Although numbers are hard to pinpoint, people have been trying to escape the world’s most repressive country, North Korea, for decades, especially since a period of famine in the 1990s.
Despite its propaganda, the world now has a clearer picture of the horror of North Korea’s concentration camps and poverty, because even armed border guards can be bribed and North Koreans are hungry for information.
In her book , former Wall Street Journal deputy opinion editor Melanie Kirkpatrick describes the hardship of life in North Korea and the difficulty a few lucky residents have had during and after escaping.