Seong Hye-rang (born 1935) is a
North Korean defector and author.
Early life
Her father was a wealthy
South Korean landowner who moved to the North for political reasons, while her mother was an editor of the official North Korean newspaper ''
Rodong Shinmun
''Rodong Sinmun'' (; ) is a North Korean newspaper that serves as the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea. It was first published on November 1, 1945, as ''Chŏngro'' (), serving as a communication channel ...
''.
Seong's younger sister
Song Hye-rim, a popular actress, secretly began an affair with
Kim Jong-il
Kim Jong-il (; ; ; born Yuri Irsenovich Kim;, 16 February 1941 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011. He led North Korea from the 1994 death of his father Kim ...
against his father
Kim Il-sung's wishes in the late 1960s or early 1970s, which culminated in Hye-rim's forced divorce from her husband; Hye-rang first learned of the situation on 10 May 1971, when Kim came to her residence in the middle of the night and informed her that he had impregnated her younger sister.
Five years later, Hye-rang would become responsible for raising
Kim Jong-nam, the son resulting from that pregnancy; his father was unwilling to let him attend school for fear that the secret of his parentage would be revealed. Hye-rim moved into the household; she also brought her own son
Lee Han-yeong and daughter
Lee Nam-ok
Lee may refer to:
Name
Given name
* Lee (given name), a given name in English
Surname
* Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee:
** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname
** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese ...
to live with them, so that Jong-nam would not be lonely. Their lives were carefully managed by Kim Jong-il to ensure that his father would not find out about his continuing affair; they spent most of their time at residences in east
Pyongyang or
Chungsangdong, occasionally travelling overseas to
Geneva and
Moscow.
Defection
On September 28, 1982, Seong Hye-rang's son defected to South Korea; her daughter followed ten years later.
Seong herself defected in
Geneva in February 1996, carrying nothing but her medicines, her diary, and a book of short stories by
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...
.
Following her defection, she went into hiding in the European countryside in fear of her life, travelling with an unidentified Japanese woman; her son was shot dead near his home in
Gyeonggi-do
Gyeonggi-do (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Its name, ''Gyeonggi'', means "京 (the capital) and 畿 (the surrounding area)". Thus, ''Gyeonggi-do'' can be translated as "Seoul and the surrounding areas of Seoul". Seoul, the na ...
,
South Korea by unknown assailants the following year. She now lives in an undisclosed location in Europe.
Publications
*
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seong, Hye-rang
1935 births
Living people
North Korean defectors
North Korean writers
20th-century North Korean writers
Korean women writers
20th-century women writers