“To know your rights are being abused, or that you are abusing someone else’s, you first have to know that you have them, and what they are.” - Hyeonseo Lee
Movie depictions and media portrayals have always characterised life inside North Korea as life marked by adversity, lack of freedom, and unconditional loyalty to a dictator. Even with these preconceptions of life under a totalitarian regime, nothing could ever prepare me for what I discovered in The Girl with Seven Names: Escape from North Korea.
The book tells the story of Hyeonseo Lee, who was born in Hyesan, North Korea in 1980. Published in 2015, The Girl with Seven Names is broken into three parts: part one describes Lee’s life in North Korea, part two focuses on her time in China, and part three takes place in South Korea. This autobiography provides the reader with a rare glimpse into the secretive North Korean state and the hardships the author faced after leaving. Lee’s account is gripping and heart breaking; it touches on themes of human rights, freedom, identity, loyalty, determination, division, and fortune. Lee’s account also features actual photos of life in North Korea, including the large images of propaganda and portraits of Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung. The portraits of the Great Leaders were all around towns and cities, reinforcing the omnipresence and God-like status of North Korea’s Great Leaders.
Reading Lee’s book, one realizes that the reality of human rights abuses in North Korea are worse than one could imagine. From early on, the book sheds light on human rights atrocities committed by the North Korean government, such as suppression of speech, sending citizens to prison camps, and state intrusion on private life. Examples of disturbing first-hand accounts include Lee witnessing her first public execution at age seven and watching her country fall to famine in the 1990s. Readers may also consider other stories simply absurd, including when the reader discovers that North Korean citizens were accused of, and subsequently punished for, “faking” their tears following Kim Il-sung’s death in 1994.
Surprisingly, the human rights abuses are not driving factors for Lee’s, and soon after her mother’s and brother’s, decision to leave North Korea. In fact, they have a relatively comfortable life compared to many North Koreans. It is rather Lee’s curiosity, one that “had always been greater than [her] fear” to explore the world beyond North Korea that transforms her life forever for better and worse. Lee’s mother was a trader with high songbun (social status), and Lee planned to study economics at university. Lee and her family also have strong familial and cultural roots tied to the country. Their loyalty to the country meant that defecting was something they would never think of. After being unable to return to North Korea for what was only supposed to be a brief visit to see relatives in China, Lee has no choice but to start a new life there. A potential return would have fatal consequences for her and her family. As a result, Lee is forced to change her name several times, sometimes voluntarily and sometimes to avoid Chinese authorities looking to deport North Koreans. Each name subsequently represents a new identity.
Despite the insurmountable difficulties experienced by Lee, the kindness and compassion she discovers from strangers offers a glimpse of hope. For example, at one point her family is imprisoned in Laos. In an attempt to help free them, she pretends to be a South Korean volunteer helping imprisoned North Koreans. In the process, Lee encounters an Australian who pays for her family’s bail. “Why are you helping me?” Lee asks. “I’m not helping you,” he replies, unaware of the truth. “I’m helping the North Korean people.” Shocked by his generosity, she remarks that, after meeting him, “the world was a less cynical place”. Years later, with the help of Australian news programme SBS Insight, the pair meet once again in a heart-warming reunion.
As the author brings the reader through the journey of her life, one sees that her relationship with her former country, similar to many members of diaspora communities, is complex. She longs to return home to her family but acknowledges that doing so would be extremely dangerous. When she speaks of North Korea, she admits, “I will never be truly free of its gravity, no matter how far I journey”. After reading Lee’s story, one cannot help but feel a great sense of empathy and respect for those who have to leave their home countries behind. Their desperate circumstances often propel them towards degrading and unacceptable conditions, such as being thrown into detention centres or exploited by traffickers. Whilst Lee and her family eventually had a happy life, happiness is not guaranteed to everyone who survives the journey out of their homeland.
Currently living in South Korea, Lee remains an advocate for human rights in North Korea and has spoken openly about her experiences in public. As of May 2021, her 2013 TEDTalk entitled “My Escape from North Korea” has attracted over 20 million views, and in 2014, she spoke about North Korea’s human rights abuses at the United Nations Security Council Headquarters in New York. The Girl with Seven Names is captivating, exceptionally well written, and truly unforgettable. It is therefore no surprise that it is a New York Times bestseller. While this book is certainly not for the faint-hearted, the harrowing account provides readers with a chilling reminder that democracy and freedom should never be taken for granted.
Tien is a final year Law and French student at the University of Bristol. She has recently completed her year abroad studying at Sciences Po in Paris (France) and is interested in human rights topics, such as migration, children's rights and modern slavery.