A Thousand Miles to Freedom: My Escape from North Korea

by Eunsun Kim, Sébastien Falletti, David Tian (Translator)

Overview

Eunsun Kim was born in North Korea, one of the most secretive and oppressive countries in the modern world. As a child Eunsun loved her country…despite her school field trips to public executions, daily self-criticism sessions, and the increasing gnaw of hunger as the country-wide famine escalated.

By the time she was eleven years old, Eunsun's father and grandparents had died of starvation, and Eunsun too was in danger of starving. Finally, her mother decided to escape North Korea with Eunsun and her sister, not knowing that they were embarking on a journey that would take them nine long years to complete. Before finally reaching South Korea and freedom, Eunsun and her family would live homeless, fall into the hands of Chinese human traffickers, survive a North Korean labor camp, and cross the deserts of Mongolia on foot.

Now, in A Thousand Miles to Freedom, Eunsun is sharing her remarkable story to give voice to the tens of millions of North Koreans still suffering in silence. Told with grace and courage, her memoir is a riveting exposé of North Korea's totalitarian regime and, ultimately, a testament to the strength and resilience of the human spirit.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250092847
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/28/2016
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	316,667
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

EUNSUN KIM grew up in North Korea. At age 11, she fled the country and began the harrowing 9-year journey that led her to freedom. Today, Eunsun works at an NGO promoting human rights in North Korea. She lives in South Korea.

SEBASTIEN FALLETTI has been the Korea correspondent for the French newspaper Le Figaro since 2009. He covers political and business news across Asia. Born in Paris, Sébastien is now based in Seoul and Shanghai.

Editorial Reviews

In A Thousand Miles to Freedom, an exceptionally bright young girl grabs your hand and leads you down into the darkness of North Korea. When she lets go of your hand, she is in her twenties and joyously free—and you have felt the texture of life in the world's last totalitarian state.” —Blaine Harden, New York Times bestselling author of Escape from Camp 14

“"A Thousand Miles to Freedom is the beautiful and haunting story of a girl who survived against all odds, in the face of one of the cruelest and most oppressive regimes in modern history. With an intimate and compelling voice, Eunsun shares the details of her childhood in North Korea and the long journey that led her to freedom and hope for a better future. A must-read, as compelling as it is important."” —Senator George Mitchell

“Eunsun's extraordinary story brings to light the extreme challenges that the North Korean people have faced for decades, and the dangerous and unpredictable journey that many have risked to escape one of the most repressive countries in the world. Her amazing triumph over adversity also represents a new generation that is breaking free of the controls of this regime to fulfill their potential, raising a source of hope for change in a country where many have seen none.” —Hannah Song, President and CEO of Liberty in North Korea

“I read A Thousand Miles to Freedom in one sitting. It reads like a fast-paced adventure novel, or perhaps A Thousand Splendid Suns in places. But Kim Eun-sun and her family are real people, and their trials and tragedies—and ultimate triumph—will move you all the more for it. Her story is a testament to the best and worst mankind has to offer. You find yourself rooting for her, and though Kim Eun-sun's life must be much less turbulent now, I find myself rooting for her still. Don't read this book just to satisfy your interest in North Korea. Read it to be inspired by an extraordinary person's spirit, and read it to remind yourself what human beings are capable of.” —Daniel Tudor, author of Korea: The Impossible Country and Korea correspondent for The Economist

From the Publisher

In A Thousand Miles to Freedom, an exceptionally bright young girl grabs your hand and leads you down into the darkness of North Korea. When she lets go of your hand, she is in her twenties and joyously free--and you have felt the texture of life in the world's last totalitarian state.

New York Times bestselling author of Escape from C Blaine Harden

This incredible tale is all the more powerful because it's true.

All You Magazine

Gripping.

Elle Magazine

06/01/2015
The United States harbors a fascination with North Korea that was rekindled with the change of leadership in late 2011; the death of Kim Jong-il and the ascension of his son Kim Jong-un resulted in extensive media attention. Joseph Kim's Under the Same Sky and Eunsun Kim's A Thousand Miles to Freedom (no relation between the authors) add to this wave of recent consideration by detailing the complexities of life as North Korean defectors. Both authors enjoyed their early childhoods in North Korea and reminisce frequently about school and memories of treats such as ice cream and candy. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, however, both writers faced difficult times, eventually sneaking across the guarded North Korean border into China, where they hid from authorities before traveling to the United States and South Korea, respectively. In spite of the similar story lines, the memoirs are substantially different.A Thousand Miles to Freedom speaks out against the North Korean regime and is interspersed with political commentary. As an abundance of writings on this topic currently exist, Eunsun Kim's observations add little to the conversation and occasionally distract from the actual story, which vividly depicts family life in the region and is unique in its detailing of existing as a refugee in China, where Eunsun's mother was essentially sold to a farmer with whom the family was sent to live. The descriptions of time spent in China, the escape to Mongolia, and subsequent move to South Korea are fascinating and will certainly interest many readers.Under the Same Sky's subtitle may mislead readers into assuming this narrative is anti-North Korea; however, Joseph Kim primarily focuses on his family, experience on the streets surviving as a thief, and subsequent time spent in jail. The cultural insights, such as mentions of Kim's favorite foods, school, dating, and burial rites, make the book enjoyable to read. This account differentiates itself by focusing on the author's private life, not the government. VERDICT Both volumes put a human face to an often misunderstood country and will appeal to a wide range of readers. [See Prepub Alert, 1/25/15.]—Casey Watters, Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ.

Library Journal

2015-03-28
A sobering account of survival of the fittest in North Korea by a young woman on the run for nearly a decade. Translated originally from the French edition and reading like a slender, exciting, first-person French novel, this chronicle by Eunsun Kim (a nom de plume) re-creates in immediate-feeling detail the horrific conditions of starvation that prompted her mother to flee with the author and her sister across the Tumen River bordering China in the winter of 1998. The author, then 11 years old but appearing much younger due to her blighted growth caused by malnutrition, had been fairly oblivious to the increasingly dire conditions in North Korea as the famine gripped the country and food rations were cut back. Having lost the family's beloved father, then the grandparents, the author's mother nearly lost all hope, until she resolved to defect to China and become a traitor to her country—knowing little about the outside world and how hoodwinked the regimes of presidents Kim Il-sung (d. 1994) and his son Kim Jong-il kept the North Korean residents. Rejected by relatives when they showed up at an aunt's house, the mother and two daughters lived on the streets in Rajin until the Tumen froze again and they could scurry across the river. Soon taken advantage of by a hardened procuress and forced into marriage with a Chinese peasant, the author's mother had to bear a son in order to gain some freedom. The women dispersed into teeming Chinese cities to find jobs and gain false papers. It took years to make the necessary fortune required to pay smugglers to take them over the Mongolian border, at incredible risk and danger. Yet the welcome South Korea tendered toward the family was heartening, even if the South Koreans tended to look down on these poor refugees. An urgent cry for compassion for the author's fellow North Koreans, trapped and strangled of liberty and life.

Kirkus Reviews