Review of "The Girl With Seven Names: A North Korean Defector's Story" by Hyeonseo Lee with David John

Hyeonseo Lee

This is the true story of Hyeonseo Lee, a young woman whose escape from North Korea to South Korea - by way of China - was a daring and dangerous adventure. During her extended journey, Hyeonseo had to deal with liars, thieves, extortionists, and gangsters, some of whom were crooked cops/guards and some of whom were government personnel. But Hyeonseo was also assisted by extraordinarily kind souls, including friends, relatives, and a VERY generous stranger.

Hyeonseo grew up in northernmost North Korea, in Hyesan - a small city right across the Yalu River from China.


North Korea abuts eastern China


The city of Hyesan is across the Yalu River from China


Residents of Hyesan wash their clothes in the Yalu River, and can see China right across the way

Hyeonseo's family was fairly well-to-do; her father traveled to China for business and her mother brokered goods between China and North Korea - a job that required myriad contacts and bribes.

Like everyone in North Korea, Hyeonseo's family was indoctrinated into believing their country was the best place on Earth and the Supreme Leader was a god. In fact children thought the Supreme Leader didn't even sleep or urinate.




Supreme Leader Kim Il-sung was the founder of North Korea, which he ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994

As part of their brainwashing, North Koreans were taught that South Korea was steeped in poverty; South Korean people were depraved; South Korea started the Korean War (North Korea started it); and western nations - especially the United States - were evil incarnate.



Other areas of education were equally poor, and adolescent Hyeonseo thought she could get pregnant by holding hands with a boy.

Because Hyeonseo's parents did profitable work and were loyal citizens, they had good 'songbun' - a status determined by the political, social, and economic background of oneself, one's direct ancestors, and the behavior of one's relatives. Good songbun confers access to better education, better jobs, and more food, while bad songbun can lead to hardship and deprivation. Thus, since all North Koreans (including children) are taught to spy on their neighbors and report any wrongdoing, everyone is concerned about their freedom, lives, and songbun.

After Hyeonseo's father died her mother had to support the family, so mom took a government job to supplement her income from trading. Things went pretty well until the Soviet Union collapsed in the late 1980s. Reduction in Soviet food exports led to famine and starvation in North Korea, and - though Hyeonseo's family was able to trade for food - Hyeonseo saw terrible sights during this time, like skeletal parents and children starving in the streets.


The collapse of the Soviet Union led to famine in North Korea

The food shortage was blamed on South Korea, which is North Korea's favorite scapegoat for their problems.

Living right across from China, which was a few meters away, was too much of a temptation for Hyeonseo. So in 1995, when she was seventeen, Hyeonseo put on her best dress shoes, sneaked away from her mom, and - with the help of a friendly border guard - walked across the frozen Yalu River to China. Hyeonseo only planned to visit a distant aunt and uncle for a few days, but she never returned to North Korea.

Hyeonseo's first mistake was miscalculating how far away her relatives lived. During her first stop across the border, at the home of family friends, Hyeonseo learned her relatives in Shenyang were hundreds of miles away.


Shenyang is hundreds of miles from Hyesan

Since a train trip, with Chinese guards checking identification papers, would be too risky, one of the family friends took Hyeonseo to her kin by taxi....a ride of eight hours. Once there, Hyeonseo was told the North Korean authorities had learned she was 'missing' and her return would result in questioning and possibly torture and prison.....not to mention wrecking the family's songbun.

So, with the help of her aunt and uncle, Hyeonseo remained in China, hiding her identity and learning Mandarin. After a couple of years Hyeonseo's aunt and uncle arranged an engagement to a weak-willed Chinese mama's boy who played video games all day long. Hyeonseo couldn't abide the thought of marrying this loser and being under his mother's thumb, so she ran away without even leaving a note for her relatives or fiancé. Years later Hyeonseo called to apologize for the hurt and humiliation she'd caused.

After Hyeonseo left her aunt and uncle, she spent the next decade moving around China. Hyeonseo worked at a series of bad (even dangerous) jobs; pretended to be Korean-Chinese; and continually changed her name. Hyeonseo lived in constant fear of exposure, since being caught would result in immediate deportation back to North Korea.


North Korean agents in China report on countrymen who sneak over the border

Hyeonseo is candid about her stay in China, writing about her apartments, jobs, and friends, as well as the gangs and thieves that target illegals like herself.

After a time Hyeonseo managed to get a false Chinese identity, which increased her safety in the country. She also met a rich handsome South Korean businessman who worked in China. The couple embarked on a serious relationship, and Hyeonseo hoped for a marriage proposal. To make this more likely, and because she's an ethnic Korean, Hyeonseo decided to make her way to South Korea and ask for asylum. This was an audacious enterprise that required cleverness and nerve.

South Korea was a HUGE surprise to Hyeonseo, During her stay in China Hyeonseo had learned that South Korea wasn't the poor slum filled with demons depicted by her government, but - like other North Koreans - she didn't REALLY believe it. Thus Hyeonseo was shocked by the freedom and wealth of South Korea, especially the ubiquity of cars.


Hyeonseo was surprised by the wealth of South Korea

When Hyeonseo saw autos in a South Korean movie or soap opera, she thought all the cars in the country were brought to the set for that scene. Instead, South Korea is chock full of automobiles. 😊

To her dismay, Hyeonseo also found that South Koreans were intensely competitive and class-minded, and she was low on the totem pole due to her lack of a university degree.


South Korea is a very competitive society

So Hyeonseo devised a plan to go to school and become a professional, hoping her boyfriend's parents would allow him to marry her.

In the meantime, Hyeonseo - who'd been pining for her mother and brother since she left home - hatched a plan to bring her family to South Korea. This complicated scheme - which involved scheming, bribery, danger, crossing thousands of miles of China, entering Laos, and getting to the South Korean embassy - is narrated in minute detail.


The journey from Hyesan, across China, to Laos is long (and dangerous for defectors)

At one point Hyeonseo's mother and brother were imprisoned in Laos, and it was then that a complete stranger - a hiker from Australia named Dick Stolp - gave Hyeonseo thousands of dollars to get them out.


Hyeonseo Lee with her mother and brother


Hyeonseo Lee reunited with Australian good Samaritan Dick Stolp

One sad truth I learned from the book is that many North Koreans who escape to South Korea feel like fish out of water. Rather than being ecstatically happy, they long for their homes, friends, and relatives - and would even return to live under the repressive regime of their home country.

Though things didn't turn out exactly as Hyeonseo had hoped, she has a happy ending - with a western husband and a bright future.


Hyeonseo Lee and her husband Brian Gleason


Brian Gleason

Hyeonseo Lee has a fascinating story to tell, and provides interesting tidbits about North Korea, China, and South Korea. In truth though, Hyeonseo's life in North Korea was relatively privileged, and I didn't get the details about the horrors of the regime I'd hoped for. That said, this is an excellent story, highly recommended.

Rating: 4 stars