A man who escaped from North Korea into China has given a rare insight into life inside the totalitarian regime.
North Korea has been a dictatorship ruled over by the Kim family since 1948. Timothy Cho, who managed to escape North Korea into China, spoke on LADbible’s Minutes With YouTube series.
Cho says he ‘loved’ his country and still misses it to this day, but knew he had to escape when he was told he would be sent down to work in coal mines - where he explains many people died in accidents and lost limbs - as punishment for his father fleeing the country.
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He made the courageous decision to escape to China, only to be captured by the Chinese army, sent back to North Korea and tortured until he could no longer walk by North Korea authorities.
His second escape attempt saw him once again detained by Chinese police, but this time he was deported to the Philippines rather than North Korea.
Now, he's explained the strict rules all North Korean residents must follow, and why he refers to it as 'a prison country'.
TV, phones and the internet
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Cho explained very few people have access to mobile phones in North Korea, which are reserved for the ‘elite’.
But even these come with strict limitations.
Cho explained: “Messages and calls are tapped. There is no internet, no YouTube, no Facebook, no Zoom.”
TVs are allowed, but what you can watch on them is very strictly prohibited.
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“When you buy a TV, [the] police come and take all channels out and they leave only one channel. You’re meant to watch the Kim family programme, 24/7.”
Clothes and hairstyles
As well as cutting off everyone’s access to the outside world, North Korea’s totalitarian regime strictly controls the minutiae or people’s lives, down to how they dress and style their hair.
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“You can’t have jeans, because jeans they say is an American production and America is the greatest enemy.
“You can only have certain types of hair in this country. It’s a tragic joke. If you have the leader’s hairstyle you can end up in prison in North Korea.”
Travel within the country
Travel within the country is also strictly controlled, with people having to ask permission to travel between neighbouring towns.
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“In the UK we live [with] a privilege where you can travel between London and Manchester, Birmingham, everywhere. Just [get] a train ticket to get on trains.
“In North Korea, every step of movement between towns, villages, you need travel permissions and documents to travel.”
Naturally, it’s unthinkable to travel outside the borders of North Korea.
“When you were born, we did not expect to leave the country. We would never think of that because we were born without [a] passport in this country. That is why we call it a prison country.”
Topics: World News, Kim Jong-un
Simon Fearn