My name is Jang Mi Kyung. I left my home town in December, 2008. I was living with my mother but no father, we were very poor. So I decided to cross the river to work at a restaurant making 500 Yen (U$80) a month. I followed a man who was going to get me a job. But soon as I crossed the river, I found I was trapped and I couldn't work at a restaurant because I was North Korean. That man who brought me wanted to return and he needed money to get going, he paid by a Chinese Korean broker and had left. I didn't know what was going on that time, but, I was told to follow that man to a farm town in Heilongjiang Province. I was married forcefully to a Chinese man where there were only Chinese. I had to make money for my sick mother but had no chance there. Later I found that the man had paid 15,000(U$2,000) for me. Now I have no choice but to live as his sexual play mate. I can't go out. This is like Hell to me. I am now sick myself. After 6 month later I could understand their language a little. Then, one day, I fled from that place. I thought I couldn't live like this forever. I just got on a bus and came to Yanji where I luckily met a NK neighbor, who could give me help. She told me she wanted to go to S. Korea and asked me to go along. So I have decided to go to S. Korea. I would like to make money in S. Korea so I can feed my family in NK. I like to have freedom of my own. Please help me to get going to S. Korea, Please! Thank you.
Narrative provided by Escaping North Korea: The Plight of Defectors: Hearing before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission House of Representative
