Lee So-yeon

Lee So-yeon was born in North Korea, probably in 1976, to a university professor father. Her hometown is Hoeryong, North Hamgyong Province, North Korea. She joined the army in 1992 in order to get more food and other rations. She successfully defected to South Korea on her second attempt and has been active in supporting other defectors, including the support group New Korea Women's Union.

Army life Lee served in the North Korean army as a sergeant for about 10 years. She was taught to revile Americans; that they were jackals, vampires, and barbarians. The goal was to make South Korea a "sea of fire" and America a "pile of ashes."

While in the army, Lee was stationed in South Hwanghae Province in an all-woman division. Her job was to relay coordinates from the front line to commanders operating artillery pointed at South Korea. She was hungry even in the army. Her second attempt to defect to South Korea in 2008 was successful, though she narrowly escaped being trafficked. She did so by crossing the Tumen River to China. Lee is now the director of the New Korea Women's Union, founded in 2011; an organization dedicated to helping female defectors from North Korea and exposed North Korea's abuses against women. Lee is one of the defectors discussed in the 2023 award-winning documentary Beyond Utopia. Lee subsequently married and had another son. The most shocking thing she realized when she came to South Korea was that people had human rights.