Chilling details about Kim Jong-un's gulags have emerged in a new documentary that shows defectors desperately trying to escape North Korea.
In the gripping new documentary “Beyond Utopia: Escape from North Korea,” harrowing footage shows the lengths desperate people will go to to leave Kim Jong-un's regime of famine, a developing economic crisis and crippling international sanctions.
One defector said he didn't make it and was held in North Korea while he tried to escape, where he was tortured for nine months and starved to the point where he weighed just 35kg.
When he finally confessed to being a foreign spy – although he did not hope that the torture would end if he confessed – he was taken to a camp where he had to march up a hill every day to cut down trees.
The felled tree stumps then fell on the prisoners who were still climbing up the hill, leaving them with terrible injuries or death.
“Their limbs were broken and intestines were protruding from their wounds.” […] “As the bodies decomposed, they merged together,” he said, according to the Times.
Among the stories in the film is that of Soyeon Lee, a distraught mother desperate to be reunited with her 17-year-old son, whom she was forced to leave behind when she defected.
Madeleine Gavin's film also follows a family of five who fled via China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, eventually finding refuge in South Korea. Footage taken with their cell phones documents their dangerous journey.
The footage shows the harrowing scenes people in North Korea endure after being punished for attempting to defect
Madeleine Gavin's film also follows a family of five (some pictured) who fled through China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, eventually finding refuge in South Korea
North Koreans are under constant surveillance, the documentary shows
A prominent figure in the film is Pastor Kim Seongeun, who has been helping those seeking to escape the hermit land for 24 years after he saw several bloated corpses floating on the Tumen River following a failed escape attempt.
Based in Seoul, South Korea, he has helped more than 1,000 people escape the totalitarian regime through his “underground” organization, Caleb Mission Church.
He said most defectors avoid traveling directly to South Korea because the border is lined with two million landmines to prevent anyone from leaving.
Instead, they must cross the Yalu or Tumen rivers, which replace the border with neighboring China, while dodging at night North Korean military posts and spies who want to lure them straight into a trap.
Pastor Kim himself has discussed the rescue route several times, telling the documentary: “I feel emotionally exhausted just worrying about it. The most strenuous part of the journey is the illegal crossing of the jungle.”
At the border, defectors meet brokers who help them reach freedom – but according to Pastor Kim, some of them are no longer trustworthy because they were persuaded by higher rewards.
Footage taken with their cell phones documents their dangerous journey, see picture above
In terrifying footage of their escape, they are seen wading through a dense jungle (pictured) while dogs can be heard barking in the background as they search for them with their military police handlers
Footage from Beyond Utopia shows the dangerous journey defectors must undertake
The family of five documents their journey through China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand
They had to be constantly on guard against unreliable brokers trying to sell them and police trying to arrest them before they could escape
The escape route leads over the Yalu or Tumen rivers, which form the border with China
Escape from North Korea is not as easy as crossing the southern border. Defectors have to flee across several countries until they can begin the resettlement route from Thailand to South Korea
The Roh family, including a little girl, eventually made it to safety in Thailand, from where they were relocated to South Korea
A prominent figure in the film is Pastor Kim Seongeun (pictured), who has been helping those seeking to escape the hermit land for 24 years after he saw several bloated corpses floating on the Tumen River following a failed escape attempt
He said that once the Chinese government learns of defectors from North Korea, it offers brokers six months' wages to release those who leave the regime.
“Beyond Utopia” follows defectors who attempted to leave North Korea shortly before the pandemic. The documented escape attempts are among the last since the hermit country closed its exit routes.
Soyeon Lee defected ten years ago, leaving her young son behind. She was part of the North Korean army and left her family in search of better living conditions.
During her escape, she was caught by the police and taken to a prison camp, from which she managed to escape after two years.
She wanted her son Han Jeong-Cheong, 17, to also defect to South Korea and organized his escape with Pastor Kim.
But the plan was thwarted when the dubious brokers handed him over to the North Korean police.
The teenager was sent to a prison camp after being tortured, interrogated and beaten so severely that he couldn't even eat.
“In North Korea they will go so far as to kill him.” “At some point my son will beg them to end his life,” she said in the film.
In an interview with Independent Lens, she said her son had since remained in the political prisoner camp, where he was “deprived of food, forced to work and subjected to all kinds of beatings and attacks.”
Soyeon Lee said she was initially hesitant to take part in the documentary because she feared her son would face the consequences.
“I have decided that the voice of a mother trying to save her son will be known to the international community […] And if more people came to my side, learned about North Korea's human rights violations and criticized North Korea with one voice, it would have an impact,” said the courageous mother.
She added that she would pack poison if she had to escape again because it was “better to die” than to live in a concentration camp.
Soyeon Lee (pictured) defected ten years ago, leaving her young son behind. She was part of the North Korean army and left her family in search of better living conditions
Soyeon Lee (pictured here with Pastor Kim) said she was initially hesitant to take part in the documentary because she feared her son would suffer the consequences
She wanted her 17-year-old son Han Jeong-Cheong (pictured) to also defect to South Korea and organized his escape with Pastor Kim, but he was captured
Soyeon Lee has revealed that her son is still alive, in a political prison camp somewhere in North Korea
The Rohs, the family of five (pictured) who also appear in the film, fled through several countries before finding refuge in South Korea
Their escape took them to China and from there to the Vietnamese jungle before going to Vientiane in Laos and finally to Thailand, where they identified themselves as North Korean refugees
The Rohs, the family of five also featured in the film, fled through several countries before finding refuge in South Korea.
Horrifying images of their escape show them wading through dense jungle while dogs can be heard barking in the background as they search for them with their military police handlers.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about our neighbors on this mountain and thinking about the path to survival if the price is leaving our hometowns.”
“I miss our friends and our dog. “Without the priest we wouldn’t have survived,” said the so-called Mama Roh, the mother of the family of five.
Their escape took them to China and from there to the Vietnamese jungle before going to Vientiane in Laos and finally to Thailand, where they identified themselves as North Korean refugees.
They were then relocated to a resettlement facility in South Korea, where, fed by the regime's propaganda machine and a strict ban on outside information, they were educated about what was really going on in the world.
All defectors are informed about this to help them integrate into South Korean society. They also receive housing and other social benefits that help them get back on their feet.
Pastor Kim also established a community center for defectors to help them adapt to life in a free country.
“There they and South Koreans worship together and farm together, exchange information, exchange food and learn to live together. “Caleb Mission helps North Korean defectors become self-sufficient,” he told Independent Lens.
He added that many North Koreans feel a thirst for education after their transition, such as Mama Roh, who is now training to be a social worker.
Another protagonist of the film is Hyeonseo Lee, who fled 20 years ago after realizing that she had been brainwashed while living under the oppressive regime.
Another protagonist of the film is Hyeonseo Lee (pictured), who fled 20 years ago after realizing she had been brainwashed while living under the oppressive regime
She said she grew up thinking she was living in a utopia, an illusion that was eventually shattered when she realized everyone around her was living in squalor and in constant fear of public execution
North Korean regime propaganda shows seemingly happy children running across a field
Today she lives as an activist and human rights activist in South Korea and has exposed the extent of brainwashing in North Korea
“We are literally being told that Kim’s father is God and Kim is the son of God,” one defector said. “We didn’t know there was another life besides the one we had.” We were held captive in a huge, virtual prison.
She said she grew up thinking she was living in a utopia, an illusion that was eventually shattered when she realized everyone around her was living in squalor and in constant fear of public execution.
“Government officials come to houses with white gloves and check that pictures of the Supreme Leader, past and present, are free of dust – otherwise they will be severely punished,” she said in the film.
Today she lives as an activist and human rights activist in South Korea and has exposed the extent of brainwashing in North Korea.
“We are literally told that Kim's father is God and Kim is the son of God,” she said.
“We didn't know there was another life besides the one we had. We were being held captive in a giant, virtual prison.”
North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, who turned 40 earlier this month, is a ruthless dictator who executes his enemies and pushes a state nuclear weapons program – all while allowing entire families to starve.
His birthday, believed to be January 8th, is shrouded in mystery in North Korea. The US government lists Kim's birth year as 1984, making him 40 this year.
North Koreans are starving due to ongoing food shortages as the regime's economy is in crisis
Brokers helped the Roh family (pictured) escape North Korea to China, then Vietnam, Laos and finally Thailand
One of the little girls in the family was brave when she told her parents to “stay strong” during the escape.
In North Korean schools, children bow to their “god,” Kim’s father, and Kim as the son of “God.”
But there was no public announcement or celebration at home as state media continued its decades-long silence on the day – a contrast to the birth dates of Kim's late father and North Korea's founding grandfather, who preceded him as ruler and are both national holidays in authoritarian state.
Instead, he began his 40th year with artillery fire in the sea, promising to expand his nuclear arsenal and tighten ties with Russia.
Much like the secrecy surrounding his birthday, Kim had remained hidden for most of his young life. He was the youngest son of North Korea's second leader, Kim Jong Il, and few had even heard his name.
But that changed just over 13 years ago, when his 70-year-old father died on December 17, 2011, and Kim – just 27 years old – was thrust into the spotlight as the new ruler of one of the world's most powerful, repressive dictatorships.
He has been a ruthless leader ever since, and Pastor Kim says in the film, “When Kim Jong-un came to power, he made defection a treasonous act.”
“Afterwards, his soldiers received awards and vacation days for killing those attempting to escape.”
Kim has become one of the most recognizable faces in the world for reasons that range from the horrifying to the ridiculous.
He carried out a bloody purge of high-ranking officials – presumably involving executions by anti-aircraft guns, mortar shells and flamethrowers – and had his own brother murdered in an elaborate fake prank using the nerve agent VX.
He oversaw the construction of the country's most powerful nuclear weapons and missiles capable of firing them at the United States – and then used them to secure three meetings with Donald Trump – making him the first North Korean leader in history to do so an American president met in person.
But he also struck up an unlikely friendship with basketball star Dennis Rodman, drew endless ridicule and internet memes with his ever-expanding waistline, and turned heads with some questionable fashion choices, from a fedora to his leather coat to an ever-changing one Outfit but always mocking hairstyle.
One of the Roh family's little girls cried over friends and neighbors who were still in North Korea
Famine and a developing economic crisis, as well as the constant fear of execution, drove defectors from North Korea
The route to escape from the regime is dangerous and many have died trying to escape as the police have permission to shoot those who try to cross the border
More recently, he has forged closer ties with Russia and China, notably supplying Moscow with weapons for the ongoing invasion of Ukraine – and his country's nuclear saber rattling has grown louder.
There were even rumors that Kim had died and been replaced by a body double after being missing for several weeks. He reportedly underwent surgery, raising further questions about his apparent poor health.
As the years passed, the leader appeared increasingly bloated and his skin lost color. It is estimated that he was around 1.60 meters tall and weighed 22 stone at his heaviest.
Analysts have suggested that he takes steroid injections, is a heavy smoker and suffers from health problems including high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol.
Others say talk of his failing health is speculation and perhaps wishful thinking from those who fear Kim is pushing his finger on the nuclear button.
Beyond Utopia: Escape from North Korea is available on BBC iPlayer.