N. Korean actress recalls defection play

By Jae-Hee Lee

SEOUL (Reuters): Kim Hye-young and her two younger sisters thought they were visiting their aunt in China when they left North Korea with their parents three years ago.

But the five members of the family were embarking on a much longer and more dangerous trip: they were trying to leave North Korea for good.

After 30 months of hiding in unidentified cities in China, the Kims reached Seoul last August, although the defection was not announced until early January for security reasons.

The 22-year-old drama student said she shed tears when she first heard about her family's plan to defect because she was forced to abandon a promising career as an actress in the North.

At the time of the defection, Hye-young was a student at Pyongyang University and had appeared in four television dramas and three movies as a leading character.

Actresses live privileged lives in the impoverished North because North Korean Leader Kim Jong-il is a film buff, Hye-young said. "You receive special treatment if you are good at acting. Your life can even change."

During a drama festival in college, Hye-young met Kim Jong-il and, along with her movie crew, had dinner with him.

Her father, Kim Doo-sun, 52, worked for the trade arm of a military unit. He had to persuade his daughters to leave the Stalinist North after their mother, Choi Keum-ran, agreed to go.

Hye-young said her family led a relatively prosperous life in the North. But her father said their future was clouded because they have relatives living in China.

Most defectors flee to China before settling in third countries.

Hye-young won a best singer award in a national contest when she was six, but was disqualified after a background check disclosed the relations in China, her father said.

Hye-young said she also was initially selected for a coveted position in the troupe known as "the happy brigade," which entertains Kim Jong-il and other top leaders in Pyongyang. But she again was disqualified when the Chinese connection emerged.

"It was upsetting to see my children's future blocked because of my relations in China," her father said. "I resolved to defect for my children's sake.

"Traveling abroad, I noticed South Korea's development and realized North Korea's contradictions. I wanted my children to live in a country where human rights are guaranteed."

But the road to freedom was scary, recalled Hye-young's younger sister, Soon-young.

Soon-young, 20, said her family moved 14 times during their stay in China.

"We couldn't meet our relatives. While secretly corresponding with them, we found out the North Korean police had asked them about us," Soon-young said.

She said she sees South Korean teens enjoying personal freedom and living comfortable lives, but most of them are unaware of the hardship that exists over the border.

"I sometimes wonder if South Korean teenagers realize their northern counterparts are suffering from hunger. I talked to some South Korean teens about it but they don't understand," she said.

Last year about 70 North Koreans defected to the South, the unification ministry said. It estimated some 950 defectors have fled the North since South Korea was established in 1948.

The number has been rising sharply since 1995, when devastating floods followed by severe drought shattered the North's command economy, already reeling after Moscow cut off massive aid following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Aid agencies estimate two million people or more have died of malnutrition and related diseases over the past three years.

The girls' father, Doo-sun, said "the lower class" believed things had become so difficult they had little more to lose, and some saw war as the only possibility for change on the peninsula.

But the governing class wants to avoid a war that could jeopardize their privileged positions in the communist state, he said. "The officials think Kim Jong-il is the most prosperous among world presidents."

The Kims have been under government protection and have been given orientation education since arriving last Aug. 13.

Defectors are required to receive at least six months of re- education to help them assimilate and undergo job training. Housing and settlement expenses are provided by the government.

They are also questioned by various intelligence and investigation agencies to make sure they are not North Korean agents in disguise.

Hye-young said she is now happy to be in South Korea. "Now I don't want to go back. I will try my best to succeed as an actress." Soon-young wants to be a television reporter.

Their father isn't sure what he'll do.

"Because of cultural differences, I haven't come up with a plan yet," Doo-sun said. "I hope to find an occupation comparable to my ability."

Since the Kims' release from government education two weeks ago, Hye-young has appeared on television talk shows and news programs. "Some people on the subway seem to recognize me, saying: 'She looks like the North Korean actress,'" she smiled.