Geum-young Choi’s life in Australia is a world away from South P'yongan province in North Korea where she was born and raised.
Up until the age of 17, she lived with her family in a town near the notorious Aoji-ri Chemical Complex, a part of the country known for its oppressive quality of life and extreme lockdowns.
Geum-young's father was deported to the town and spent more than 30 years mining coal, following the execution of her grandfather, who was a political prisoner.
More than two decades after her family’s defection from North Korea, Geum-young is living a “completely opposite” life in Australia, after arriving in 2016.
It was during the COVID-19 pandemic that she decided to create a YouTube under the name ‘Aoji sister’ which has more than 22,000 subscribers.
Her videos range in topics, from how her family escaped North Korea, how she adapted to life in South Korea, as well as the best spots to holiday in Queensland.
Her motive for starting the profile is to tell other North Korean “freedom can only be gained at the risk of your life”.
She also hopes to inform others about how it was living in the secretive country.
Daring escape
During North Korea’s severe famine from 1994 to 1998 - known as ‘the Arduous March' - Geum-young’s father made the difficult decision to escape North Korea, believing there was “no difference between starving to death and being shot dead”.
At midnight on 26 February 1997, the family escaped to China by crossing the Tumen River which marks the natural border between the two countries. 
Geum-young’s family initially believed they would be able to live comfortably in China once their status was secure, but this was far from the case.
From west to east, the Yalu River, Paektu Mountain, and the Tumen River divides North Korea and China. Source: AAP
They were forced to endure three years of uncertainty, living with the fear that they could be sent back to North Korea by Chinese authorities at any time.
Due to this fear, they made several attempts to defect to South Korea through the Korean Embassy in Beijing but were repeatedly refused.
Desperate to find safety, the family decided to make the perilous journey to Thailand on-foot, which resulted in the separation of Geum-young and her father from her mother.
North Korean children suffering from malnutrition in 1998. Up to 2.4 million people died during the years of famine. Source: AAP
But, they would find salvation once they got to Thailand when the Korean Embassy in Bangkok reunited the family, and granted them refugee status.
In 2001, their dreams came true when they arrived in Seoul, the South Korean capital.
In Seoul, Geum-young finished her bachelor’s degree in Chinese and Chinese literature at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, and then tied the knot with her Seoul-born boyfriend.
Geum-young and her husband migrated to Australia in 2016 and settled in Queensland. 
She says her new life is completely opposite to her former life.
In a July video, Geum-young Choi visited the Gladstone in Queensland. Source: YouTube
“It was a blanket change. Everything changed in South Korea and Australia,” she said.
“I feel I have been moved up from the dark basement to the bright rooftop like from hell to heaven.”
She describes her formative years in North Korea as a “nightmare”.
“From time to time, all of the schoolgirls had to assemble during the school hours and were forced to witness a public execution. Now I have realised it was absolutely unacceptable and child abuse in ordinary nations.
“I have learned that the agony more desperate than hunger is when we do not have hope.
When we did not have rice at home and were not sure if we could have food soon, we plunged into despair which made us hopeless and fearful.
In Australia, she says, “It is an irony and I cannot believe I have to care about how to lose weight here.”
“My old friends in North Korea would not believe that I now give the priority to my diet over other things.“
Focus change during the pandemic
Raising her children in Queensland and running a sushi shop, she decided to shift her focus to advocacy due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic made me begin a YouTube channel to share my experiences in North Korea so as to show some kind of hope to people.
“I have learned there are approximately 70 North Korean defectors living in Australia at present. Most of them are very reluctant to identify themselves as North Korean defectors due to the social preoccupation with or antipathy against them.”
She hopes that her new-found advocacy can encourage Korean Australians to embrace these defectors.
