VIDEO The only restaurant where you can dine with a view of North Korea

Greewool, a restaurant beside the Ganghwa Peace Observatory, overlooks the confluence of the Han, Imjin and Yeseong rivers. Across the expanse, North Korean houses sit in plain view, and through the telescopes, a passerby on a distant road can sometimes be seen.

It was here that the Howdy Korea team invited Soyeon Kim, a singer and entertainer whose life traces the divide between the two Koreas.

Kim first attempted to defect at age 11, and at 13 finally crossed barbed wire into China, alone after her parents fled earlier without her. She lived there until 24, before resettling in South Korea and launching a career that has brought her into the limelight with programs like "Miss Trot 2."

In an interview, Kim reflected on her journey and the growing presence of North Korean-born entertainers in the South, including the debut of idol group 1VERSE, which includes two defectors.

“North Korea and South Korea — we are both people of joyful spirit. The fact that more of us are appearing on screen shows that North Koreans can shine just as brightly in culture as South Koreans," she said.

Her story, however, includes some darker turns. In the full video, Kim explains why she keeps a gun in her car, recounts her perilous escape and reveals her conflicted emotions from building a new life in the South.

At Greewool, the border feels both near and impossibly far. Between a shared meal and views across the river, the division of the peninsula is impossible to ignore.

Watch the full interview with Soyeon Kim to hear her remarkable story of survival, defection and reinvention.