The Girl with Seven Names: Escape from North Korea

There are some books that stay with you after the last page. This is one of those books. Days after finishing it, I continue to think about it and talk about with friends and family This is a moving story of a brave young woman who escaped from North Korea, hid for years in China, and eventually found amnesty in South Korea. She provides great insights in to life in North Korea, and the plight of refugees. In the past I had read books and articles about North Korea written by outsiders or by one man who had escaped from the Gulag. Hyeonseo Lee shows that for some in North Korea there is a very different way of life. Her family was relatively privileged and fairly high in the social hierarchy. She was in many ways a typical teenage girl who loved fashion, who loved music, who liked to have her hair done. Her family even had a television and her mother enjoyed redecorating the house. Her family didn't go hungry during the famine. Her life was filled with friends and family that she loved. At the same time she talks about the indoctrination she experienced from a young age, and of how even children were expected to report disloyalty of classmates, teachers, and family. When her house burned down, her father ran in to the burning building to save the portraits of the leaders that hang in every home, because not to do so could bring punishment to the family. She saw her first public execution at the age of seven, she witnessed people starving, and ultimately even her family couldn't escape the violence. Another way this book opened my eyes was to show the plight of North Korean refugees. Her life in China was as terrifying to me as her life in North Korea; perhaps even more so because she was in an entirely alien environment, alone, as a teenager with limited life experience. It took a great deal of intelligence, skill, and luck to survive and even thrive as she did, but she had some very frightening close calls. I hadn't realized that the Chinese don't just deport North Koreans they find, but that they actually hunt down refugees for deportation, and that they guard embassies to prevent North Koreans from seeking sanctuary. The stories she tells of other refugees are heart breaking. Those who offer to help North Koreans escape through other countries are most often dangerous thugs who are in it for their own profit. Hyeonson Lee's stories from Laos are chilling. What she also does well is to help readers understand the hardships faced by those North Koreans who do eventually reach South Korea. The challenges in learning that all the history they've been taught was a lie. The challenge of learning to live with absolute freedom. The challenge of being looked down upon by South Koreans. Hyeonseo Lee writes with such a rare honesty - even about her own mistakes and self-doubt. I was so impressed by her strength, her determination and by her incredible resilience.

The first time I felt intrigued to read about North Korea was when I watched the opening ceremony of the 18th Asian Games on TV. At that time, South Korea and North Korea put up a united front, marching together as one team. The MC introduced them with extraordinary enthusiasm, followed by lively applause and handshake of the two ambassadors of both states. Before that, I have heard a lot of shocking news about North Korea. Is the story still there? Then I found The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story by Hyeonseo Lee and wanted to read it immediately. Getting first-hand news would certainly be more accurate. In fact, this memoir has given me new knowledge that has been hidden so far. I would like to commend Hyeonseo Lee for having written this extraordinary story without reducing empathy for herself and North Korea. I was horrified when little Hyeonseo Lee had to see the death penalty with her own eyes. I felt the same sentiment when her father died, putting his family in such uncertain life. Hyeonseo Lee did not suffer until she saw North Koreans hit by hunger and people die on the streets from famine. The part that made me gasp the most was when Hyeonseo wanted to get out of North Korea. She would cross to China to see her distant relative. It was not her intention to leave the country, but she had no choice when she heard words that she was being hunted in her home country. Torture and death sentence were waiting because at that time she had turned 18, the age when someone was considered an adult so that they could be sentenced. She then started his life in China, which didn’t turn out to be better. He moved from one city to another and started working various jobs. One terrible experience she had to endure was being trapped in prostitution, but she survived that episode of life. On another side, she also had a romantic relationship with a Chinese man. In this book, Hyeonseo illustrates that the rule that any North Koreans who are caught in China must be deported to their home country. This made things worse because on her every trip Hyeonseo had to face fear every time she was under the inspection of security officers. She knew that death threat could come to her at any time. This story also presents big hopes when Hyeonseo managed to enter South Korea. She began to try her luck there. She got to go to school, work, meet new people in the new world, and fall in love. It turned out that the South Korean government did open up opportunities for North Koreans to become their permanent citizens. But other heavy struggles were still there when Hyeonseo tried to meet with her mother and younger brother again. I read this book with a pounding heart but I finished it with a high appreciation for Hyeonseo. I realize that there are many other hidden stories for the world to see and pay attention to. I try to be strong writing this, and hope that Hyeonseo will become an inspiration for world peace.

This is the true story of the author's life in North Korea and how she defected from a country that is trapped with a brutal communist leader. She lives near the border of China and dreams of crossing to a better life. One night, when things have gotten so bad for her family, she makes the escape to China. The family has friends right across the border (smuggling trade was big where she lived in North Korea) and they agree to help her make safe passage. She has relatives in China, and she convinces her friends across the border to take her to them. The relatives had no idea she was coming, but welcomed the 17 year old and agree to hide her. She spends her days, weeks, months with her relatives learning Mandarin and hiding the fact that she escaped from North Korea. Before she knows it, 2 years have passed and she feels that she has overstayed her welcome. She makes plans to get a job, and get her own place in China and leaves her relatives safety. She spends a decade in China hiding in plain site. Homesickness, and worry about her mother and her younger brother make her realize that somehow she must return home. She meets a man that is from South Korea and he agrees to help her get her family to safety. With skill and perserverance she makes her way and starts the plan to move her mother and brother to the south. It takes many months to get her mother and brother to safety after convincing her mother she had to leave. This was a great book. It gives you a good insight to what it is like for those living in North Korea. This book covers the 1990's and early 2000's - not that far in the past to imagine that this is going on now in this country. The citizens are trapped in a dictatorship and fear for their lives on a daily basis. One mis step could mean execution without a trial. What she went through to escape, and then try and get her family to do the same is harrowing. She is imprisoned and interrogated and her family goes through the same just to leave North Korea for a better, freer life. They had been brainwashed their whole lives about what the world around them was like, and were shocked to find what it really was. I commend her for leaving, especially at a young age with no money and hardly any contacts to save herself and those she loves. I recommend you reading this book. I think it gives us an eye opening experience of what it is like for the the citizens of North Korea.

This book was recommended by a member of my neighborhood book club and we chose to read it for our November meeting. I am probably typical of many Americans in that I am relatively unconscious about what life is like in countries around the world. This book, for me, is riveting. The book is divided into three sections, each composed of brief essays that describe a particular event or phenomenon. The first section describes the author's life in North Korea, a country she was taught to believe was "The Greatest Nation on Earth." It provides an account of author's life up until the age of 17, when she walked across a frozen river for what she intended to be a 5-day surreptitious visit in China. This travel was strictly forbidden and she discovers she can never return to North Korea because she would risk not only her own imprisonment, but that of her family. The account of author's life up until that point is shocking to my American sensibilities—what it is like to live in an authoritarian dictatorship where individuals are tightly controlled through fear of being reported by neighbors or local officials for "wrongdoings," the experience of living through "The Great Famine" in which government offered no assistance to the thousands upon thousands who died, the way in which school children are indoctrinated, the required "worship" of The Great Leader, the necessity of using bribes in order to provide for one's daily needs. And more. The book is engagingly written in first person voice, so that reader easily enters this young girl's world. I have only begun to read the remainder of the book, which accounts for author's escape from China and her journey toward becoming an important advocate for human rights on the international stage. I recommend this book, both for its content and engaging style. The book reminds me that I take for granted freedoms that are easily lost. In 1969 I visited Prague, which is the year after the Russians extinguished the Prague Spring. I was with someone who as a child had escaped Czechoslovakia after WW II, and we visited family members who had stayed behind. I came home stunned by learning how people feared being "reported" to authorities for expressing a wrong political viewpoint, and by seeing Russian soldiers flooding the streets with their rifles held at the ready. Reading The Girl with Seven Names is reminding me of that lesson from 1969, which I had allowed to fade. Living in a "free" society, such as the one in this country that seems currently endangered, is precious, should be cherished, and must be carefully protected.

Now I understand why the North Korean people seemed to have loved their leader. They had no other choice. So sad that other countries can’t help these poor people.

I really enjoyed this book. It is well written and engaging. I ended up reading the entire book one evening and the following morning. I appreciate not only the story, but the different perspectives the author provides. Truly inspiring.

The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee is an inspiring story of courage and bravery as one woman struggles to keep her family together after separation that included varying periods of incarceration for each of the three-member family. It is an incredible (as in hard to believe) story but if a reader wanted to check the authenticity of some of the incidents cited, it could be easily done by examining public media reports. Imagine a Korean woman (Hyeonseo) meeting a western traveler in Laos who voluntarily gives money to Hyeonseo to aid in paying corruption money to get Hyeonseo’s mother and brother out of a Lao prison. There was not an exchange of favors for money and the traveler had no assurances of ever being repaid. The incident happened, the traveler was repaid, and the story was reported by the Australian press. Hyeonseo was 17 years old when she decided to cross the border between North Korea and China. It was illegal but because she was under 18 years old, her punishment would be a slap on the wrist. If over 18, it would be jail time. She decided to take the risk because she thought it would be her last chance to see the town across the river, a town that seemed to always have electricity, far different than her own. She crossed the river, met a trading partner colleague of her mother and asked for help to make a trip to Shenyang to see a distant relative. While there she received a call from her mother. A day after crossing the river, the North Korean government began a census. It was noted that she was missing; her mother reported her as missing in an attempt to cover up the illegal crossing. She could not go home to North Korea; her eighteenth birthday had come and gone, she was stuck in China. Hyeonseo was stateless, she had no identification papers in China. She stayed for such a long period of time with her relatives that there was thought of marriage just to get an ID and avoid repatriation by China. Hyeonseo thought marriage was just another type of incarceration. She had escaped, even if unintentionally, from North Korea; now she would escape from marriage. Leaving her relatives secretly, she went to another Chinese city with a Korean expatriate community where she fell into a trap set by human traffickers. Escaping from that, she went to yet another Chinese city where she purchased false ID and settled into an acceptable job. However, she felt she would never be accepted by the Chinese, she had false identification papers, and she missed her family. How could she reunite with them or even communicate with them without putting them in danger from the north Korean government? Each time she changed location in China, she changed names. She would continue to do this in an attempt to avoid capture by an increasingly more efficient bureaucratic surveillance system. Missing her family and feeling unaccepted by China, she finally resolved to go to South Korea. She felt she would better fit into that society. But entry to South Korea would also have to be done illegally. Once she arrived in South Korea, she could claim political asylum, but getting there would involve subterfuge. She got to South Korea, she got her mother and sister out of North Korea, the three of them eventually got to the United States. This is not a spoiler. The excitement in the novel is with the tricks and subterfuges necessary to make the many, many escapes. The first one-third of the book Hyeonseo writes of her childhood in North Korea. She writes of struggles to survive hunger on the parts of most of the population. After the death of her father, she writes of her mother’s successful attempts to establish herself as a black market trader and a government official willing to accept bribes and gifts that were at the heart of North Korean bureaucracy. Her success allowed Hyeonseo to escape much of the hunger that the general population endured. While in China she discovered some of the horrible truths about life under the North Korean regime. Things she considered normal everyday coping strategies to deal with an authoritarian regime were deplored by every country outside North Korea. Her former government and leaders were laughing stocks to the rest of the world. She asked herself a question. How could such a world exist? She answered the question and it is an answer that fits for all corrupt and authoritarian governments in the world today. What is the answer? I won’t reveal it. That would be a spoiler. Read the book. I read this book in preparation for a writer and reader convention I will attend in Bali, Indonesia at the end of October 2016. One of the authors I will meet is a Korean lady who went undercover as an investigative journalist in North Korea. It would be nice if I could ask an intelligent question. Hyeonseo also gave A TED talk. Google to find it; it is an inspiring twelve-minute talk.

As tensions between the U.S. and North Korea escalate, I cannot fathom a more pertinent story to inform the rest of the world of the plight of North Koreans...in their own country as well as much of Asia, and the rest of the world really. A very intimate and honest reflection regarding self-discovery, human rights and the experiences that have shaped her own attitudes towards others. I honestly cannot think of a single thing I would change (with the exception of only a couple minor typos...inconsequential really). Not only is the story incredible and all-consuming but it is so totally well written from start to finish. Thoroughly engaging and easy to follow. Absolutely void of ANY lulls which, for me anyway, is almost unheard of! I did not endeavor to read this in one sitting but it pretty much turned out that way because I literally could NOT tear myself away. The only breaks I took were self-enforced so that I could take a breather from the intense storyline. And no, it was not lost on me that this brave young woman and her family could not just stop to take a breather while living this gut-wrenching saga. I cannot recommend this book highly enough! I almost NEVER give a book a 5-star review because, let's face it, there's always room for improvement, right? Not so with this one. Easiest 5-star rating EVER! Now, I've got to catch up on some much needed sleep I missed while immersed in this woman's quest for the dream of freedom, claiming her own basic human rights and reunion with her family. But before I go, a personal note to Ms Lee. Well done and welcome out of the darkness that was your birth country. You are an extraordinary young woman, daughter, sister, and world citizen with a voice for oppressed persons the world over. My life has forever been changed and challenged after reading your story. Thank you for sharing it with us.

I’m learning English, and I’m really happy I chose this book. It’s very interesting, engaging, and easy to read for a beginner like me.

The book should have ended when she got to Seoul. The fact that it was worth reading up to that point is what kept it above one star. After that, it's pure garbage and disappoinment. It's not hard to read between the lines and realize what a self-serving person she is, and how her only accomplishment and identity in life are being someone who left North Korea. I am an emigrant and worked hard to establish myself in a new and unfamiliar country for the sake of a better life; she used men for support and money constantly, and seems to whine about the most insignificant of struggles (and likely exaggerates and lies about much of her account). Some people truly struggled to get out of North Korea, and their reward for years of abuse and sometimes loss of all human rights was brutal death. She barely touches on those people's experience. It's insulting that she thought it was necessary to write this book. As I said at the start, if she had stopped at the part where she got to Seoul, I would have left with a favorable impression of this book. She's clearly a good liar; she could have just said the story ended there, then went on with her little TED talks. Rarely does a book leave me with such a bad aftertaste.

I loved everything about this book. As a 20 years-old European Boy unfortunately I knew very little about the North Korean’s Regime. The writer is one of the bravest woman I’ve ever read about and I’m so sorry about everything she and her family have been through BUT extremely happy they succeeded in doing it. Such a great story, it shows the cruelty of the regime and the courage and genius of a girl who chooses FREEDOM. Highly recommended. Read the book. Educate yourself. Feel blessed to have freedom in your life.

such a heartwarming story for freedom

What a brave people! It is impressive how they manage to overcome such difficulties to reach freedom. All my support to those that could not make it.