Quite apart from politics and religion an event now occurs that is the catalyst for the rest of his ongoing adventure. Borrowing a friend's boat, he goes to China to sell some merchandise. A price is agreed upon, the deal is settled. Supposedly.

Upon arrival, Mr. Lee is told that they need to weigh the shipment before they can pay him. Leave the merchandise here. But a week later, when payment should have been forthcoming, and a month later, and longer, there is no money to be had. He stays there in an inn, waiting for the matter to be resolved. Finally it is found that the man who has taken the merchandise has gone. It is December. The little wooden boat is frozen at the dock. It is going nowhere as is its temporary pilot. He stays until spring.

Now, Mr. Lee has relatives in the part of China he has been visiting. Some of them long ago made their way to South Korea, and, left with a lot of time on his hands, Lee decides to check out the stories of his people. But his inquiries are reported. People are becoming suspicious. And then he hears that eleven of his friends back home have "disappeared." A case is mounting inside of him to use this opportunity to get out of North Korea altogether, and just stay in China.

He moves to another city, and lives the life of a refugee, sleeping on concrete floors, eating little food. He begins to think he will never make it to South Korea. His family will now be in danger.

His fears are realized as he is approached by Chinese police, whose questions, in Chinese, he cannot answer. After release, he lives in fear of a long-term confinement and his family suffering an even worse fate. I must stay alive, he insists to himself, I must go South!

For five long months he works at anything that is available.

Meanwhile, his distressed wife back in North Korea is constantly being asked questions of the police, questions which she of course cannot answer. A rumor begins to spread now that he has simply run away to China and will never return.

He goes to China's capital, short wave radio in hand. Hears the Voice of America, among other fascinating programming. Here is posted all sorts of information about defector routes and methods. He listens intently and decides to go the Spanish Embassy, a place that many NK defectors seem to frequent.

He goes to a Korean hotel there with his false Chinese I.D. He asks the innkeeper, How can I get to the Spanish Embassy? The innkeeper's response is a bit disappointing, for he challenges Mr. Lee instead to go to church, and meet a pastor. Write a letter, he says, expressing your intentions and give it to the pastor.

Not exactly what he is expecting, but certainly the hand of the Lord is in it. Lee innocently follows this advice, prepares the letter, goes to the church, and gives the letter to the pastor. But the pastor refuses to receive it.

Disgusted, Lee throws the letter on the floor and leaves. But God is not through. A phone call comes to him at the hotel. It is a church deacon. "Come to the church again." Nothing to lose now, he goes again.

The church deacon asks him all about the North Korean government, why he wants to go to the Spanish Embassy, etc. A thorough and careful testing. Satisfied with his answers, he now gives Lee the advice that will change his life forever:

"You can't go to the Spanish Embassy. It is guarded too well. Go to the British Embassy. There, you will encounter a high fence, but you can somehow get over."

"I will try," Lee affirms. "If I die, I die. Give me the address."

Done. Along with a series of instructions. Lee is not to look around, but to walk straight ahead. He is to buy a chair. Here is some money.

Lee arrives on the scene shortly afterwards and walks around the British Embassy three times. He is measuring the distance between guards, and the height of the fence. Then to a store for some gloves, razors, and a chair. He will do this thing the next day.

The fence is about 8 feet, topped off by barbed wire. It won't be easy. He practices climbing elsewhere. When it is time to sleep, he cannot.

It is at this juncture at his life when he begins once more to think about the things he has heard about God. God, the Heavenly Father. He puts out his cigarette and begins to pray, "I don't know how to talk to You. But I know that You know me and my family. Father, help me climb over that fence."

Sleepless night. Decides to wait another day, so he can study things a little more. He sleeps all day, waking up in the late afternoon. He decides that a chair isn't going to do the job. He'll need a folding ladder. He also prepares a concoction of red pepper powder and flour, and sticks a container of it in his pocket. If a guard pursues him, he will throw this in his face.

For the barbed wire, he'll need a small pillow. More practice. More measurements. Fifteen meters between policemen. He will need 7-8 seconds for the climb.

This night he sleeps two hours.

At 6:00 a.m. he begins his walk toward the guards, positioning himself between two of them with ladder at the ready. A pillow protrudes from his back pack. He quickly begins the climb, reaches the barbed wire, and then... and then...

As Mr. Lee told us the story he suddenly went blank. There was no memory of the barbed-wire portion of the climb. The next memory is of falling into the British compound, technically a free man.

The Brits handcuff him immediately and take him into a basement where he is ex-rayed and his belongings thoroughly examined. The razors. Why did he bring the razors? His answer is simple. He takes an imaginary razor and slits himself on the throat. He intended suicide if this mission failed.

The Brits think this is funny. Of course, it isn't.

Kim wants to call the American Embassy, but a meeting with a South Korean consul convinces him that the way to America is long and hard and possibly fruitless. So although he knows he can say more to more people about the abuses of North Korea from an American platform, he resigns himself to South Korean citizenship.

Thirteen days later he takes up residence in the southern part of his peninsula. And through use of a broker, his wife is joined to him only one week after that! His assumption: "God did this!"

His relationship to Christ and His church grows after this, other connections are made, and soon he is a member of that select group of North Koreans who live in two lands at once. They are legal residents of South Korea, but refuse to forget that out of which they have come, and give their lives to serving Christ in their home land.

In Lee's case, he also desires to find a way to bring those other, very special, members of his family to the south.