Nearly 1,200 people. Twelve hundred souls. Twelve hundred human beings who have fled for their lives.

According to Santa Fe High math teacher Sara Moser, one man, Pastor Chon Kiwon, has aided nearly 1,200 North Koreans in their escapes from their home country, “more than any organization or any other individual,” she said. And he’s not finished yet.

This man was one of four North Korean defectors who came to Santa Fe High School on Sept. 25 to talk to students and faculty about what’s really going on in that country.

“Nowadays, North Korea is in the news because they’re shooting rockets and threatening everything. However, there is a lot more than that,” Moser said when introducing the speakers at the lunchtime presentation.

The speakers came to tell students about those who escape from North Korea hoping to live a better life. Ms. Moser, who is from South Korea, interpreted for the speakers. “[They are escaping] because they are hungry,” Moser said, “that’s the main reason.”

According to “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea [North Korea] Needs and Priorities,” a 2017 United Nations report produced by the Humanitarian Country Team, “Amidst political tensions, an estimated 18 million people [of the 24.9 million in the country] across DPRK continue to suffer from food insecurity and undernutrition, as well as a lack of access to basic services… Furthermore, 10.5 million people, or 41% of the total population, are undernourished” and over 70 percent of the population relies on food aid. The regular rations people receive have been “consistently lower than the government target of an average of 573g per person per day [reduced from 380g to 300g for several months in 2016].”

The UN report states that this situation is an “improvement.” It is estimated that during the country’s great famine in the 1990s, between 600,000 and 2.5 million people died of hunger, compared to those who die by the dozens, or sometimes hundreds, today.

According to Ms. Moser, Kiwon willingly risks his life to help these people as much as he can. “He is the pioneer of the underground railroad, to lead them to escape [from North Korea to South Korea] … He was even caught and he served in jail, but upon his release when people went to interview him and they asked him, ‘So what are you going to do now?’ he said, ‘Go right back to help them out, to rescue more,’ and he did. He still does,” she said.

These people run because it’s the only way they can survive; however, not all can make the long and difficult journey by train, vehicle, and foot across China and Southeast Asia.

Many are sent back along the way. “China should not send them back,” Ms. Moser said. “According to the UN law, they should not send the escapees back. They are defined as refugees internationally, but they are sending them back, and then whoever informs [the government] about those North Korean escapees in China gets money in a cash reward. So they catch them and they get the profit from them.”

In addition, continued Moser, “75 percent of escapees are women, and they’re an extreme target of trafficking. They are caught and sold as slaves, as sex slaves, in many different ways. For them the reason they escape is because they want to go to China, find food, and then come back to feed their families, but they’re still caught.” One of these women was the mother of one of the guest speakers who came to SFHS — a 16-year-old girl who prefers to remain anonymous, born in China as a result of human trafficking.

“Here is a young lady at a similar age as you are,” said Kiwon to the audience as Ms. Moser translated. “[North Koreans] in the same age group [as you] … are suffering horrendously and are not treated as humans. However, even though we’re far away from there, if you guys put your interests and attentions to them, in the future not many people will die like this.”

“There are so many children who escape,” Ms. Moser said. “These kids have no choice — they have to run, [and usually] either they die there or they die in the process of leaving the country.”

Ms. Moser, who has lived in the United States for 21 years, organized the presentation because she thought it might be interesting for students. “From my experience, a lot of students have a great heart to help other people, as well as faculty… and so I thought they would want to hear about it,” she said.

One of those students was SFHS senior Lisel Faust. “I was curious to learn more about a country that is shrouded in mystery in my everyday life,” she said.

Lisel, who heard about the guest speakers from a friend in Model United Nations, a club at SFHS that focuses on international relations and diplomacy by simulating UN committees, believes she learned a lot from the presentation. “It was extremely eye-opening to learn about a terrible event that is happening halfway across the world, which has never been mentioned to me before,” Lisel said. “I learned that there are horrific things happening all over the world, and even if they aren’t being talked about, they still exist and need to be addressed.”

Ms. Moser believes it was also equally important for the speakers to meet the students. They are “brainwashed about America [in North Korea],” she said, so when “[the speakers] meet people here they realize that Americans are just the same human beings as [North Koreans] are.’ ”

“I think it is extremely important to have these speakers come to students to inform them about situations that are happening all over the world,” said Lisel. “It is easy, living in the U.S., to forget that there are millions of people all over the world that barely get enough to eat, don’t have access to clean water, their rights are not protected, and they are denied the education that many students take for granted. Learning more about the world is crucial to being a better global citizen.”

“I like the students to see particularly that human life is precious,” Ms. Moser said. “It’s priceless, human life is valued. … Despite of who they are, where they live, what kind of background they have, we all have that same life, and that should be cherished; it should be recognized. I want to students to also learn that when we see somebody whose life is just trashed and they are killed mercilessly, we should have a heart to raise our voices, to help them, in any way, anything that will do something.”

So what can students do? Both Kiwon and Ms. Moser believe that simple awareness is essential. “We have a lot more things that we can share, so just spread the word to your friends,” she said, translating again for Kiwon. “If you [as Americans] put your heart and give your attention and interests you can make sure a lot of North Koreans stay alive.”

“That’s why the Chinese government is able to do it; that’s why the North Korean government does it,” said Moser, “because a lot of people really don’t know. All they know is that this young man is trying to shoot a rocket.”

Ms. Moser said that if more students show interest, Kiwon is willing to come back to speak again at SFHS, and not because he’s hoping to get something. “It is so powerful to just know about it,” Ms. Moser said.