Learning Freedom: Help Educate North Korean Youth

Eunju was born in 1986 in North Korea, in one of the northernmost parts of the country bordering China. It is estimated that, starting in the mid-1990s, between 1 and 2 million of North Koreans died of hunger, a majority of them residents of these China-North Korea border areas. The North Korean authorities refused to allow humanitarian agencies to operate there freely and provide food aid. The authorities also prohibited citizens from coping with the severe food shortages by fleeing to China in search of food. Those caught in China after doing so were deported back to North Korea and severely punished.

When Eunju’s father died of starvation, her mother was left unable to provide for 11-year-old Eunju. She decided to leave home to search for valuable waste products that could be exchanged for food. Promising that she would soon be back, she left Eunju at home. But days passed and her mother did not return. Eunju was so weak from starvation that she thought she would not survive long enough to see her mother again. She wrote her final words of goodbye to her mother, apologizing that she would never be able to see her return. This note became later the basis for her memoir, which she co-authored in South Korea with Sebastian Falletti and published in several countries in Europe and the United States, under the title A Thousand Miles to Freedom: My Escape from North Korea. (Published under the pen name, Eunsun Kim.)

After finally escaping with her mother and sister to South Korea, Eunju finished high school and went on to study Chinese and Psychology at Sogang University in Seoul. Over the years, she participated in many of NKHR’s programs for North Korean youth, becoming a young leader and activist herself. She also received our recommendation for a special study abroad program in the United States. She engaged in numerous public speaking events, raising awareness about the dire conditions of children and women in North Korea.

Having always wanted to give back and help North Korean youth who, like her, were resettling in South Korea, Eunju recently joined NKHR’s North Korean Youth Program Team. She coordinates projects for alumni of NKHR’s Leadership Program, a program that provides guidance and mentorship for North Korean resettlers attending college in South Korea.

Extremely bright, always smiling and thinking of others, Eunju is an example of the many North Korean children who overcame the most difficult conditions to become bright young leaders. With the generosity of our Learning Freedom supporters, NKHR is able to provide a nurturing environment that allows young North Koreans like Eunju to grow and follow their dreams.

Links:

• For donors interested to read the book