Even under heavy surveillance, defectors have taken to the skies to escape North Korea. In 1953, Lt. No Kum-sok flew a Soviet MiG-15 jet to Gimpo Air Base in South Korea, a story later chronicled ...

Yeon Mi Park escaped North Korea when she was 13 years old. And escape only brought more challenges. North Korean defectors risk being killed, imprisoned, and trafficked after they escape.

South Korea considers those living in North Korea as its own citizens and extend protection to the North Koreans who escape from North Korea. As of January 2025, more than 34,000 North Korean escapees ...

Capturing the escape on camera involved intricate logistics ... they had just escaped from North Korea, a country with no documentary culture, so they could not exactly have given informed ...