The Moment I Chose Freedom
I remember sitting in an empty apartment.
There was nothing. No bed, no chair, no dishes, no clothes. I sat on the floor and stared at the wall for hours, wondering “what do I do now?” I was alone in a new country. I had lost all my friends and I had no idea what happened to my family.
It all started over a dinner in Beijing. I am from North Korea’s elite class and I was one of the few university students that was allowed to study abroad. In China, I met a few South Korean students and we became friends. One night over dinner they began talking about human rights in North Korea. They criticized my country and I was so confused. What are human rights? What is a dictatorship? What is freedom?
I grew up very comfortably in North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang. I never went hungry and I could buy whatever I wanted. I even owned a South Korean computer and I played video games on it. But there were also moments when I questioned things. There was the time I was interrogated for 3 days for giving a friend some South Korean movies. Or the time my dad had to bribe the police to let me go.
But I thought it was like that everywhere. I cried in the taxi on the ride home that night. I was so frustrated that I didn’t have the words to defend my homeland. I went back to my dorm room and began searching the internet for information on human rights.
My idea of North Korea died that night.
The place I called home and the only system I had ever known was all a lie. I couldn’t stop crying as I watched a documentary about North Korea’s political prison camps. I didn’t go to class after that. I stopped hanging out with most of my friends and spent most of my time reading and learning about things I had never known about my country.
A couple weeks later I was at an ice rink in Beijing. As I was watching these little Chinese kids skate around so carefree, something broke deep inside me. I thought about the North Korean children in the documentaries who would never get to enjoy something like this. That’s when I knew I had to do something.
I began devouring books about democracy and freedom. I watched more documentaries and read the political classics like Plato’s The Republic.
If the regime discovered I was reading that book, it could have cost me my life.
But I couldn’t kill my curiosity. I couldn’t unlearn what I now knew and I definitely couldn’t go back to North Korea.
One morning I received a call from the North Korean embassy in Beijing. They asked me to come in because they said something was wrong with my visa. Nothing like this had ever happened before so it seemed strange. I was convinced that they knew what I had been reading and thinking about. I agreed to come in and hung up.
I never went to the embassy.
I destroyed my phone and ID cards that day and left my dorm room with some cash. A couple days later I found a South Korean pastor and he helped me find a way to get safely to South Korea.
It has been six years since I sat in that empty apartment on my first day as a free South Korean citizen. There was a moment while I sat there where I began to question everything. Did I make the wrong choice? What did I do to my family? Will I really be okay on my own now?
But then I reminded myself—I came here with a purpose: to learn about democracy and to help my people get their freedom. So I put on my shoes and went to buy groceries for the first time.
39 North Koreans Now Free | Liberty In North Korea’s 2024 Annual Report
We’re excited to share LiNK’s 2024 Annual Report — a celebration of the work we accomplished together in 2024, and as a movement over the past two decades.
Read the full 2024 Annual Report here
2024 Impact Highlights
Our Work Towards Liberty in North Korea
- Refugee Rescues & Resettlement Support: Helping North Korean refugees reach safety and freedom, and gain stability and independence during the first years of their new lives.
- Empowering Resettled North Koreans: Working with resettled North Korean refugees to support their success and develop their capacity as agents of change.
- Increasing Information Access for North Koreans: Researching, innovating, and developing initiatives to empower North Korean people inside the country with greater access to information and technology.
- Changing the Narrative on North Korea: Focusing on the stories of the North Korean people and mobilizing a global movement of support for this issue.
Note from our CEO
North Korean Refugee Rescues & Resettlement Support
LiNK is one of the few groups that still operates in the underground railroad, forever changed by the effects of the pandemic. Our field team continues to navigate a more difficult operating environment, amidst increased restrictions and surveillance in China.
In 2024, we’re grateful to have welcomed 39 North Korean refugees and their children to freedom. As we regain momentum with rescues, our team is committed to finding ways to make rescue missions safer, reduce costs, and diversify our routes to build up the resilience of our networks.
Once North Korean refugees begin their new lives, LiNK journeys alongside them through this crucial period of transition. Whether this looks like financial assistance, home visits, or connecting people to resources and services, we help ensure a smoother, more successful resettlement experience.
- 39 rescued
- 35 newly resettled
- 140 supported
Empowering Resettled North Koreans
When North Korea is finally free, North Korean people themselves will be the ones to determine the future of their country.
As we work towards that day, LiNK invests in building the capacity of North Koreans to succeed in resettlement, reach their goals, and lead change. We identify current challenges in the defector community and develop programs to address gaps in career, education, and skill-building opportunities.
As North Koreans become leaders on campus, in their workplaces, and in their communities, it also develops their potential as agents of change on this issue. We’re already seeing the next generation of North Koreans spearheading progress with their unique talents — writers sharing their stories with global audiences, tech-savvy engineers developing information access strategies, entrepreneurs creating more opportunities for North Koreans in business, and activists speaking about North Korean human rights at the highest forums of international policy and diplomacy.
- 208 empowered through our programs
Increasing Information Access for North Koreans
North Korea is one of the most physically and digitally isolated countries in the world. By controlling what North Koreans see and hear through propaganda, the regime disempowers them from making informed choices or scrutinizing the government. Increasing the people’s access to outside information and technology is therefore one of the most effective ways to accelerate forces of change and opening.
LiNK’s Information Access Programs (formerly known as Labs) explores this opportunity with three key areas of impact — creating and curating content tailored to the interests of North Koreans, developing technologies with built-in security to protect users, and devising strategies to increase the flow of information into North Korea.
In 2024, we grew our small Information Access Programs (IAP) team and laid the foundation for ambitious expansion in 2025.
- 2 technology projects
- 1 digital security research project
- 52 North Korean defector collaborators
- 4 media features broadcast into North Korea (via Radio Free Asia and Voice of America)
As always, we are limited in what we can share publicly to protect end users, partners, and the projects themselves.
Changing the Narrative on North Korea
For decades, North Korea has been defined by dictators, politics, and security threats. Media outlets often perpetuate the narrative of a distant and hopeless country, playing right into what the regime wants — to stymie change and distract from the real story, the North Korean people.
LiNK empowers North Koreans to redefine and humanize this issue through their stories. We partner with them to create original media, as well as work with international media outlets to foster a people-centered approach to reporting.
Today, we see a broader narrative on North Korea that highlights forces of change and invites international audiences to join us in taking action. North Koreans themselves are now leading the charge, creating their own documentaries, books, digital media, and art to rewrite the future of North Korea — one where every man, woman, and child is free.
- 11,586,504 reached online
- 2,923 reached in-person
20 Years of Impact on the North Korea Issue
- 1,382 North Korean refugees rescued
- 1,245 resettled in South Korea
- 37 resettled in the U.S.
- 1,101 empowered through our programs
- 46.6 million people reached online
- 350,000+ people reached in-person
- 1,273 total media mentions
- 1000+ LiNK Teams worldwide
"I am sending my congratulations to LiNK on its 20th anniversary. Few groups have done as much for North Koreans… Its long history is remarkable: many people have been discouraged by the lack of spectacular success, while LiNK has continued its operations, doing what was possible, often on a small scale. Such persistence is rare and commendable.
Most likely, North Korea will remain a challenge for a long time, and its people will need all kinds of support, including the assistance LiNK is providing. I wish LiNK continued success in its important work.”
– Andrei Lankov, historian, professor of Korean Studies at Kookmin University, author of The Real North Korea
