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A Family’s Daring Escape From North Korea
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SKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.A Family’s Daring Escape From North Korea ‘to Live and Stand Tall’
Their resolve for freedom hardened during the pandemic, when they lived through a crippling food shortage and were forced to witness frequent public executions.
Listen · 16:27 minReporting from Seoul
July 21, 2026Leer en español阅读简体中文版閱讀繁體中文版Rain lashed a flimsy wooden boat as it tossed through a churning sea, its engine straining against the swell. Under the cover of a stormy night three years ago, the vessel was fleeing North Korea.
On board were nine people, including two small children and a woman who was six months pregnant. Only a couple of the passengers had seafaring experience. They eluded a patrol ship, speeding across the world’s most heavily guarded maritime border.
Soon after their boat lurched into South Korean waters, a high-speed warship of the South’s navy bore down on it, tearing the water in aggressive circles. Snipers on the vessel trained their laser sights on the chests of the three adult men on the wooden boat.
Through a loudspeaker, a voice boomed: “Are you lost? Engine trouble?”
The North Koreans shouted: “Please help. We are defecting.”
A map showing points along the route of a family’s escape to South Korea.Where the brothers were originally from
Beach where the families
got a boat to escape
The planned destination,
South Korean navy ship
before they could land.
They were transferred to
a larger navy vessel and
taken to the mainland.
they landed.
where they were intercepted
by a South Korean navy ship
before they could land,
Port where they landed.
The red dots remained stubbornly fixed on their chests. The South Koreans were taking no chances: The three men were clad in North Korean military uniforms, camouflage for a high-stakes escape. Desperate, the men shouted into the boat’s cramped hold for the other passengers to emerge in order to prove that they were civilians. From below, the two children, a 5-year-old girl and 3-year-old boy, were hauled up first, both pale and wasted from seasickness. Only then did the red dots drop off.
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