- Triple defections among North Koreans is incredibly rare.
So, this refers to people who have defected from North Korea,
possibly to South Korea,
and then went back into North Korea,
and then came back out.
There are only six documented cases of such triple defections
between 2012 and 2019.
We recently spoke with such
a triple defector named Kim Kang-woo.
- Hello, my name's Kim Kang-woo.
I defected from North Korea in 2016.
I went back to North Korea in 2019
and escaped again the same year.
- When my son first told me
that he's leaving North Korea, he said,
"I can't rot in this country for the rest of my life."
I couldn't stop him or encourage him.
- The most common route for North Koreans
to leave North Korea is by crossing the river into China,
and that's what Kim Kang-woo did.
He crossed the Yalu River
from the North Korean side to the China side,
and it is dangerous because it's heavily guarded.
It can be porous with people trying to cross in and out,
so there tend to be a lot of guards,
and it's heavily scrutinized.
After crossing successfully into China,
he went to Laos and then Thailand,
and then into South Korea over a five month journey.
That's a fairly common route for North Koreans to take,
as sort of a roundabout way to get out of China
and into South Korea.
What happens with defectors after they leave the country,
many of them try to arrange
for their family members to leave, too,
but it's very rare for a defector
to personally go back in to arrange that tip themselves,
and that is what Kim Kang-woo did.
- If I got caught crossing back in,
I knew that my entire family could be executed.
But I couldn't stop thinking about my mother.
When I thought about her, there was really only one path.
I had to go back.
- It is illegal for a South Korean
to visit North Korea without proper permission
from the South Korean government,
and these defectors are going back in
without that proper permission.
So, in South Korea, they face legal consequences.
They can be arrested.
They can be imprisoned and face potential charges
of being a possible spy.
In North Korea, if you're caught defecting back into the country,
you actually risk your life, you risk your family's life.
Your family members and your other loved ones
could be imprisoned or possibly killed.
After Kim escaped North Korea the second time
and crossed into China,
he took a plane and returned to South Korea.
- I was contacted by a South Korean intelligence official.
Initially, I told him that I was still in China.
But he already knew that I was back in South Korea.
- Kim was found in violation of laws
governing inter-Korean relations that bar South Korean citizens
from going into North Korea without permission.
After that, he was arrested, and he got a two-year sentence,
which was a mixture of imprisonment and probation.
- It broke my heart that my son was in prison because of me.
I couldn't bear it.
He left North Korea
because he desperately wanted to get a college education.
But instead, he was in prison.
I regretted coming to South Korea.
- They are still reminded of some of the traumas
and difficulties that they faced in North Korea,
living there, and trying to make their way out.
- My mother and I both struggle with recurring nightmares.
I dream about being chased by North Korean guards
or getting caught and shot crossing the river.
She's up until 2:00 AM almost every night
because she can't fall asleep.
It will take some time for us to heal from the trauma.
I didn't know when I first defected,
but later, I realized that I came here to find freedom.
I wanted to show my mother that there's a different world
out there.