I've been so lucky, received so much help and inspiration in my life, so I want to help give aspiring North Koreans… — Lee Hyeon-seo Copy Share Image
Hyeon means sunshine. Seo means good fortune. I chose it so that I would live my life in light and warmth and… — Lee Hyeon-seo Copy Share Image
It was really tiring always pretending to be someone else. Not my life, not my real name, nothing. — Lee Hyeon-seo Copy Share Image
My life is not only mine. I am telling the story of all North Korean people; it is my responsibility to tell… — Lee Hyeon-seo Copy Share Image
In North Koreans, the moment we are born, we don't know there's another life existing outside of our country. The regime always… — Lee Hyeon-seo Copy Share Image
In China, it was hard living as a young girl without my family. I had no idea what life was going to… — Lee Hyeon-seo Copy Share Image
If defectors say they had high-level connections in Pyongyang or came from an esteemed institution in the North, they can gain better… — Lee Hyeon-seo Copy Share Image
Breathing in South Korea, even though the life here is not easy, makes me so happy. I feel that sitting in a… — Lee Hyeon-seo Copy Share Image
Staying in China provided me with the opportunity to adjust to life outside of North Korea and to gain a sense of… — Lee Hyeon-seo Copy Share Image
Living in China, I found out that the bright new world was not for me, not for defectors. My life in North… — Lee Hyeon-seo Copy Share Image
Leaving North Korea is not like leaving any other country. It is more like leaving another universe. — Lee Hyeon-seo Copy Share Image
North Korea is still my homeland, my country. I suffered on the outside because I was alien, without identity. I was nobody. I was… — Lee Hyeon-seo Copy Share Image
The kindness of strangers and the support of the international community are truly the rays of hope we North Korean people need. — Lee Hyeon-seo Copy Share Image
A huge famine hit North Korea in the mid-1990s. Ultimately, more than a million North Koreans died during the famine, and many only survived… — Lee Hyeon-seo Copy Share Image
Most people in the country didn't - and might still not - know about how powerful the United States is. They think North Korean… — Lee Hyeon-seo Copy Share Image
I just wanted to see China with my own eyes. I wanted to see whether North Korea was the best country in the world… — Lee Hyeon-seo Copy Share Image
People who live in North Korea, they die for food, but living in the free world, the cat even eats expensive sushi. — Lee Hyeon-seo Copy Share Image
If defectors say they had high-level connections in Pyongyang or came from an esteemed institution in the North, they can gain better employment in… — Lee Hyeon-seo Copy Share Image
Certainly in North Korea, man is always superior to woman. Even the government treats women horribly. What is the slogan? Woman is a flower. — Lee Hyeon-seo Copy Share Image
When I was little, I thought my country was the best on the planet. And I grew up singing a song called 'Nothing To… — Lee Hyeon-seo Copy Share Image
The border crossing is the most dangerous moment for anyone attempting to escape. But my brother and mother had been waved off by every… — Lee Hyeon-seo Copy Share Image
I lived near the border with China, and one night, I simply left home and walked across the iced-over river that separated the two… — Lee Hyeon-seo Copy Share Image
