Timothy Cho was given his first Bible by a South Korean gangster in a prison in Shanghai. He was there because he had dared to escape his home country of North Korea.

Timothy twice fled the country and has been imprisoned four times as well as tortured for his escape. He now works as a human rights defender, advocating for North Koreans across the world. Our team was honoured to interview him for our recent podcast series and hear his incredible story. 

Timothy, you have shared widely about your dramatic escapes from North Korea. Can you tell us more about what day to day life was like in North Korea, particularly as a child? 

I thought as more time goes by, I might forget my past memories because it’s been, I think, approaching nearly two decades since I escaped the country. But I think more and more of my memory goes back to North Korea. 

I would spend time with my parents (who are high school teachers) and go to nursery and spend time with other kids, but learning how to speak and act and think as the Kims wanted; the typical brainwashing education. When I was in primary school, I waited to come home and watch cartoons. You realise today that all these cartoons were also about propaganda. 

After my parents escaped during the famine, I survived a few years on the street before I went back to my grandma. I was 13 or 14 years old and started helping with growing food. We didn’t have any equipment, so my uncle and I became the cow to plough the farm. 

By the time I was finishing high school age in North Korea, my height was 148 centimetres [approximately 4’10; the average height of a 12-year-old]. 

When did you first start to question the regime’s power and ability to provide and care for North Korea’s citizens?

I go back to the first year of primary school; our teacher asked us to visit one of our friends who didn’t come to school. We went to our friend’s house and knocked on the door, but no one was opening it. 

We could see inside the house, and we were shocked because the family were lying on the floor. They were all very seriously swollen, you couldn’t even recognise them. They had eaten grass from the field – but it was poisonous. 

When we reported to our teacher, they asked all of us if we could donate something to give this family so we can bring our friend back to school. It was quite scary. 

And more people started dying of starvation and people started to escape. This was the reality check. Many children died of starvation during the famine throughout the 1990s. 

What do you hope to see in North Korea’s future? 

I can’t wait to see that moment when the two Koreas become one. When no one can stop people driving from Seoul to Pyongyang and Pyongyang to Seoul. When families can be reunited, sit down together and have dinner. 

And that hope still remains, not just in my heart but in all North Korean escapees all across the world. 

Listen:

You can hear the rest of Timothy’s interview, including his miraculous escape from North Korea, on our Free to Believe podcast. 

Available at csw.org.uk/podcast and on all podcast platforms.