Kang Chol-hwan

Kang meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush in June 2005.

Kang in 2008

According to his autobiography, Kang was born in Pyongyang, North Korea, and spent his childhood there. He had a good relationship with his grandfather. He had a happy childhood.[1] His family lived in relative luxury from his grandfather's position and the fortune that he had given to the country upon the family's return from Japan. Though they had never renounced their North Korean citizenship and Kang's grandmother had been a staunch party member in both countries, Kang has stated that the family remained under a cloud of suspicion for having lived in Japan.

Kang's autobiography describes a brutal life in a North Korean prison. Death from starvation or exposure to the elements was common, with routine beatings and other punishments. His education consisted almost solely of memorizing the sayings and speeches of Kim Il-sung; at 15, his education ceased and he was assigned to exhausting and dangerous work details, and was made to view public executions. He said of the camps, "It was a life of hard labour, thirty percent of new prisoners would die. And we were so malnourished, we would eat rats and earthworms to survive."[2]

There was an order by Kim Jong-il that those in the prison with relatives in Japan had to be released after 10 years. In the mid-1980s North Korea depended heavily on foreign currency remittances. Many Zainichi Koreans or Koreans living in Japan were sending remittances to North Korea. Such people opposed the imprisonment of their relatives in North Korea. The amount of remittances being sent from Japan to North Korea deteriorated due to the wave of mass imprisonment. As such Kang was permitted to be released from prison after serving his 10-year sentencing. Once he left the camp, he was sent to live in Yodok village. He could not go all the way back to Pyongyang, but he moved to Pyongsong, near Pyongyang. He moved in with his uncle who was working at the National Science Research Institute in the city.[3]

In 1992, Kang and An Hyuk escaped from North Korea by crossing the Yalu River into China.[4] In late 1992, Kang arrived in South Korea and lives in the capital Seoul.

After publishing The Aquariums of Pyongyang, Kang met with US President George W. Bush[5] and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.[6] He has spoken with several organizations about human rights in North Korea[7][8] and visited Japan for a discussion about abductees.[9] Along with An and Lee Soon-ok, who was imprisoned in Kaechon concentration camp, he received the Democracy Award from the United States' National Endowment for Democracy in July 2003.[10]

Kang has not been in contact with his family since he defected. In 2011, it was assumed that his sister, Mi-ho, and her 11-year-old son are in Yodok concentration camp, having been sent back there as retaliation for Kang's defection.[11]

• Kang, Chol-Hwan (2001). The Aquariums of Pyongyang. Basic Books, 2001. ISBN 0-465-01102-0.
• "Give Us An 'Eclipse Policy'", The Wall Street Journal, July 13, 2005.

• Human rights in North Korea
• Political prisoner

Wikiquote has quotations related to Kang Chol-hwan.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kang Chol-hwan.

• "Child Prisoner: Kang Chol-hwan", MSN.com article, October 28, 2003.
• "Bush 'Moved By Defector's Book on N.K. Human Rights'", The Chosun Ilbo, May 29, 2005.
• "Ban Downplays Bush Meeting With N.Korean Author", The Chosun Ilbo, June 15, 2005.
• Kang Chol-hwan Freedom Collection interview