Grace Jo: Escaping Starvation in North Korea

Born in North Korea, Grace Jo nearly starved to death as a child during the famine of the 1990s. After her father was tortured and died for the “crime” of trying to find food for his family in China, and her grandmother died from malnourishment, Grace’s mother knew they had to escape North Korea, no matter the cost.

On Grace’s seventh birthday, she, her mother, and her older sister crossed the Tumen River into China. For the next 10 years, Grace lived in constant fear of being caught by the Chinese regime and North Korean state security. Grace was apprehended twice in China, sent to prison, tortured, and repatriated back to North Korea. But she refused to give up. Through the help of a Christian pastor, Grace and her family would eventually escape communism in North Korea for good and find freedom in the United States.