North Korean Refugee Stories: Meet Hyun Joo
In North Korea, Hyun Joo used her natural charisma and people skills to build a strong social life and become involved in many activities, eventually becoming a national-level basketball player and professional singer.
In order for her son to escape North Korea with her, Hyun Joo was forcibly sold as a bride in China. He stayed with her for the first of her three forced marriages before she sent him to South Korea so he could have a better life. Though she tried hard to like life in China, she came to feel that she would never fit in. Always maintaining her positive, confident demeanor, she safely escaped China.
Now, Hyun Joo looks forward to a life where she can make her own choices and not be plagued with the fear and helplessness of being at the mercy of others. She plans to work as a hairstylist—a skill she’s always had and enjoyed—and start building an active social life in South Korea, perhaps by joining a women’s exercise group and a choir so she can sing again. Eventually, she hopes to reunite all of her family.
