INTERVIEW 1, MALE, Age 34 PLACE OF ORIGIN: Hoeryong FIRST ARRIVAL IN CHINA: June 2003 Three years ago, he was employed as a driver but then he got sick with a liver problem and was laid off. "Even when you go to the hospital, there are no medicines." His wife is good at needlework that they sell in North Korea. She can make about 15,000 North Korean won in 45 days of work. Because he doesn't work in a factory he doesn't get food, except on the Leader's [Kim Jong Il's] birthday or holidays. His daughter goes to kindergarten but must bring her own food to school.

It's his first time in China. The manager of the local church has known him for years because the manager often goes to North Korea. He came to China because his "house faced difficulties in surviving so I came to get help and to study the Bible." He came to China with another North Korean man on a secret route.

He will go back to North Korea tonight to bring back Bibles. He wants to stay in North Korea. His first impression of China is "freedom." [At this point he started crying.]

"Honestly speaking, I don't want to go back but North Korea is my home country." He might return to China alone or with his close friends but not with his family.

There is radio in North Korea but no international news. In some places the TV can receive Chinese stations. After the new economic reform, the situation got worse. It then worsened further when SARS started. Some people have committed suicide because the situation is so hard.

His relatives went for a trip and one of them, a woman, committed suicide. Before SARS, he could get one kilogram of rice for 150 Won. The price increased to 300 won per kilo and now it's down to 250 Won per kilo.

He has not had any problems with the Chinese authorities. "If you come to China for food the penalty in North Korea is 1-6 months of prison. For meeting with foreigners a person could be sentenced to death." If someone gets caught with Bibles he or she will be sentenced to death. He knows many people who have been put in prison for getting food in China.

"I ask you to work for freedom of the North Korean people. I want political and religious freedom. In the law we have freedom, but that's not the reality."