From the Ranks of Survival to the Heart of Diplomacy
Walking between the stone pillars of the Korean War Memorial, Grace Jo vividly recalls the moment that still sticks with her: a cliff‑hanger of starvation that almost cost her life. That little boy—just a kid when he realized the road to survival was a straight line to the cold, unforgiving concrete floor of his family’s house in rural North Korea—was fighting back a fever that would have made a blender jealous.
There are other memories she shares—humble, almost absurd now: the time she and her brother ate six newborn mice that had made a clandestine home under a stone, simply because food was so scarce that it turned the rodent a sort of “diet” buddy.
Why Her Skepticism Grows
These childhood horrors shape how she views the Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump summit scheduled for June 12 in Singapore—an unprecedented meeting between a living U.S. president and North Korea’s heavyweight.
- “If the North Korean government keeps dropping bombs at its neighbors, that doesn’t mean it’s actually giving anyone peace,” Grace says.
- “Inside North Korea, thousands of people will still die. So I don’t see this as a “peace treaty” at all.”
North Korea’s Public PR Move
North Korea announced it would halt nuclear and missile tests last month. “We’ll focus on markedly improving our socialist economy and people’s living standards,”
—but as Grace puts it, what’s called “focusing” often ends up backing off too little for the everyday escapee.
From Refugee to Social Advocate
Grace moved to the U.S. in 2008 as one of only 200 North Korean refugees who found a new home here. Her family’s past is painted in tragedy:
- The 1990s famine took her two younger brothers and her grandmother, who died while longing for a single potato.
- Her older sister vanished.
- Her father fled to China but was caught, returned to North Korea, and died in a jail in 1997 after torture and starvation.
- At just six years old, Grace’s mother decided the only shot at survival was to forge a new life in China. For ten years they slipped between borders, living in secrecy—only to be attacked again.
- They turned to a Korean‑American pastor who raised enough cash to bribe officials for their release.
After that, the UNHCR brought Grace, her mother, and sister to the United States.
Grace’s Life Today
- She’s a college student in Maryland.
- She works as a dental assistant.
- She helps run NKinUSA, an organization her sister founded to rescue North Koreans and help them build a future elsewhere.
With the Kim‑Trump summit looming, Grace voices a plea for humanity to stay front‑and‑center. “No matter what the leaders decide, I hope the U.S. will bring up humanitarian issues and think about the people in North Korea,” she says. “The only way we help this generation of North Koreans is to end that regime.”
