A Decade-Long Escape: North Korea Family's Sea Crossing Ends in Loss and New Beginnings in Seoul
Two North Korean brothers spent a decade plotting a sea escape with nine family members, bribing guards and posing as fishermen to cross the Yellow Sea near the NLL during a spring storm; they reached South Korea in May 2023, their daughter Yeri was born four months later, and two months after that the younger brother Yi-hyeok died in a scuba-diving accident. The surviving brother, Kim Il-hyeok, has since built a new life in Seoul as a chef and forklift operator and now speaks publicly about life in North Korea, having welcomed a second child, Ye-eun.
