I Thought My Country Was A Utopia

Very few people escape from North Korea and live to tell the tale. Monique Rivalland spoke to some of those who, having fled the world’s most repressive regime, are recording their memories for posterity

Hyeonseo Lee, 37

Escaped in 1997

When I was at high school, every year the most beautiful girls would be selected by the authorities to take part in the “beauty squad test”. First they would check if the girls were virgins. Then they would strip them naked and scrutinise their bodies. They would examine the nipples, to see whether they were protruding or inverted, and measure the distance between the legs, because only girls with the straightest legs, and no bow, would do. We never knew why the girls who passed the test were sent to Pyongyang. There was a rumour that they had been chosen to serve as spies in Japan, South Korea and the West. We heard they were taught how to behave socially and entertain men. I thought it was all so they could be spies. When I escaped North Korea, I learnt from other defectors that they had been trained to become the sex slaves of the leader and his high-ranking officials.