Escaped: Hyeonseo Lee fled North Korea after the country was devastated by famine A young woman who fled North Korea has revealed the horrific details of her upbringing in the pariah state, where she first saw someone executed when she was just seven-years-old. Hyeonseo Lee was brainwashed to believe that the country, run by the murderous Kim regime, was the greatest in the world. But when her eyes were opened to the desperate poverty and repression all around her, she knew she had to escape, and is now devoted to raising global awareness of her fellow countrymen's plight. Ms Lee spoke about her ordeal in a lecture at the TED conference in Long Beach, California, published by CNN.
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Hyeonseo Lee grew up devoted to North Korea and its Kim regime
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But after a family friend died of starvation she became desperate to escape
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Risked her life for a decade as refugee in China but made it to South Korea
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Returned to the North to smuggle her relatives out of the pariah state
However, although @placeholder generally welcomes refugees from the North, Ms Lee's decision was not without risk as the authorities in her home country have been known to inflict harsh punishments on those who have relatives in the South.