We were talking about how he got to China and what happened there.

His mother's sister is a Christian in China. During his stay, auntie brings them all to church. This is a novel experience. Seeds are planted.

In the providence of God Kim meets an old High School acquaintance who convinces him not to go back to his homeland, ever. He listens to the wisdom, but still in China there is constant fear of going back whether one wants to or not.

Church is not the only novelty that greets Kim. He listens to the radio on a channel not fixed by the government. He hears the truth about the place of his birth. Through programs such as the Voice of America, and the whole network known as Korean Broadcasting System (South Korea), he begins slowly to understand the concept known as freedom. What a jolt. What a glorious surprise.

Time passes. The fever of freedom running high, he decides to go to one of the (South) Korean embassies in China. Why not? These are his people! Surely they will understand his plight and bend over backwards to help.

The meeting of refugee and consul takes place. Not exactly a backward bend. A smile perhaps. An acknowledgemnt of the problem. But no help.

Four months later he goes to another Chinese city to talk with the officers of another consulate. He is again refused. What he does not understand - nor does the entire civilized world - is that the Chinese do not believe that North Koreans who leave their land because Kim Jong Il will not feed them, are refugees. No, they are just hungry.

What the Chinese do not understand is that even hunger is a crime in North Korea, if one tries to satisfy that hunger by crossing a country border. Being sent back to North Korea is certain imprisonment, and if connections have been made to the church, certain death.

What we wish we did not have to tell the Korean refugees is the other fact. The other fact is that South Korea would rather not be bothered with these folks either.

Blissfully ignorant of the craziness of modern governments, burning with a dream to be free, he refuses to give up. This is the man who has given his whole life until now to serving his mother's needs. Farming. Goatherding. Businesses. He will not allow men dressed in suits and ties to thwart this passion which drives him.

His mother now marries an ethnic Korean in China. His new step-dad is connected to a company which soon hires Kim. But when the boss finds out he is a defector, he is fired and it becomes increasingly difficult to find another job. Failed again. But not quite finished.

He sells food for a living. Step-dad says, not enough money. Get out. The irony is that the stepfather's other two sons, the "real" ones, do nothing but gamble, lose money, and replace their losses with free handouts from Dad. That means that all that food money and company-paid money that Kim has been dutifully turning in for his mother's sake is being turned into games of chance by his step-siblings.

Angry, he and his mother plan to explode step-dad's house with dynamite. The plan is not to kill the father, only to get his attention. But though Mom sympathizes and plots, eventually the plan is cancelled. And she will not leave this new man. Against all his heart's leanings, Kim is forced into leaving his dear mother, to begin a new chapter in his life.

First stop, the nearest airport . He has no ID, so he will not be flying in the normal way. His plan is to find a way to get into the cargo hold somehow, and smuggle himself into South Korea.

He goes over a fence fifteen minutes before departure . He positions himself close to an airplane, and hides in a luggage cart. But once more he is discovered, reported to police, arrested.

Their first reaction is to inform him that they will send him back to North Korea. But he begs for his life, and gets off with a few years in prison, in hopes that the NK situation will change. He accepts the Chinese offer.

When the case is brought to court, he is charged with terrorism. His honesty will not allow him to accept such a thing, and he denies it in court. This throws a monkey-wrench into the plan, and he is told there will now be an adjournment until morning. The next day, instead of hearing, Let's now continue this case, he hears, The verdict is...

And the verdict is "guilty". Guilty of terrorism. Case closed. He asks if he can appeal, but even Chinese citizens cannot have this luxury. Who does he think he is, they wonder.