May has lost virtually everything. Her children. Her home. However, she believes that the reason for her escape is due to the grace of God. May shared how in her most desperate times she cried out to God, even though she had never heard of Jesus due to North Korea’s oppressive regime. Thank God, after escaping North Korea May learned about Jesus and gave her life to Him.

On March 8th, the George Washington University student group Truth and Human Rights in North Korea (THiNK) hosted an event in honor of International Women’s Day at the Marvin Center on campus. Two North Korean refugees, May and Yoon (they requested their full names remain private due to safety concerns) shared their stories about the horrifying human rights violations they suffered under North Korea’s communist regime and their eventual escapes.

Before I heard them speak, I was able to talk with both women in Korean, which I can fluently speak, read, and write thanks to my parents. The three of us were able to have a broader conversation about their experiences in North Korea and beyond. One could never have guessed the horrors that they faced because they remained positive and confident. I never expected to leave encouraged by their testimonies, but I did.

Yoon was the first to tell her story. She was accepted to one of the top colleges in North Korea but was not able to attend because her mother could not afford the tuition. During seasons of famine, Yoon’s family and others would resort to eating grass. Sometimes there was not even enough grass to eat. Yoon told us of how she longed to eat just one bowl of rice, but her best option was a small portion of soup with barley and little nutritional value.

Yoon explained that she was eventually able to escape to South Korea with the help of her aunt and uncle, although it was a long and hard process.

Next, May shared her similar experiences of extreme poverty and starvation. She told the audience that there was a man in her neighborhood who was so hungry he hallucinated that his eight-year-old daughter was a pig and proceeded to eat her.

Hunger is among the least of the hardships North Korean women face, according to May. During the lecture, I learned that most North Korean women suffer some form of rape, forced labor, human trafficking, domestic abuse, or violence.

Domestic abuse is common among North Korean families, May said. Her husband would beat her severely every time he drank. A turning point came after May’s daughter died in a train accident.

Because her husband refused to work, May was forced to earn a living to try and support the family. She would typically bring her daughter with her to work. Then one day May was not able to take her daughter along. So May asked her husband to take care of the child, but he was negligent. May’s daughter left the house without her husband knowing and went with some older children to play on the train tracks.

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