I Escaped North Korea Twice with Charles Ryu

Home Room

Home Room Show

Music, Society & Culture, Tv & Film

4.8 • 929 Ratings

🗓️ 4 March 2026

⏱️ 102 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

*Please note that there may be some disturbing or triggering material discussed in this episode.* Charles Ryu escaped North Korea for the first time when he was a teenager. We talk about propaganda, watching Will Smith on a black-and-white TV, and what kind of courage it takes to survive a labor camp, interrogation, and crossing the border into China. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	What's good homeroom listeners? Today we have a very special episode with a special guest.
0:04.8	And the topics might get heavy, but we're going to keep it light. We're going to have fun with it.
0:09.5	He was a good sport. And I hope this is really informative to everyone who listens.
0:14.6	And if you want to get in depth with some of the topics we're discussing today, we have bonus content on our substack. So make sure you subscribe.
0:22.2	And thank you so much for the support. We've been getting the subscribers come in. But we would
0:26.3	love most of the listeners to join in on this bonus content. And we got a special one for you
0:31.3	today. So thanks for being here. What's good, everybody? Welcome to another episode of Home Room.
0:36.4	I'm joined with my co-host, Rickley.
0:38.6	How you doing?
0:39.2	Steffey Bake.
0:40.0	Hello.
0:40.8	Looking like Audrey Hepburn over here.
0:43.4	Adjuma Hepburn.
0:44.6	Thank you.
0:45.2	I'll take it.
0:46.0	We have a very special guest.
0:48.0	The type of guests I've never had on our show before.
0:51.6	And something I've always been curious about, this is regarding the country of North Korea,
0:58.3	one of the most mysterious places in the world.
1:02.0	And we have here, we're joined by a guest who has escaped twice from North Korea.
1:06.6	His name is Charles Rue.
1:09.0	His Korean name is Cholru.
	...

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