What did you hope for coming to Bonn?

Hyeonseo Lee: The reason for my first visit to North Rhine-Westphalia is the anniversary of German reunification. It is my dream, and that of 30,000 other defectors who today live in South Korea, that Korea can also one day overcome the ongoing tragedy of division. Germany will perhaps bring us good luck. In the meantime I want to draw attention to the fate of the North Korean people.

What is the current situation in North Korea?

Lee: The situation is deteriorating. There are no longer hundreds of thousands of people dying like in the famine in the nineties, but life in general is becoming more difficult. The young dictator Kim Jong-un is being tougher than his father. The North Koreans have now lived under a dictatorship for 73 years, are brainwashed and do not know what is happening in the world. When you talk to them about life, about the freedom outside North Korea, they think you are mad. They are modern day slaves.

How strong is the desire for regime change?

Lee: Some North Koreans are now hoping for reunification, but under South Korean leadership. Others see China as their saviour. No-one would say anything in public; it would mean certain death.

You saw executions as a child.

Lee: The first execution I can remember seeing was when I was seven. I’m sure I also saw them when I was younger because executions were and are part of daily life in North Korea. A man was hanged before our eyes, before a huge crowd. No-one spoke, no-one laughed. Their faces were sombre.

You escaped when you were 17 years old and brought your mother over later. Did the rest of your family in North Korean suffer any reprisals?

Lee: Last year, when I had just finished my book and began to engage with the public, some of my aunts and uncles were put in prison. One uncle was tortured to death. I prepare myself for bad news every day. It is also not easy to see my mother worrying about her siblings. I have become another person: one who, although it is not outwardly visible, is living a sort of war, with all my memories and the hurt that goes with them.

Do you fear for your own safety?

Lee: Not in Bonn, but in London for instance I use bodyguards so I am not abducted. I have to be very careful.

What are your plans?

Lee: I have founded the charitable organisation “North Star” in New York, which looks after defectors from North Korea. In the long term I will also move there, because I think I can live there safely.

(Original text: Jasmin Fischer. Translated by Kate Carey.)