Read Online A Thousand Miles to Freedom by Eunsun Kim - Free Book Online Page A

China in order to find food, and here we were, about to starve all over again.
    Desperate, my mom knocked on the door of a house on the edge of a small village. Miraculously, a woman opened the door and offered us something to drink … and she spoke in Korean! Apparently, in this region along the border, much of the population was originally Korean. We had arrived at the house of the village’s mayor, who welcomed us in with a feast of rice, dumpling soup, and an especially delicious dried tofu. It was left over from the Chinese New Year celebration. The mayor was friendly, but he also gave us a warning.
    â€œEat everything that you can, and then return to North Korea,” he told us. “It’s not safe here for people like you. You will be arrested.”
    We did not listen to him. Returning to North Korea was not an option for us. So we slept that night at a construction site in the village.
    *   *   *
    At the crack of dawn the next morning, I was awoken by a loud commotion around me. The father of the little girl explained to me that some people from the neighboring village had come to find my mother. They were talking with her quite loudly. I felt uneasy about what was happening. Abruptly, my mom turned toward me and looked me right in the eyes.
    â€œThese people know a couple who want to adopt a child,” she murmured.
    I could hardly understand what she was saying.
    â€œIf you want to go with them, you can…” she said, in a pained voice.
    I started feeling lightheaded.
    Mom tried to convince me. “You will definitely have a better life with them than with me . I don’t have much left to take care of you with.”
    Hearing these words, I almost fainted. I would follow my mom’s suggestion if I had to, but I was so heartbroken to hear those words from her—it felt like she was ready to abandon me.
    Luckily, the villagers discovered that I was already twelve years old, despite my young appearance. I was too old for the couple and thus had to stay with Keumsun and Mom.
    However, our situation now was just as bad as it had been in Rajin-Sonbong. Later that day, the man who had escaped with us and his young daughter left us to go and stay with his parents. We were alone. We had thought that once we crossed the border, everything would somehow magically sort itself out for us. In reality, we were worse off than we had been back home, because here we were living in hiding and at risk of being arrested by the police at any instant.
    In fact, Beijing had signed an agreement with its ally Kim Jong-il, stipulating that China was obligated to send back anyone who tried to escape from North Korea. As a result, tens of thousands of North Koreans still live in hiding in Chinese territory, in fear of being caught by the police at any moment. To this day, Chinese authorities ignore the requests of South Korea and of NGOs to provide asylum for North Korean defectors. When we first arrived in China, we were there without a roof over our heads and without food, in addition to fearing that the locals would denounce us.
    *   *   *
    How long would we be able to last? I asked myself during my afternoon nap that first day in China, as I lay alongside a rice field. Suddenly I felt a presence there next to me, and I opened my eyes. It was a man, standing right above me. I sprang up, with Keumsun and Mom following me. We saw that there was a woman on a bicycle with the man, as well.
    â€œDon’t be afraid, I can help you,” she said in Korean.
    Instinctively, we fled to hide in an empty farm. But the woman found us again.
    â€œI will help you, I swear! Come with me!”
    She sounded kind enough. And at that point we didn’t have much to lose, so we followed her. At her house, we celebrated her mother-in-law’s eightieth birthday. We were embarrassed about our dirty clothing, so we just stuck to ourselves in a corner. The woman found us