#328 - North Korean Escapee Reveals CHILLING Details of his Escape | Hyun-Seung Lee

Julian Dorey Podcast

Julian Dorey

Comedy

4.6 • 909 Ratings

🗓️ 12 August 2025

⏱️ 151 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

SPONSORS: 1) MOOD: Discover your perfect mood and get 20% off your first order at https://mood.com and use code JULAN at check out! 2) Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @shop.mando and get 20% off + free shipping with promo code JULIAN at shopmando.com ! #mandopod WATCH PART 1 W/ HYUN-SEUNG LEE: https://open.spotify.com/episode/69c87hJDVHTeFjW0zdl1Cg?si=L-P78bpUTRmlCCzHZTj46Q PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/JulianDorey (***TIMESTAMPS in Description Below) ~ Hyun-Seung Lee is a former DPRK businessman and chair of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League branch in Dalian, China. A series of purges by Kim Jong Un forced him and his entire family to defect in late 2014, making their way first to South Korea then to the United States. Lee now works as a director for One Korea Network and a fellow of North Korean studies at the Global Peace Foundation, and he has interned with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. HYUN-SEUNG'S LINKS: YT: https://www.youtube.com/c/Pyonghattan FB: https://www.facebook.com/MrNorthKorea X: https://x.com/LeeHyunSeung85 IG: https://www.instagram.com/mr.northkorea/ WEBSITE: https://give.globalpeace.org/campaign/695826/donate FOLLOW JULIAN DOREY INSTAGRAM (Podcast): https://www.instagram.com/juliandoreypodcast/ INSTAGRAM (Personal): https://www.instagram.com/julianddorey/ X: https://twitter.com/julianddorey JULIAN YT CHANNELS - SUBSCRIBE to Julian Dorey Clips YT: https://www.youtube.com/@juliandoreyclips - SUBSCRIBE to Julian Dorey Daily YT: https://www.youtube.com/@JulianDoreyDaily - SUBSCRIBE to Best of JDP: https://www.youtube.com/@bestofJDP ****TIMESTAMPS**** 00:00:00 – China & Military Service, Workers Party, Boot Camp, Pride in Serving 00:11:42 – Unit Dispatch, Propaganda, Protecting Leader, Supreme Family Pins 00:23:30 – Camaraderie, Special Forces, Farming, Morse Code, Parade Marching, Mother Singer 00:34:51 – Sister, Banned Words, Pop Star Executions, China-NK Weapons, Troops to Russia 00:46:07 – Weapons & Amm0 to Russia, Discharge, State TV, Propaganda Dept., Leader Focus 00:56:49 – Propaganda with Limited Electricity, The 3rd Channel, 1984 Parallels, Foreign Media, Smuggled USBs, Free Healthcare, Failed Communism 01:07:15 – Bribes for Treatment, Hospital Neglect, COVID D3aths, Post-Service, Studying in China 01:17:12 – Life in China, Father’s Realization, First Hamburger, China’s Progress, Prison Camps 01:27:57 – Killings & Imprisonment, 3-Gen Punishment, Kim Jong Il D3ath, Defection, “No Future” 01:37:35 – Father’s Transition, Defection Help, Escaping NK & China, 24-Hour Notice 01:46:22 – ‘Missing’ Status, Family Leverage, Moving to US 02:00:09 – Leaving South Korea, Arriving US, Living in DC, Leaders Assembly, Fear for Life 02:10:34 – Texas Visit, Guns, Hope for NK, Trump Strategy, Iran Strike Threat, Regime Change 02:23:15 – NK Sympathizers in California, Sanctions Blame, Spirituality in Freedom 02:30:07 – Hyun's Work CREDITS: - Host, Editor & Producer: Julian Dorey - COO, Producer & Editor: Alessi Allaman - https://www.youtube.com/@UCyLKzv5fKxGmVQg3cMJJzyQ - In-Studio Producer: Joey Deef - https://www.instagram.com/joeydeef/ Julian Dorey Podcast Episode 328 - Hyun-Seung Lee Music by Artlist.io Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	People called me like a trader. The real person who betrayed North Korean was the Kim's family.
0:05.2	In 2013, North Korean leader Kim Yong-un executed a dozen popular singers. Among the victims was Kim's ex-girlfriend, the pop propaganda singer, accused of videotaping themselves having s-hs and selling the videos.
0:16.3	Are those real? No, people buy the vibe. Because they don't understand the system, The whole crew executed because they're talking about the leader's family.
0:24.6	Criticism against the leader.
0:25.6	I lost several friends.
0:27.6	My dad too, my sisters too.
0:28.6	My sister's roommate, she was up to the class.
0:30.6	The North Korean security agents came and they grabbed her.
0:33.6	They never found out to them.
0:35.6	Her father was walking close to Kim Jong's ankle.
0:38.3	Entire family gone called the three generation punishment. If we are under missing person,
0:43.3	North Korean regime couldn't punish my family. So we are escaping this country. I could
0:48.3	sense that there are several guys following us. We all terrified. And that moment. Hey guys, if you're not following me on Spotify,
0:57.0	please hit that follow button and leave a five-star review.
1:00.0	They're both a huge huge help. Thank you.
1:02.0	Now we're going to get to you guys ending up defecting and all that.
1:17.9	But you and I have been talking about this throughout the day how there's a couple key things.
1:25.4	Well, really a few key things.
1:26.8	One of them we already cover, which is that you
1:28.9	did foreign language training in Pyongyang in the school there. So you get some access to like,
1:34.3	I guess, other cultures in a very small way, albeit. But the other two things are prior to
1:42.3	you defecting is that you spend a lot of time in China, which I want to dig into more.
	...

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