Hyeonseo Lee is a North Korean refugee living in Seoul, South Korea. As a child growing up in North Korea, Lee thought her country was “the best on the planet.” It wasn’t until the famine of the 90s that she began to wonder. After fleeing her home country at 14, Lee lived in hiding in China for a decade before eventually making her way to South Korea. Later, she bravely returned to help her family escape from North Korea. Hyeonseo Lee is widely recognised for her advocacy and activism on behalf of North Korean human rights and refugee issues.
Lee wrote her life story in The Girl With Seven Names, which has been quoted at the UN Security Council, and in 2013 she gave a TEDTalk about her experiences. She has written articles for the Wall Street Journal Korea Real-Time, the London School of Economics Big Ideas blog and worked as a student journalist for the South Korean Ministry of Unification.
Lee spends much of her time speaking about North Korean human rights and refugee issues, including a speech at the British Embassy in Seoul, and has personally met public officials like UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and the South Korean Minister of Unification, Yu Woo-ik, to discuss these issues. She has also been interviewed by the BBC, CNN, CBS News, Swiss TV and numerous other television, newspaper and radio outlets spanning over 10 countries throughout the world.
Hyeonseo Lee is currently writing another book with other female North Koreans living in South Korea and is planning to start an organisation to help promising North Korean refugees interact with the international community.
