North Korea defector tells of escape and reveals what life is really like in secretive state
For David, the streets of Seoul are a much longed for safe haven.
To the casual observer, there is nothing out of the ordinary about him.
He is a slight man, softly spoken, dressed in baggy jeans and wide glasses that are fashionable in South Korea.
But his story and what he has been through to get here are utterly remarkable.
He is a North Korean defector, one of the very few to have escaped the DPRK (Democratic Republic of Korea) within the last few years.
“My mother bribed the soldier beforehand,” he tells me as he gestures on a map to where he crossed the border north into China.
“The river was frozen solid. I remember walking maybe 15 minutes to 20 minutes across the ice.
“I remember shivering after crossing the river and climbing over the fence that the Chinese guards had set up.”
For the safety of his relatives that remain in North Korea, we can’t tell you exactly when or exactly how he left. Any specific identifying detail could result in harsh punishments for his loved ones.
But his stories from inside are astonishing and offer a rare glimpse into what life has been like there since the pandemic struck.
Father disappeared without a trace
His childhood, it seems, was a relatively normal one in DPRK terms – helping from a young age to tend the fields and attending school when he could.
But everything changed shortly after his father suddenly disappeared without a trace.
“It wasn’t until about a year later when he got in touch with us that I realised he had fled to the south,” he explains.
“He contacted my mother via telephone. What we didn’t realise was that the North Korean state political security department had been tapping our landline. As a result, our mother was sent away to the labour camp.”
Initially, he was allowed to visit his mother every three months in detention, and he describes what he saw there as shocking.
“The amount of food provided in these detention centres is pitifully little,” he says.
“Prisoners receive around 20 to 30 kernels of corn each meal, which is obviously not enough for a person to survive on, so I packed a lunch when I went to visit her.
The pandemic has made North Korea all but impenetrable
“My mother’s body had shrunk to half her original size in the three months she had been in detention. My eyes filled with tears the moment I saw her; she was so dishevelled and gaunt that I didn’t recognise her initially.
“They also beat the women in prison. Mother’s eyes were swollen to bits and there were bruises everywhere. I wept when I saw her wounds.”
Mother tortured
David was just a child at this time but he was left to fend for himself and his siblings. He says he left school and tried to make ends meet, working in the fields and logging in the winter, but also stole food to survive.
He took what little he could to his mother.
“My mother said that if the inmates’ families didn’t visit them in prison, they would starve to death from malnutrition,” he explains.
“She said tens of people died every day from malnutrition. She even said that people would die in the middle of meals.
“To dispose of the corpses, she said they folded them at the waist and put them in sacks.
“Afterwards, the corpses were buried near the fences of the prison. Also, because the graves weren’t very deep, the stench of the corpses would come up from the ground in the spring when it became warmer.”
His mother described to him the torture she faced, being made to sit for up to 17 hours and beaten if they moved as much as a finger.
A military parade in Pyongyang in February
She also described how inmates whose families did not have the means to bring extra food or bribe the guards would have a life expectancy of just three to four years.
David’s stories matter because recent testimony from inside North Korea is very rare indeed.
The pandemic has made this already secretive state all but impenetrable.
Policy to shoot anyone trying to cross border
In the 2010s, around 1,000 people a year successfully defected from North Korea – the vast majority crossing the northern border with China before seeking asylum in a third country.
But a combination of the strict closed-border policy implemented by both China and the DPRK, plus a new policy to shoot anyone trying to cross, means that in 2022 that number had plummeted to just 67.
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It means that not much is known about how the country fared amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but there is mounting evidence that it further strangled an already dysfunctional economy, bringing fresh waves of shortage and suffering.
“The borders were sealed off out of fear that the pandemic would come from outside North Korea. No one was allowed to go near the border,” says David.
“All the trade routes were effectively closed down. We depended heavily on smuggled goods from China in order to survive.
“I’ve heard from my relative that more people are starving, and prices are rising. They say it has become even more difficult to live.”
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Indeed, many think it’s likely people have died due to a lack of food in recent years.
“I’d say [it’s a] chronic economic crisis, not acute. It’s just an ongoing, bad situation economically,” says Chad O’Carroll, the founder of NK News.
What is the situation in North Korea now?
He and his team try to analyse what is going on in North Korea. Since the pandemic, their sources have become fewer and more nervous, but there is a lot of evidence all is not well.
“I definitely think some people would be in serious health problems due to the food shortages,” Mr O’Carroll says. He explains that there is evidence that the crisis is even biting the elites who live in the major cities.
“In Pyongyang and other major urban areas there has not been such significant shortages, but the diversification and nutritional value of the available food has significantly decreased,” he says.
“So if you have a chronic health problem, if you’re old, that could probably really push health conditions in a negative way.
“There’s been very large scale mobilisations of people from all walks of life to get into the farms to get their hands dirty and help.
“We’ve got some sources that say middle, even senior elites in some cases, are having to do their part and helping the nation tackle this food shortage situation.”
It is relatively unlikely that this latest crisis will cause major instability to the ruling Kim regime.
The propaganda machine has been in overdrive blaming the global pandemic and showing pictures of wide-scale deaths and hospitals in crisis elsewhere.
Indeed, the North Korean people are also no strangers to hardship.
Most agree the increased secrecy has been of real value to the DPRK’s security services and will thus likely remain.
But for a nuclear-armed power so increasingly assertive internationally, the reality of life inside is still largely shrouded in mystery.
World
Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney named prime minister of Canada – succeeding Justin Trudeau
Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney has been named Canadian prime minister after winning the Liberal Party leadership race in a landslide victory.
Mr Carney, who also used to be the head of Canada’s central bank, emerged as the frontrunner in the contest as the country deals with the impact of tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.
He ended up winning 85.9% of the vote.
During his victory speech, he told the crowd: “Donald Trump, as we know, has put unjustified tariffs on what we build, on what we sell and how we make a living.
“He’s attacking Canadian families, workers and businesses and we cannot let him succeed and we won’t.”
Mr Carney said Canada would keep retaliatory tariffs in place until “the Americans show us respect”.
Mr Trump’s tariffs against Canada and his talk of making the country America’s 51st state have infuriated Canadians.
The American national anthem has been repeatedly booed at NHL and NBA games.
“Think about it. If they succeeded, they would destroy our way of life… America is a melting pot. Canada is a mosaic,” Mr Carney added.
“America is not Canada. Canada will never ever be part of America in any way, shape or form.”
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‘You can’t take our country or our game’
The 59-year-old will replace Justin Trudeau, who has served as prime minister since 2015.
Mr Trudeau announced he was stepping down in January after facing calls to quit from a chorus of his own MPs.
The 53-year-old’s popularity had declined as food and house prices rose.
Mr Carney will now have to decide when to call a general election in Canada – which must take place on or before 20 October.
In 2013, he became the first non-UK citizen to run the Bank of England since it was founded in 1694.
His appointment was popular in Britain after Canada recovered from the 2008 financial crisis faster than many other countries.
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During leadership debates, Mr Carney argued he was the only person prepared to handle Trump.
“I know how to manage crises,” he said.
“In a situation like this, you need experience in terms of crisis management, you need negotiating skills.”
The surge in Canadian nationalism has bolstered the Liberal Party’s chances in a parliamentary election.
US President Donald Trump has suggested Ukraine “may not survive” the war against Russia even if American support continued.
In an interview with Fox News channel’s ‘Sunday Morning Futures’, Mr Trump was asked about his controversial decision to pause support for Kyiv as it fends off Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Mr Trump, who had a disastrous meeting with Mr Zelenskyy at the White House last week, was asked about a warning from Polish President Andrzej Duda “that without American support, Ukraine will not survive”.
Asked if he was “comfortable” with that outcome, the US president said: “Well, it may not survive anyway.
“But we have some weaknesses with Russia. You know, it takes two,” Mr Trump added.
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It comes as Mr Zelenskyy will visit Saudi Arabia for a Monday meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, while Ukrainian diplomatic and military representatives will meet with a US delegation on Tuesday.
Mr Trump’s latest remarks come amid global concern over the souring relationship between Ukraine and the US, which alongside the EU has been Kyiv’s main backer in its defence against Russia’s three-year land, air and sea invasion.
The US paused military aid and the sharing of intelligence with Ukraine this month after a meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskyy on 28 February descended into acrimony in front of the world’s media.
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Mr Trump ordered the pause as he attempts to put pressure on Mr Zelenskyy to negotiate a ceasefire deal with Russia.
Mr Trump has privately made it clear to aides that a signed minerals deal between Washington and Kyiv will not be enough to restart aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, Sky News’ US partner network NBC reported earlier on Sunday.
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The 78-year-old president is said to want the deal signed, but also wants to see a change in Mr Zelenskyy’s attitude towards peace talks.
Officials have told NBC News that Mr Trump also wants Mr Zelenskyy to make some movement towards holding elections in Ukraine and possibly stepping down as his country’s leader.
Mr Zelenskyy said in a recent interview he would be ready to step down as Ukraine’s president if it meant his country would become a NATO member and find peace.
That came after he was branded a “dictator” by Mr Trump as Ukraine had not held fresh elections – despite laws prohibiting it during wartime.
World
Russian forces creep through disused gas pipeline in attempt to launch surprise attack on Ukrainian soldiers
Russian special forces crept through a disused gas pipeline for several miles to launch a surprise attack on Ukrainian soldiers in the Kursk region, Ukraine’s military and pro-Moscow war bloggers have said.
Footage circulating on the Telegram app claims to show the elite soldiers crouching as they make their way through the darkness of the pipe to the town of Sudzha.
Some can be heard cursing in Russian and complaining about the commanders who sent them on the mission.
One of the soldiers is heard saying: “F*****g hell, where the f*** are we, boys?”
Another says: “Where does the pipe go? To Sudzha, for f**** sake, that’s f***ing crazy.”
Later in the clip a soldier is heard saying: “We’ll get there of course, but indignantly, because we’re f*****g sick of the f*****g command.”
He later adds: “They took our f*****g assault rifles too.”
Two of the soldiers are seen smoking cigarettes while a separate image shared on Telegram shows an operative wearing a gas mask.
The footage shows soldiers creeping through the pipeline
Soldiers are seen smoking cigarettes
The special forces soldiers walked around nine miles (15km) through the pipeline which Moscow had until recently used to send gas to Europe, according to Telegram posts by Ukrainian-born pro-Kremlin blogger Yuri Podolyaka.
In the footage, the soldiers suggest the mission requires them to walk seven miles through the pipe.
Mr Podolyaka says some of them spent several days in the pipeline before striking Ukrainian units from the rear near Sudzha.
The operation formed part of efforts by Russia to recapture areas of Kursk which were seized by thousands of Ukrainian soldiers in a shock offensive in August last year.
Another pro-Russian war blogger, who uses the alias Two Majors, said a major battle is under way in Sudzha after Moscow’s special forces crept through the pipe.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s general staff confirmed on Saturday that Russian soldiers had used the pipeline in an attempt to gain a foothold, but airborne assault forces promptly detected them, and they responded with rocket, artillery and drone attacks that destroyed Moscow’s units.
“The enemy’s losses in Sudzha are very high,” the general staff reported.
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A close-up image of one of the soldiers in the pipeline
The soldiers crept through the tunnel for several miles
It comes as Ukraine’s Air Assault Forces shared a video on Telegram on Saturday which it claims shows Kyiv’s forces repelling Russian forces in Kursk with airstrikes.
Sky News has not independently verified the footage.
Months after Kyiv’s forces seized parts of Kursk, Ukrainian soldiers are weary and bloodied by relentless assaults of more than 50,000 Russian troops, including some from Moscow’s ally North Korea.
Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers run the risk of being encircled, open-source maps of the battlefield showed on Friday.
Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry said this morning that it had captured a settlement in Kursk and another in Ukraine’s Sumy region.
Russia also launched heavy aerial attacks overnight on Ukraine into Saturday – with at least 22 people killed, including 11 in the frontline town of Dobropilla in Ukraine’s embattled eastern Donetsk region.
Ukrainian president Voldymyr Zelenskyy described the attacks as a “vile and inhumane intimidation tactic” by Russia.
The attacks come after the US paused military aid and the sharing of intelligence with Ukraine this month after a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Mr Zelenskyy descended into a confrontation in front of the world’s media.
The Trump administration’s stance on Ukraine and apparent favouring of Moscow has sparked concern among European leaders.
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics told Sky News on Sunday that European countries should “absolutely” introduce conscription as he conceded the continent was “quite weak” militarily in the face of the Russia threat.
Meanwhile, Russian officials have been criticised after presenting mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine with gifts of meat grinders on International Women’s Day.
Russia is often accused of throwing its troops into a “meat grinder” with little regard for their lives.
The local branch of government in the northwestern Russian town of Polyarniye Zori defended itself against the backlash, saying critics were making “callous and provocative interpretations” of the gifts.
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