A Thousand Miles to Freedom: My Escape from North Korea

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars | 2,522 ratings

Price: 1.99

Last update: 11-04-2024


About this item

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 was in danger of the same. 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, 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.


Top reviews from the United States

Lori D'Amico
5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating and Important Read!
Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2024
I first must say that I had difficulty putting this book down because it so quickly captured my interest and attention.
I have always enjoyed reading about the lives of others, what their life journey has been like, their challenges, tragedies and triumphs. I find it fascinating to learn about the way of life in other countries, their culture, beliefs and traditions. I think this is partly due to my recognition of how blessed and fortunate I am to have been born and raised a U.S. citizen and also it is part of why I enjoy reading memoirs, this interest in people. For we are all human beings with the same color blood coursing through our veins.
Despite only recently learning English, the author Eunsun Kim writes eloquently and clearly about her extremely difficult and regime controlled life in North Korea as a little girl. Having been born there, she knew no different and was reasonably happy and loved by both parents, big sister and grandparents until the "Great Famine" during which many unfortunate souls died of starvation, including her grandparents and her beloved father. During the famine, only the high government officials and highest class citizens were given allotments of good food enough to sustain themselves. The rest were promised shipments to their neighborhood markets that were either badly delayed or never showed up. This left the author's family and many others having to sell everything they own, including furniture, their clothing etc just to try and survive.
Imagine wearing rags because you had to sell your clothing. Or sleeping on a concrete floor in your empty tiny apartment with no food and no heat because your bed had been sold! Or having to forage in the forest and mountains for mushrooms, edible roots and greens and sticks to sell as firewood. This book tells the story of the author's mother's momentous and dangerous decision to take her two young daughters in the dead of night, hungry and weak and set out to escape to freedom in South Korea by way of China and Mongolia!
These extended journeys were fraught with extreme danger and risk of separation, imprisonment, abuse/torture, starvation and/or death. With every step nearing and crossing these border countries they risked arrest, deportation, labor camps and life itself. This author and her family were incredibly determined and brave, enduring many challenges along the way! What courage they have shown and the author especially for telling her harrowing story. I pray that the socialist regime topples and that all people can live in freedom!
This book is one I highly recommend.
Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars ... first experience with North Korean defectors and I really enjoyed it. I have watched the news and read ...
Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2016
This book was my first experience with North Korean defectors and I really enjoyed it. I have watched the news and read accounts of what they think is going on, but this first hand experience reflected on by the author is touching and informative. I really had no idea how terrible the situation is over there. It is quite an eye-opener as to the true reality that a lot of refugees face as they try to obtain a better life. Eunsun Kim's story of optimism in the face of dire circumstances was empowering. The fact that she states hope in almost all of her circumstances in truly unbelievable. I was also touched by her true desire for an education. Her difficult life is filled with fear, humiliation, separation, isolation, starvation, famine, despair, and hopelessness, however, I found the story to be uplifting rather than depressing because the author is careful not to dwell on the negative. I really expected this book to hang on the explicit details of her negative situations, but was uplifted by the way she, her sister and mother hung on until opportunity provided a way for them to escape their current situation; they were very persistent. I enjoy happy endings and was relieved that this one had one. She deserved and worked for it. This book is a good,quick read that I believe will touch most readers.
WingnutWoman
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing story of strength and courage.
Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2024
No one should have to go through what Eunsun and her family did. The fact that they made it alive after such a long hard journey is nothing short of a miracle.

Everyone should read this book and be humbled by it.
J. Call
5.0 out of 5 stars An inspiring, learning experience
Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2016
This is a wonderful book that shows what life is like in North Korea and the extremes that people are willing to go through to escape from that country. The author and her family went through horrendous things in order to get to freedom in South Korea. It filled me with gratitude for many things in my life that I take for granted such as food, clothes, a warm house, peace and safety, and modern conveniences. It made me appreciate the country and community that I live in.
It amazed me that such living conditions exist in North Korea in the 21st Century. I kept reminding myself that these things were happening now and not sometime in the 1800’s. Also, it was an eye opener to how the people are brainwashed and controlled by the government to the point that they don’t know what is really happening in the outside world or even to think for themselves. They only hear and see what the government wants.
All in all it is a book that keeps you reading just to find out if the author survives. It is tragic, inspiring, suspenseful and enlightening. I would recommend it to all adults as well as high school and middle school students.
Joan in Virginia
5.0 out of 5 stars Persistence of the human spirit
Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2024
What a story of tragic proportions! Her optimistic outlook is inspiring, but unfortunately with China and Russia supporting the Kim dictatorship, how can this wicked regime be overturned? Now, with nuclear capabilities, things have become even worse since the writing of this book. My heart goes out to those suffering at the hands of evil. The story is well told even with the editing being less than perfect.

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