Beyond Borders: Escaping North Korea

This book begins by providing an inside close-up look at the lives of North Korean refugees in South Korea. What happens to the North Korean mind after they land in South Korea and the effects of a lifetime of hardship. Within South Korea, North Koreans find themselves in a land of plenty but can’t seem to move on. For many, they are not in danger for the first time in decades but cannot turn off the traumatic memories from their lives in North Korea and the peril they faced in China during their escape.

After escaping North Korea, refugees travel the 6,000 mile modern day underground railroad in China and other countries in Asia. The underground railroad provides North Korean refugees a main thoroughfare to freedom, but China has begun to break down the networks that protect these people, enacting harsh penalties for foreign aid workers.

The book will inform readers through storytelling. Because of the ongoing work of Crossing Borders, which is an organization transforming the lives of North Korean refugees since 2003, . most of the stories will be tied to the work of the organization. Initially created to aid refugees in escaping the North, Crossing Borders has expanded its work to work with newly resettled refugees within South Korea and beyond.

Dan Kim is the co-founder of Crossing Borders, and current Executive Director of the organization. Dan is one of the foremost experts on the North Korean refugee crisis, with relationships with both organizations and scholars researching the ongoing developments of the Korean Peninsula.