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Character Summary: Hyeonseo Lee In The North Korean Defector

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Hyeonseo Lee North Korean Defector Change, hope, and justice, are all things North Korean defectors, including Human Rights activist Hyeonseo Lee, wish for in the harshly governed country of North Korea. Many people know about the story of Hyeonseo’s escape from the unethical dictatorship of the Kims. But she was so much more. As a Human Rights activist fighting for a change of the corrupt and cruel system of government in North Korea, she is trying her best to inform people of how terrible and a dire situation it is in North Korea. Through this, she is showing her defiance publicly towards North Korea, when just a little over a decade before, she was expressing absolute loyalty and respect towards the Kims. Back in North Korea, Lee’s family was settled on the border to China in the northern region of the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea). Lee would always look across and marvel at the “sea of lights” in China, and wonder why North Korea did not have even the luxury of electricity. She would also see …show more content…

But it is just these few huge problems that bring the entire system crashing down. One major issues is the oppressive rules and limited rights on the people. People usually don’t get to speak off their mind, because loyalty to the government is very important in Communist societies, especially North Korea (howstuffworks.com). Hyeonseo Lee left a legacy as a friend to all North Koreans. Through her speeches, interviews, and memoir, she opened up to the world a whole other world that desperately needs light shed on for any change to finally happen. She is certainly a hero of change because she helped motivate escapees from North Korea to live new and happy free lives, and made people aware of the brutality of the North Korean regime. Perhaps if more people were like Hyeonseo Lee, change would already be happening and a perfect free world could at last

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