seem stupid at all. Yes. Everyone really believes it.

What was your level of knowledge of the outside world? I didn't even know the outside world existed. I thought the only country that existed in this entire world was North Korea. Sometimes I heard adult conversations. Some people in our family escaped from this country and went to South Korea. They created these rumors like if you go to South Korea, you have to sell your blood to survive. You are so poor that you have to sell your physique. It's better to stay here than leave. The media is strictly controlled by the regime, so we don't know what it looks like outside of North Korea.

The only way to learn is through foreign films. When we have electricity, we secretly watch foreign movies. Did your family hide movies and television shows and you watch them secretly? -Yes, secretly. In North Korea there is only one television channel. The content conveys everything about the story and where the Kim family is, so we turned it off immediately. Even North Korean films are about loyalty to the Kim regime. At a certain time, like it was four o'clock, they show us cartoons. This squirrel character wearing this military uniform and killing American characters, and we would always win.

They showed the children how the North Koreans killed the Americans. Even in kindergarten, if you meet an American person with a big nose and blue eyes, they are not human, you have to kill them. Oh Lord. You literally just have to kill them. Wow. Have you ever discussed with anyone else any of the negative thoughts you had about the regime? -Never. The regime encourages people to spy on each other. It is your duty as a citizen to report it. We generally do not share negative thoughts towards the regime with anyone except family members. The three of us were talking about that, right?

If she doesn't report me, someone else will report it. Then we will both be punished. A person could be punished for simply listening and not reporting. Exactly. How old were you when you finally escaped? I was 10 years old. I ran away when I was 17 years old. Were you aware of any of the consequences of escaping the country? We are fully aware of the consequences of escaping. For North Korean

defectors

, if they are caught during their escape, they will send us to prison and cruelly torture us, and once they enter there, they will not be able to leave the prison until they die.

When I lived in China with my sister, we each carried a razor and planned to use those razors to commit suicide by cutting our wrists in case we were captured. I didn't realize until I escaped and my mom told me that they would execute all of us and she showed me that in her pocket she had this little black thing, and that if they caught us, she would feed us with this little thing. things and we would just kill each other. Did your mother know that the punishment would be so harsh, that you could face prison, torture, and that she would be better off serving you something that would kill you instantly rather than potentially facing all those horrors?

Yes. What were the events that led up to that? How did you finally escape? My mom, she was playing with my friends. She came to pick me up at night. Right next to her was this guy she had never met before who eventually turned out to be a runner. The runner did everything. We crossed the river and arrived safely. There was a taxi waiting for us. We get into the taxi. We didn't say anything. I was sitting by the window and just looking around and seeing these huge buildings. I had a million questions for my mom like, "Where are we?" We left North Korea completely.

We are in China. We moved a lot for security reasons. One day, the broker said, "I'll take you to a private restaurant." We walked into this private room and the next thing we knew, five, six tall, huge guys walked in, opened the door and started yelling at us, "Get out. Just get out." When we came out, there were two large vans waiting for us so we had to go inside. It was so funny because in that moment, that short time, the number of things that came through my head was, "What are we going to do?" Are they going to kill us?" We arrived at a destination and they started taking off their clothes and they were wearing clothes that looked like police officers.

They approached us and said, "Are you hungry?" Were they treated like hostages or like They hold them for ransom and suddenly they treat them with respect? We're sitting here completely confused. They give us food. The next day we meet with our previous runner and he smiles at us and says: "Everything is going to be okay. I paid them the money." They basically wanted us to get the money. But at what cost? That must have been traumatizing for you. I remember that moment clearly. I started having nightmares right after I escaped and lived in South Korea. When I turned 16 years old, I was selected for the pleasure squad.

The pleasure squad is like the regime selects girls from all over the country, pretty and young, and there is a certain standard. The girls who were selected have to go through a strict exam, Plus it's a virgin test too. After you pass, you will go to Pyongyang, you will only serve for the dictator Kim. For Kim Jong Un or Kim Jong Il there are many resources for them. You can be like a nurse or you can be a dancer in front of Kim. Jong Un, or you can be a masseuse. -You didn't know you could have put your hands on Kim Jong Un.

It's so disgusting. -It sounds a little awkward. The only thing we know is that it's honorable to serve the dictator. Kim. Your family members or people simply admired you. While I was going through the process to go to Pyongyang, I was working at the mayor's villa in my hometown. At that time I couldn't see my family, relatives and friends. Soon I felt like I was in prison, so I decided to escape. The only option for me was to jump over the wall. I noticed that there are some rocks scattered all over the wall. Another thing I have noticed is that people in the village fell fast asleep between 2:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m.

Every day at that time, he left the room, spread the stones and stacked them. I stacked it until I achieved it. I simply spread the stones out again and then stacked them again. You were training to stack these rocks and see how fast you could do it and have enough time to escape. I finally managed to escape for 15 days. When I escaped from the villa, I actually didn't know that I had committed a serious crime. I arrived in the city and met my friend in her yard. I told her I was going to see my family and she said, "You know what?

You can't go see your family." Then why not? She said: "400 soldiers are chasing you and looking for you at the border." -400 soldiers? -Yeah. Did you have any idea that so many soldiers would chase you? I had no idea. She helped me hide at a friend's house. I hid in her house for three months. You thought they would just stop looking for you after a certain number of months. -Exactly. The people who helped me hide are afraid of being punished too. That's why they said, "We can't help you anymore." Finally I hid in the kimchi basement.

No windows. It's underground. In fact, I hid there for a month. My skin was turning yellow because I couldn't see the light. That's why I got very sick. Did you think you could die there? I heard people talking outside the kimchi basement. They said, "She's going to die soon." I was so desperate. The only way out was to cross the border. Once I decided to escape from North Korea, we borrowed a military car and I hid in the trunk. How did he contact this high-ranking general to get into the car? My friends contact him because they know each other.

He was in the car, so it was very safe for me to get past the guard post. I can't imagine the feeling of being trapped in a trunk, crossing the border, knowing that I could be captured and never seeing my family again. -I was so scared. Once we arrived and there were other soldiers working on the border. They helped me cross the border into China. How did it feel to know that you had achieved it? Relief. When I crossed the border until I reached the Chinese border, I actually cried. I can imagine. How has your life changed the most since you escaped?

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Visit Kraken.com/padilla now for more information or simply search for Kraken in the app store. Now, back to the world of North Korean defectors. How has your life changed the most since you escaped? I don't need to watch my tongue. Don't you need to watch what you say? In this country, even if I criticize the President of the United States, I'm totally fine. I don't need to worry about being arrested or killed. How does it feel to know that you can now talk about these things freely, even here on a platform that could potentially be seen by millions of people, knowing that you won't face life in prison or torture, just for speaking out? -I am speechless.

It's an amazing thing to think about for the North Korean people. We never thought that this kind of freedom exists. What is your dream? What do you want to do with your life? What do you want to become in the future? In North Korea there is no such question. Instead of North Korea, they would ask us how would you make our leader happy? How did it feel to have that kind of empowerment? Feeling like you had some control, some choice in your life? At first it was a bit of a burden feeling. Do you like having too many options of places to eat or too many options of things to watch on Netflix?

Too many options really are difficult. I have my own choice. I have my life and it is my responsibility to become who I want to be. -Do the things I want. -What is your favorite part of your new daily life? Not having to worry if someone is watching me, if I say these wrong things, my life will be in danger. We would always talk about how if we didn't escape, we wouldn't be eating this food today. We couldn't do the things we're doing now. It all really makes us really appreciate the things we are given right now.

What were some of the most impactful discoveries or experiences you had outside of North Korea? Growing up, I could see the airplane in a textbook with a drawing of an airplane. In fact, I have never seen an airplane in my real life. People can't fly. Objects cannot fly. Those were my thoughts, as if they were lying to us. How can they fly? You didn't even think people could fly? Do you remember the feeling of taking off from the ground for the first time? I just didn't want to believe that was happening to me. Did you have a chance to look out the window? "Why does everything...why do these people look like an ant?" I was making these comments to myself and my brother ended up slapping me on the back and saying, "Just act normal, like this is...

Don't say anything." Was he embarrassed by the fact that you were seeing a million new things at once, experiencing something you'd barely heard of that even existed? When I landed in South Korea and saw these shiny, shiny things. The time we landed was spring and I thought it was winter because I saw ice that ended up being a marble floor. A marble floor looked like ice. Right in front of me, you'd see people from the National Intelligence Service waiting to pick us up and he'd say, "This is completely normal, you see them doing this all the time." Do you miss anything about your lifestyle in North Korea?

There is no other memorable lifestyle than that of people. I miss family and friends, and I miss the times my family spent together in North Korea. What connection do you still have with your friends and family who are still in North Korea? North Korea is not a country where you can make phone calls whenever you want. I can only communicate with them when they call me. I only communicate with our relatives once a year. We can't have deep conversations because the North Korean regime is trying to track the phone signal. So you have to talk very fast and try to get as much as you can.

How much time do you have per conversation? We have a very limited time, like 10 minutes. If there is anyone in North Korea who somehow sees this video, is there anything you want to tell them? I escaped North Korea and I am privileged to live and have this freedom to live. I just want you guys to be safe. I just want them to be healthy and I hope to see them one day. North Koreans are like birds trapped in a cage built by the dictator. We don't know that we live as slaves of the dictator, so I hope that if you can watch this video, you will know the truth and find freedom by tearing down the cage built by the dictator.

Josh Dove wants to know what some facts or ideas the outside world has about North Korea that are dead wrong. When people think of North Korea, they think of nuclear weapons, but North Korea is the world's biggest violator of human rights. Countless people are executed and sent to political prison camps on unknown charges and are treated worse than animals. Instead of simply thinking about North Korea threatening the world with nuclear weapons, what you want to do is make people realize that the North Koreans themselves are separate from the government. They don't want to experience this oppression that they are experiencing.

They are human beings like us, who are suffering. What do you think is the biggest misconception about North Korean defectors? -People should know that North Korean defectors did not get freedom easily, and even at this time, Kim Jong-un is trying very hard to catch the defectors. If we are kidnapped and sent back to North Korea, then there is no chance of survival. You have 5 seconds of thanks to promote what you want directly on camera. -Go. -I have YouTube. Subscribe to my channel to help me address the plight of North Koreans. I just want to thank you, Anthony, for inviting me and saying hello. -Me? -Yeah.

Thank you. I will yell at you. Lucy has a YouTube channel, you should check it out right away. She talks a lot about this kind of stuff there. There you go. I spent a day with North Korean defectors and I feel like I understand a little more what it's like to live in North Korea and escape. I commend these guests for their bravery in reliving these harsh experiences with me today so that we can all better understand the conditions in which millions of people are living at this very moment. Living in South Korea, the most common question you get asked is: "What is your favorite food?" The first food that impacted me the most was without a doubt fast food, hamburgers.

Hamburgers were a life-changing food. Do you remember the first time you bit into one? If you look at Ratatouille, that's how I felt, like it bit me... I went through all this escape progress just to eat this burger and it was worth it.