Preceding An All-Party Parliamentary Group: The Story of North Korean Escapee Timothy Cho
11/06/25
Embedded Files
TIMOTHY CHO SHAKES HANDS WITH KING CHARLES III, IMAGE: TIMOTHY CHO via LINKEDIN
I’m sure all reading this have heard of the Kim family, or have at least heard something about the dictatorship in North Korea. If not, North Korea is led like a prison. Its prisoners are not permitted to leave, those visiting are under strict control from ‘tour guides’ whose sight you do not leave throughout your stay. That’s if you can even enter, with the first tourists from the US only recently entering the nation for the first time this decade. The country is run on propaganda, convincing those living in the nation of the dangers of the West - its religions, ideologies, and technological advancement.
To be honest, we don’t hear too much about the conditions of those living within the country, so our only real opportunity is listening to the stories of those who have defected. I encourage all to research the story of Timothy Cho (a full interview with Cho is available here). Cho escaped North Korea twice in his life, once being returned to the nation and punished for his ‘betrayal’. He experienced extreme poverty in the country, his parents having fled when he was only nine years old, causing him to be homeless for several years.
When finishing school, all boys in North Korea must join the army for 10 years. When Cho tried to join, he was told he was unable to serve as his father had betrayed the country, and was forced to work in a coal mine where many were dying amidst hazardous conditions. He decided he must leave and attempted to escape to China. After successfully reaching the border cities, he, along with a different North Korean family, attempted to cross into Mongolia. However, they were shot at, captured, and arrested.
“I will never forget that moment when I arrived back in North Korea. The police were waiting for us and swearing at us. B*stards, you betrayed your dear leader’s country”, Cho has said.
CHO ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL, IMAGE: TIMOTHY CHO via X
After being returned, he was imprisoned and tortured for information. When he was sent back to his grandmother’s house, he was so injured he couldn’t walk. He felt he had to give escape a second attempt.
After fleeing into China a second time, Cho and his fellow escapees attempted to make a signal at Shanghai International School. After being captured, the group were imprisoned in Shanghai. This time in prison was different, for Cho discovered his beautiful relationship with Christianity, after his cellmate, a South Korean gangster, gifted him a Bible in an attempt to ease his fears of a forced return to North Korea to face death. Cho describes hours of prayer just hoping for the chance to be saved, and luckily, this saviour came in the form of action, allowing Cho to flee to the Philippines, before settling in the UK.
After reaching the UK at 18, Cho went to the Church and volunteered serving food to the homeless of Manchester, who in return helped Cho to learn English. After learning the language, attending Salford University and Liverpool, he earned a master’s degree in International Relations and Security. Cho went on to work for the Conservative Party as a local election candidate before taking on his current role, now working for the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on North Korea as a secretariat.
This is the man I will meet today; I find his story utterly inspirational. To have had the courage to escape his home country twice by age 18, the age in which I am now, with simply no other option, surviving prison in a foreign nation where he did not know the language, then to reach the UK and achieve a master’s degree from a Russell Group University takes grit and determination difficult to summarise in so few words.
In the UK, we take so many opportunities for granted, and I hope my writing today and after the events I am attending will demonstrate and remind you of this. Later today, I will be attending a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on North Korea for which Timothy Cho works. Hosted by Sir Ian Duncan Smith MP (former Leader of the Conservative Party during the Blair era) and Lord Alton of Liverpool, the event will discuss North Korean period poverty, featuring a talk from Dr Sojin Lim (the Director of the International Institute of Korean Studies at the University of Central Lancashire), and the Database Center for North Korea. Further, two North Korean escapees, who with great strength and admirable confidence, will share their harrowing experiences.
CHAIR OF THE APPG ON NORTH KOREA, IAIN DUNCAN SMITH, IMAGE: KATIE CHAN
In my time at this event, and a further event on the 13th of May, I will document my experiences of APPG events, providing a useful insight for my peers also interested in international human rights, as well as the workings of APPG committees themselves.
I attend this event on the same day in which the aforementioned Lord Alton has been sanctioned from visiting Russia, to which he comedically remarked, “Putin’s regime will have to get in the queue behind China, North Korea, and Iran”. I’m interested to hear if Lord Alton references this sanction during the event, with North Korea’s involvement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict likely to be mentioned. As of writing, two North Korean POWs have been captured by Ukrainian troops on the battlefield.
I look forward to writing again after both events to describe the experience. Until then, I cannot recommend enough that you watch Cho’s story. Cho is an inspiration to all, along with all other North Korean defectors. All have a story of their own.
“When I arrived in this country, at first my impression was that they were welcoming me. And those immigration officers, I remember during the process we were going through and hearing what happened and seeing my torture scars, they were tearing [up]... They said, ‘We didn’t know what happens in North Korea’.
It is just a miracle I survived, and maybe because of that, how I survived, I can tell you my story. And we all, all these defectors, we have stories to tell. Stories of why crimes against humanity must be stopped”. – Timothy Cho.
Remember how lucky we are.
This article is the first of two twin articles penned by Lewis Young regarding his attendance at a pair of All-Party Parliamentary Group events on North Korea. Read the second article here.
Google Sites
Report abuse