“Ask a North Korean” is an NK News series featuring interviews with and columns by North Korean defectors, most of whom left the DPRK within the last few years.

Readers may submit their questions for defectors by emailing [email protected] and including their first name and city of residence.

Today’s column is the first in a three-part series about the path that led one defector to escape from North Korea.

Jin — who was born and raised in North Korea and lived there until she defected in 2014 — writes about her early frustrations with life in the DPRK, how she