Hyeonseo Lee

Most of what I have read about North Korea has centered around people who escaped from the gulag or were longing for freedom. Hyeonseo Lee shows another side of the country and the blindness the citizens have to their own plight. In her words,

“One of the main reasons that distinctions between oppressor and victim are blurred in North Korea is that no one there has any concept of rights. To know that your rights are being abused, or that you are abusing someone else’s, you first have to know that you have them, and what they are.”… (more)

What an interesting story and its so hard to believe that in this day and age that a whole nation of 25.5 Million people could be so cut off from the rest of the world and its leader could controll and dictate everything about peoples lives from birth to death.
I had read a couple of books on North Korea over the years and came across [b:The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story|25362017|The Girl with Seven Names A North Korean Defector’s Story|Hyeonseo Lee|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1435968828s/25362017.jpg|45105689] and another book which I felt were both worth reading.

This book is easy to read and Hyeonseo Lee is certainly a lady with a lot of courage and if you enjoy reading about different culture and traditions then this is interesting and a great insight into one young woman's struggle to gain freedom. I watched a couple of you tube clips of this lady giving talks and she certainly is an inspiring and interesting woman and her book is an excellent insight into life under one of the world's most ruthless and secretive dictatorships.

There were times in the story where I struggled with the authors choices and found myself wondering why she made some of the crazy choices she did and yet the more I though about it the more I realised she wasn't brought up as I was where making choices is something I take for granted, in her world life is dictated to you and you dont get to crave your own path in life so therefore choices and decisions must be very difficult to make when its never been part of your life.

Each chapter ends in a sort of cliff hanger which I found a little bit pointless as the book didn't need to be written in this format as the story is so compelling in itself but its only a small thing and doesnt take a way from the book.
The one thing this book really brought to light is just how confusing and challenging life in the free world can be for those who make the journey and the guilt and worry over family left behind.
An easy and insightful read and I think this would make a wonderful bookclub read for those looking for something a little different.… (more)

Hyeonseo Lee began her life in North Korea in a family in the upper class of society but in a city bordering China. Although many others suffered deprivation her family had enough connections to never starve. This however, did not keep them from the indoctrination and terrorism of the government. People lived under a brainwashing regime. Her ideas about history and the world were those dictated by the Kim rulers. It is between 13 and 15 that she begins to realize that she is better off than others and gets her eyes opened during a couple of trips to family in other parts of the country. At 17 when she crosses the border into China it is not with the intention to stay, but circumstances make it impossible to return. She spends the next 12 years in China and then South Korea before seeing her family again. Lee does not romanticize her travels, but is brutally honest about her mistakes and her luck. She eventually gets her brother and mother out of North Korea and becomes a spokesperson for the North Korean defectors trying to survive outside of their homeland. Highly recommended.… (more)

#ReadAroundTheWorld. #North Korea

This is a gripping powerful memoir by Hyeonseo Lee about her life in North Korea and her eventual escape to South Korea.

Lee was born in 1980 and grew up in Hyesan, North Korea, with her parents and brother Min-ho. Her family was relatively affluent by North Korean standards and her mother’s trading kept them from the starvation faced by many families in the 1990 famine which caused the deaths of 240,000 to 420,000 people. Lee describes conditions under the North Korean totalitarian dictatorship, with neighbours spying on each other and reporting any perceived disloyalty to the regime, which demanded an almost religious fervour and adherence to the Kim family personality cult. North Korean children were brought up to revere their leaders, Kim II Sung and his son King Jong II and believed they were living in the best country in the world. After the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the withdrawal of its support, North Korea spiralled into economic decline and famine. Its isolationist policies mean North Koreans live in total ignorance about life in the rest of the world, even South Korea. It is also widely thought to be the country with the worst human rights record in the world.

Hyeonseo crossed the border to China aged 17 and due to the political dangers was unable to return. After 10 years of living in China trying to pass as Chinese she eventually fled to South Korea and applied for asylum. She then embarked on a daring and fraught mission to rescue her mother and brother from North Korea through China and Laos.

I found this a very impacting story of great bravery and hardship. I appreciate the insight it gives both into the difficulties of life in North Korea, but also the difficulty adjusting to life outside of this regime, with the loss of simplicity and the familiar. The audio narration was excellent and I would highly recommend this book.… (more)