“I’ll send someone back for you once I reach China,” Sunhee whispered, careful in case they were being spied on.

That was all she promised as she turned around to open the door and walk into the frigid night of Hyesan, North Korea. The ground was concealed with white, powdery snow and ice; a sort of winter wonderland that deeply contrasted symbolically with the communist dictatorship hellhole that was North Korea.

She suddenly stopped and turned around to hug her parents. She wished they didn’t have to part ways like this; but her mother Sanghee and her father Tae-ho had to stay and care for Sunhee’s sick grandmother.

Sunhee could feel the tears rolling down her face as she embraced them, uncertain whether it would be for the last time. “I must go,” she whispered as she turned to walk out the door.

“Be careful out there,” Tae-ho warned her.