North Korean Defector Endured 9 Years of Labour Camp for Her Friend

Kim Young Soon holds her book during an interview in Seoul, Jan. 22, 2009.

Kim Young Soon was arrested and detained in a prison camp for nine years for being a friend to Sung Hye Rim, late concubine of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. She defected to South Korea in 2003 after losing both her parents and her three sons in the camp. She has recently published a memoir, entitled “I Was Sung Hye Rim’s Friend”.

A quote from Kim Young Soon:

My 30s and early 40s were the hardest part of my life. I was tormented continuously for the entire nine years I spent at the Yoduk political prisoner camp. That’s when I swore that one day I would expose the cruelty of the camps, and that I would tell the world about the magnitude of the suffering the Kim Jong Il regime has brought upon the North Korean people. That is how my memoir was born.

Read the full interview with Kim Young Soon here.

Thank you to Radio Free Asia for the story.