The Story from APM

A New Underground Railroad

Thursday, August 31 2006

A NEW UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
175 North Koreans were found in a Bangkok house last week. Thai police convicted most of them of illegal entry into the country. Since none was able to pay the Thai fine, the adults were sentenced to thirty days in prison. Most of the North Koreans were women and children.

This group of defectors is possibly the largest single group of migrants from communist North Korea ever arrested. The country is a closed door for most foreigners.  But some of its dark secrets are written on the faces of those who've escaped.

"Many times when you meet North Korean defectors, physically they seem a lot younger than they are because they were malnourished. But emotionally, and just, their eyes, they seem ten, twenty, thirty years older than they should be." - Adrian Hong

Dick talks with Adrian Hong, who runs an organization called Link Global, which is working to save North Korean defectors. This young man, a 2005 college graduate, runs thirty safe houses in a modern-day underground railroad.

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• Why does he do this dangerous work?
  Who are the volunteers?