Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Saturday
Profile Of A Korean's Story To Leave The North
Aired July 26, 2003 - 12:13 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Since the end of the fighting on the Korean Peninsula many North Koreans have fled their homeland hoping for a better life in the South. CNN's Seoul bureau chief, Sohn Jie- Ae, has the story of one defector whose ordeal still haunts him years after it began.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOHN JIE-AE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kim Tae-Jin in not your ordinary South Korean. In fact, 17 years ago Kim was a North Korean. He fled his communist homeland for China.
KIM TAE-JIN (through translator): I heard china was opening up and there was more freedom there.
JIE-AE: But after hiding for a year and four months, Kim was caught by police and sent back to the North and a political prison camp, five years. The ordeal still haunts him.
TAE-JIN (through translator): Human beings are remarkably strong. It is hard to kill someone by just beating them, but what kills you is consistent malnutrition and the torture of not knowing when you will ever be let out.
JIE-AE: Kim was released in 1992 and managed to escape once again into China. Then two years ago he made it into South Korea. He joined a group of former North Koreans who are crusading to shed light on North Korean human rights abuses. And, was part of a delegation that visited the U.S. ambassador in Seoul to request Washington's help.
TAE-JIN (through translator): North Korea is like cancer that the world needs to surgically remove.
JIE-AE: But, Kim's strongest criticism is reserve for the North's leader, Kim Jong-Il.
TAE-JIN (through translator): Everyone in the North is brainwashed into thinking Kim Jong-Il is their father. But, what parent would let their children starve to death while they put on a show of strength for the outside world?
JIE-AE: North Korea accuses people like him of being criminals and traitors and many defectors in the South say they are afraid of speaking out because of the harm that could befall family members and friends left behind. But Kim, with an ex-wife and two sons in the North, feels differently. TAE-JIN (through translator): I have to do whatever I can so that I can hold my head up to those people in political prison camps when one day we are all free.
JIE-AE: Sohn Jie-Ae, CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 26, 2003 - 12:13 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Since the end of the fighting on the Korean Peninsula many North Koreans have fled their homeland hoping for a better life in the South. CNN's Seoul bureau chief, Sohn Jie- Ae, has the story of one defector whose ordeal still haunts him years after it began.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOHN JIE-AE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kim Tae-Jin in not your ordinary South Korean. In fact, 17 years ago Kim was a North Korean. He fled his communist homeland for China.
KIM TAE-JIN (through translator): I heard china was opening up and there was more freedom there.
JIE-AE: But after hiding for a year and four months, Kim was caught by police and sent back to the North and a political prison camp, five years. The ordeal still haunts him.
TAE-JIN (through translator): Human beings are remarkably strong. It is hard to kill someone by just beating them, but what kills you is consistent malnutrition and the torture of not knowing when you will ever be let out.
JIE-AE: Kim was released in 1992 and managed to escape once again into China. Then two years ago he made it into South Korea. He joined a group of former North Koreans who are crusading to shed light on North Korean human rights abuses. And, was part of a delegation that visited the U.S. ambassador in Seoul to request Washington's help.
TAE-JIN (through translator): North Korea is like cancer that the world needs to surgically remove.
JIE-AE: But, Kim's strongest criticism is reserve for the North's leader, Kim Jong-Il.
TAE-JIN (through translator): Everyone in the North is brainwashed into thinking Kim Jong-Il is their father. But, what parent would let their children starve to death while they put on a show of strength for the outside world?
JIE-AE: North Korea accuses people like him of being criminals and traitors and many defectors in the South say they are afraid of speaking out because of the harm that could befall family members and friends left behind. But Kim, with an ex-wife and two sons in the North, feels differently. TAE-JIN (through translator): I have to do whatever I can so that I can hold my head up to those people in political prison camps when one day we are all free.
JIE-AE: Sohn Jie-Ae, CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
