You were never supposed to know my name, see my face, or hear my story. Because I was one of 26 million lives hidden inside North Korea.
In 2023, Gyuri escaped North Korea by boat with her mother and aunt — an extraordinary act of courage that made them one of the rare groups to successfully flee the country since borders were sealed during the pandemic. Born in Pyongyang and a graduate of Pyongyang Sports University, Gyuri’s life changed forever when her family was banished to a remote coastal province after her grandmother’s religious beliefs were discovered.
Though incredibly rare in North Korea, Gyuri became a female shipowner and started a small fishing business to support her family. As she secretly watched forbidden foreign media, she learned more about the outside world and began to question her life constrained by the regime — and whether survival alone was enough.
