Kang Chol-hwan

According to his autobiography, Kang was born in Pyongyang, North Korea, and spent his childhood there. He had a good relationship with his grandfather. He had a happy childhood. His grandfather was the Vice President of the Commercial Management office in Pyongyang, supervising all the commercial stores and department stores in Pyongyang. His grandmother was a member of the Supreme People’s Assembly and was the deputy head of the Workers’ Party organization of female members. She was deputy to Kim Il Sung’s wife. His family lived in relative luxury from his grandfather's position and the fortune that he had given to the country upon the family's return from Japan. Though they had never renounced their North Korean citizenship and Kang's grandmother had been a staunch party member in both countries, Kang has stated that the family remained under a cloud of suspicion for having lived in Japan.

He was part of a group of people who were against the regime. He had access to foreign information and sang foreign songs. All of this was strictly prohibited in North Korea and he knew it could put his family at risk as well. When he was discovered, he knew he couldn’t discuss the matter with his family. So he left the country as soon as he could. In 1992, he and fellow Yodok internee An Hyuk escaped from North Korea by crossing the Yalu River into China.

Kang has not been in contact with his family since he defected. In 2011, it was revealed that his sister, Mi-ho, and her 11-year-old son are believed to be at Yodok concentration camp.

There was an order by Kim Jong Il that those in the prison with relatives in Japan had to be released after 10 years. In the mid-1980s North Korea depended heavily on foreign currency remittances. Many Koreans living in Japan were sending remittances to North Korea. These people also protested the regime’s sending their relatives to prison. This had a bad effect on the public opinion and the amount of remittances being sent from Japan. If he didn’t have that connection, he probably never would have left that prison. Once he left the camp, he was sent to live in Yodok village. He could not go all the way back to Pyongyang, but he moved to Pyongsong, near Pyongyang. He moved in with his uncle who was working at the National Science Research Institute in the city.

In 1977, his grandfather was accused of treason and was sent to the Senghori concentration camp. According to current KCNA, the elder Kang was an agent of the Japanese National Police. As the family of a traitor, Kang, 9, and his family were sent to the Yodok concentration camp.

Kang Chol-hwan (pronounced [ka̠ŋ tɕʰʌ̹l.βʷa̠n] ; born 18 September 1968) is a North Korean defector and author. As a child, he was imprisoned in the Yodok concentration camp for 10 years. After his release he fled the country, first to China and eventually to South Korea. He is the author, with Pierre Rigoulot, of The Aquariums of Pyongyang and worked as a staff writer specialized in North Korean affairs for The Chosun Ilbo. He is the founder and president of the North Korea Strategy Center.