A son's return to rescue his mother

"I made my way down below the embankment. Dusk was settling in. Earlier, I had spotted two North Korean soldiers strolling toward town along the levee, AK-47s hanging casually from their shoulders."

Crossing the Yalu River usually evokes one image: a North Korean defector making a desperate escape into China. In this memoir, however, the journey runs in the opposite direction. After escaping North Korea and starting a new life in South Korea, the author crossed the river again, returning to the country he had risked everything to leave behind. His reason was simple. He wanted to bring home the mother he had left behind.

The memoir is written by a young North Korean defector known to South Korean viewers through Channel A's television program "Now On My Way to Meet You." It follows his first escape, his return to North Korea and his second escape, unfolding with the pace and suspense of a thriller. The scenes depicting his escapes are exceptionally vivid, drawing readers into each moment with striking detail. Photographs of Hyesan in Yanggang Province, which the author says he captured on a smartphone during his return, make the story feel even more immediate. The writing is occasionally unrefined, but that plainspoken style only strengthens the narrative, giving it the urgency and authenticity of firsthand testimony.

The author was born in North Korea as the son of an ordinary worker and says he was an outstanding student who consistently finished first in his class. His life unraveled after his father was accused of being a political criminal and died, leaving the family at the very bottom of North Korean society. With few options left, he crossed the Yalu River in 2016, traveled through China and eventually reached South Korea. A South Korean missionary helped him study in New Zealand, and after returning to South Korea, he built a stable life selling smartphones. For a time, he experienced a future he had never imagined possible.

One thing, however, never changed. His mother was still in North Korea. In 2019, he traveled back to China to arrange her escape through a broker. He waited in a Chinese city near the Yalu River, but his mother hesitated, fearing the dangers of fleeing. When the broker abandoned the plan, he decided there was only one option left. He would cross the river himself and bring her out. Friends tried to stop him, asking who would willingly risk returning to North Korea to save a parent. He refused to listen.

The mission nearly ended the moment he crossed the river. He came face to face with a North Korean military patrol and escaped only after a fierce struggle. News that he had returned quickly spread through his hometown, bringing tighter surveillance of his family. For 22 days, he moved through mountainsides and slipped past barbed-wire fences, searching for a chance to rescue his mother. In the end, he had no choice but to flee alone.

His ordeal did not end when he returned to South Korea. Because he had entered North Korea without authorization, he received a suspended prison sentence for violating the National Security Act. He later served time in prison after becoming involved in a voice phishing scheme. Yet the story reaches its emotional peak on Sept. 12, 2020, when he walked out of prison after serving 10 months.

Waiting outside the prison gates was his mother, who had successfully escaped North Korea while he was incarcerated. As she wrapped him in her arms, he realized what freedom truly meant. "These warm arms embracing me are true freedom," he writes.

What makes this memoir memorable is not simply the extraordinary story it tells. More compelling is the question it asks: Why would someone who had escaped one of the world's most repressive societies willingly return? The answer lies not in politics or ideology, but in a son's determination to save his mother. By the final page, the author's quiet reflection feels fully earned: "In the end, what allows people to truly live as human beings is love."


이호재 hoho@donga.com