Birthday Quote by Hyeonseo Lee

“The strength of my parents’ feelings for each other, however, was a worry to my grandmother. She warned them that if a couple loved…

— Hyeonseo Lee

“He’d valued his dignity more than his own life.”

— Hyeonseo Lee

“It was the dilemma all three of us had. Every choice we made cut us off permanently from someone we loved.”

— Hyeonseo Lee

“This was the first time I had ever known that North Korea has gay people. I am embarrassed to admit that I had thought…

— Hyeonseo Lee

“There was just one problem, however, and it was a major one. I wasn’t choosing any of this. It was all happening to me.”

— Hyeonseo Lee

“Most of the brokers who help defectors are human traffickers. They help women escape, not men. They’re paid to bring us to China either…

— Hyeonseo Lee

“I had to learn Mandarin. And I had the best teacher – necessity. You can study a language for years at school, but nothing…

— Hyeonseo Lee

“In her world, the law was upside down. People had to break the law to live. The prohibition on drug-dealing, a serious crime in…

— Hyeonseo Lee

“I’ll do whatever it takes. Humans are selfish and care only for themselves and their families. Am I any different?… Not only did I…

— Hyeonseo Lee

“Not only did I believe that humans were selfish and base, I also knew that plenty of them were actually bad – content to…

— Hyeonseo Lee

“Sixty thousand yuan – a fortune representing ten years’ wages at the restaurant – and a week’s imprisonment with the threat of rape, and…

— Hyeonseo Lee

“Every so often the authorities registered voters in order to find out who was missing and why. I had turned eighteen and was old…

— Hyeonseo Lee