Kim was born in 1956 in China. When he was young his father divorced his mother. In 1961, he moved to northern North Korea with his father, and then in 1964 to Wonsan, a southern port.
After finishing school, Kim worked in a factory: he had no choice, the Party decided. It was a very simple job but "I still believed that North Korea was the true paradise on earth."But by 1986, Kim was questioning the regime, and fled to China. "I got a job in a mine. It was not pleasant work, but it was a good place to hide from the authorities." Kim was given a Bible by a Chinese Korean but he didn't understand it. Kim's host family invited him to church, but he didn't want to go. "But I could see that Christianity was something good, especially the love they had. That made me envious. They were so different from what I was used to."
In prison
Then, after just four months, Kim was discovered, imprisoned and repatriated to North Korea. "I was afraid - would I be executed immediately? Even though I had not yet accepted Jesus as my Saviour, I did pray occasionally. I prayed that I would be released. Eventually he did answer my prayers." In prison, Kim was beaten, forced to sit all day in the same position, not allowed to wash and endured fleas, lice and severe cold.
On 31 March 1988, after eight terrible months, Kim was sent to Yodok, a vast labour camp high in the mountains. Prisoners had just one set of clothes. Kim was forced to work from sunrise to sunset. Daily food was just 300 grams of maize - so he ate rats, mice, snakes, frogs or frogspawn to survive.
"I witnessed the execution of five prisoners who had tried to escape. The men were bound and masked, made to kneel down and each shot with three bullets." Kim was desperate. But one day he discovered that a few prisoners were occasionally released on significant dates for good behaviour. He decided to be a model prisoner and be released himself.
Bible stories
"It was forbidden to be a Christian in the camp, but I met the leader of a group of seven Christians which occasionally met in secret. I enjoyed listening to the Bible stories he shared. But I did not want to confess my sins. When he asked me to do so, I closed up and didn't say another word."
