The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector's Story

It is going to, simply because I’m supplying you with my South Korean identity card. ’ I took it from my pockets and passed it to him. ‘You retain it. You and Reverend Kim now comprehend precisely who i'm, and the place I dwell, and will come after me if I don’t pay. and that i can pay. ’ The identification used to be the one factor I had that may convince him to belief me. He appeared to weigh the cardboard in his hand for a second, gauging its worth, then slipped it into his jacket pocket. ‘They depart tomorrow,’ he stated, nodding to my mom and Min-ho. ‘They may be guided early within the morning over the border. Into Laos. ’ the place? ‘No, we’re going to Vietnam. ’ ‘That used to be the plan, yet days in the past a bunch of North Koreans used to be stuck in Vietnam and despatched again to China. ’ i peeked at my mom. She wasn’t following the Mandarin, yet she might see the alarm in my eyes. ‘The Vietnamese used to permit you humans to visit South Korea,’ he stated. ‘We don’t comprehend why this has replaced, however it implies that course isn't secure now. We can’t danger it. We’re switching to Laos. ’ My head used to be spinning. ‘Where’s Laos? ’ ‘Next to Vietnam. similar distance from the following. Seven hours away. ’ ‘Is it secure? ’ ‘Safe? ’ He gave a laugh. ‘Nothing is assured. yet we’ve been doing this decades. we will get you around the border and to the South Korean embassy in Vientiane. ’ He observed one other clean glance on my face. ‘That’s the capital. I’ll get your mom and brother there. ’ He took a last drag on his cigarette and flicked it throughout the open window, trailing orange sparks. ‘Well, I’m going too,’ I stated. ‘No, you’re now not. ’ He shot me a glance of glinting suspicion, as though I have been attempting to thieve his alternate secrets and techniques. ‘You’re going again to Seoul. ’ ‘I’m now not leaving them. they wish me. ’ ‘They’ll be in secure fingers. ’ ‘They don’t converse Mandarin they usually don’t learn about whatever outdoor of North Korea. I’m staying with them. ’ ‘Too risky. You’ll be a legal responsibility, little leave out. ’ My fists clenched. If he calls me that yet one more time … ‘Everything we’re doing is illegal,’ he stated. ‘With a South Korean passport you could input Laos for fifteen days and not using a visa. They don’t also have passports. ’ He gestured casually at my mom and Min-ho. ‘If you’re stuck with them you’ll be arrested for aiding illegals. They’ll imagine you’re a dealer and positioned you in penitentiary. You’ll be no support to someone there. they want you to rearrange issues for them in South Korea. ’ ‘I may shuttle on my chinese language ID,’ I stated. the instant the phrases have been out, I knew this used to be a nasty notion. He looked as if it would learn my brain. ‘And if anything is going incorrect, do you need to get despatched again to South Korea, or to China? If the chinese language work out you’re a defector, too …’ the idea was once left placing within the air. He had me. there has been not anything i may say. each hour of the day for the previous week, I have been my family’s sole lifeline. yet now keep an eye on used to be being taken from me. i might need to depart them within the arms of a guy I completely didn't belief. At sunrise the air used to be already humid and noisy with the cries of unusual birds. The alley smelled of rotting rubbish. It took us simply mins to organize ourselves.