Key insights from
The Girl with Seven Names: Escape from North Korea
By Hyeonseo Lee
Audio available
15 minute read
Published May 19, 2016
What you'll learn
Hyeonseo Lee gives us an account of her awakening to North Korea’s tyranny and oppression and her desire to escape it. The Girl with Seven Names is a chilling glimpse of life in North Korea, how she got out, and what she lost and gained in the process.
Key insights
- 1 North Korea has a caste system, and one’s rank is determined by loyalty to the regime.
- 2 Witnessing public executions and hearing news of the god-emperor’s death loosened propaganda’s grip on Lee.
- 3 The collapse of the Soviet Union contributed to a famine that crushed North Korea—a failure that was promptly blamed on Yankee sanctions.
- 4 Crossing the border from North Korea was not difficult at that time, but the punishment of getting repatriated was severe.
- 5 While in China, deportation was an omnipresent threat hanging over the North Koreans who had defected.
- 6 Not only did Lee free herself, but she managed to get her family out of North Korea, too.
- 7 It will take the kindness of strangers and the support of the international community to help NKs.
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