Defector recalls personal experience living under the North Korean regime and her own family’s decision to undertake a high-risk escape to South Korea
Wife of a former North Korean diplomat recalls her family's ordeal under three generations of the Kims and their eventual decision to defect to the South.
Oh's family's defection was less dangerous but equally as wrenching: she convinced her husband Thae Yong Ho, then deputy ambassador at North Korea's London embassy, to give up their privileged place in the Pyongyang regime for the sake of their children. Oh, who recently published a Korean-language memoir, was once part of Pyongyang aristocracy - a descendent of a famed North Korean general who fought alongside leader Kim Il Sung against the Japanese in the 1930s."No one except the Kim family had privileges, and as my children learned about freedom and democracy when they lived abroad, I realised there was no future for them in North Korea," she added.
Oh said it was eye-opening when the family first arrived in London in 2004 and became eligible for the National Health Service. If one fails to comply, the government reportedly withholds food rations or imposes taxes, according to a 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report published by the US State Department.
Oh loves her new life in Seoul, but is haunted by thoughts of her mother and siblings left behind in North Korea, which is known to punish defectors' family members.
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