In their first interview with a news outlet, defector Kim Kang-woo and his mother recall their terrifying and winding journey to be together again.
SEOUL — Kim Kang-woo had already made the treacherous journey across North Korea’s border into China. Now, he was about to do the unthinkable — smuggle himself back in.
The Washington Post has verified Kim’s return to North Korea and second escape through court records, but cannot corroborate the accounts of what took place inside the reclusive country. Details of their hometown have been withheld to protect their relatives who remain there.Like most North Koreans, Kim learned about everyday life in Seoul through a South Korean television show smuggled in from China.
Her son’s departure came like a lightning bolt for Im. “I felt like I could still see him right in front of me. I felt sorry that he met the wrong mother, who couldn’t give him a better life. I thought I would never see him again,” she said. North Koreans who live along the border use smuggled Chinese cellphones that can pick up Chinese cellular networks for phone calls. His mother finally called on a cellphone she borrowed.Im told her son, then 23, that she was scared. She didn’t have her own phone, and was worried she wouldn’t be able to find him on the Chinese side. Maybe they should try again another time, she said. Then the line dropped.Kim panicked. He was running out of money and his visa would expire soon.
He made his way back to his mother’s house and knocked on the door. Im was stunned. The two held each other in silence and cried. Then immediately, Im feared for their safety.“He is crazy. My happiness lasted a short moment, then the hair on my skin stood up. If he’s caught, he would be immediately executed and the rest of us would go to a prison camp,” she said.
It is illegal for a South Korean to enter North Korea without approval from the Unification Ministry. According to the South Korean judge’s ruling in Kim’s case in August 2020, Kim faced a maximum three-year prison sentence. But the judge showed leniency after Kim expressed his regret and prosecutors determined Kim had no history of breaking a similar law affecting inter-Korean relations. His sentence was reduced to six months’ imprisonment and two years under probation.
When Im Su-ryuh finally arrived in Seoul after making a dangerous escape from North Korea, she found out that her son was in prison.
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