Defecting from North Korea is no easy task for those looking for better lives abroad but neither is resettling into a new home once that journey is made, even if the final destination lies mere kilometers away.

Chae Min-jeong (assumed name) arrived in South Korea only four year ago after spending over a decade in China following her escape from the DPRK. She faced repatriation, labor camps and physical abuse on her way to freedom.

Despite facing significant trauma in her life including physical abuse, multiple sentences in North Korea prison and labor camps, blackmail, forced marriages and a forced