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 Long Walk to Freedom
With the aid of Christian activists, North Koreans brave unspeakable horrors to reach safety. The inside tale of one escape |
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Map: Seoul Train
Kim Myong Suk's escape from North Korea involved planes, trains, automobiles and a lot of luck
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For Peters, the call from Hite was "the best Christmas present we could have gotten." But his work is not done. A few weeks ago, Peters stood in the pulpit of the Youngnak Presbyterian Church, one of the oldest, largest and most graceful churches in Seoul. His congregation was more than 2,000 strong, joined together in a two-day prayer vigil for North Koreans. Though buoyed by Kim's tale, Peter was weighed down by the arrest and detention of the American underground-railroad activist. His sermon, on a text from the Old Testament, was stark: "Joshua had fallen to the ground in long and desperate prayer," Peters said. "But after a period of time the Lord said, 'Get up Joshua, why are you still lying on your face? Now is the time to do what I have shown you to do.'"
As Peters sees it, there is still much work to be done. The underground-railroad activist held in Yanji is 68 years old. Jeffrey Bahk, an American evangelical preacher who drowned in 2004 leading a group of North Korean refugees across the Mekong River from Burma to Laos, was 62 when he died. "Where," Peters demanded at the Youngnak Church, "are the young men—the young soldiers—to step into the place that older missionaries now fill?" He stepped from the pulpit, and the organist led the congregation into a loud, emotional version of the tune associated more than any other with escape from bondage. In Korean, 2,000 voices swelled to sing the Battle Hymn of the Republic.
—With Donald Macintyre/Seoul and Matthew Cooper/Washington
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Missing in Action [Jan. 31, 2005]
Is Pyongyang still in the kidnapping game?
Waking Up to the Nightmare [Dec. 06, 2004]
At last, the world is taking notice of North Korea's brutal prison camps
Opening the Gates [Nov. 01, 2004]
A U.S. ruling paves the way for North Korean refugees
A Whole New World [Aug. 02, 2004]
For North Koreans who manage to escape to the South, life is modern, strange and full of challenges
Seoul Searching: Mercy Dash [Mar. 15, 2002]
Desperate for food and a future, 25 North Koreans storm the Spanish embassy in Beijing seeking asylum
Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide [Jun. 18, 2001]
North Korean refugees fleeing poverty and repression at home now face a fierce crackdown in China
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