A North Korean girl who no longer exists
A teenage girl who fled North Korea 15 years ago no longer exists. She escaped in a hail of bullets from border guards chasing her and two human smugglers. Han Song-mi escaped on March 19, 2011, to join her mother, who had escaped six years earlier. Fifteen years later, she is a different person. When Song-mi first arrived in South Korea, she was unprepared for this competitive society. She had attended elementary school for only one year in North Korea. She had spent years doing physical labor for relatives, who saw her as a worker. When Song-mi escaped in 2011, the global conversation about North Korea looked very different. Most discussions focused on nuclear weapons, missile tests and geopolitical tensions. Personal stories from North Koreans themselves were relatively rare in international media. When the country appeared in headlines, it was usually through the lens of diplomacy or security concerns. Today, the landscape is different. Over the past 15 years, audiences around the world have become more familiar with the personal experiences of North Koreans. Memoirs, public speakin
