A heartbreaking story! I hope the family is reunited. Read the whole thing at the link: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-37914493 Fighting for survival on the streets of North Korea By Joanna Jolly BBC World Service 9 January 2017 As a young child in the capital of North Korea, Sungju Lee lived a pampered life. But by the time he was a teenager, he was starving and fighting for survival in a street gang. It was one of many twists of fate on a journey that has led him to postgraduate studies at a British university. In the early 1990s, Sungju Lee was living comfortably with his parents in a three-bedroom apartment in Pyongyang. He attended school and Taekwondo classes, visited parks and rode on Ferris wheels. He assumed that, like his father, he would grow up to become an officer in the North Korean army. But in 1994, this life came to an abrupt end with the death of North Korea's founding father, Kim Il-Sung. People cry after putting flowers in front of the statue of North Korean President Kim Il Sung to mourn the death of the president in Pyongyang, on July 09, 1994.Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES Although Sungju did not know it at the time, his own father, who had been working as a bodyguard, had fallen out of favour with the new regime. The family was forced to flee the capital. To hide from their child the danger they were in, his parents told him they were taking a holiday. Sungju wanted to believe his father, but when he boarded a dirty, damaged train he had doubts. "I saw beggars - kids my age - and I was shocked," he says. "I asked my father, 'Are we in North Korea?' Because when I was in Pyongyang, I was taught that North Korea was one of the richest countries in the world." Their destination was the north-western town of Gyeong-seong, where they moved into a tiny, unheated house. At school Sungju found the other students malnourished and behind in their classes. A propaganda poster showing the former North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung (L) and his son current leader Kim Jong-Il (M)Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES One morning his teachers marched the children to an outside arena where they were told to sit and watch. Three police officers with guns appeared and a man and woman were led out and tied to wooden poles. The crowd was told the man had been caught stealing and the woman had tried to escape into China. They had both been convicted of high treason, and this was a public execution. "Each of the police officers shot three bullets for each person. Bang, bang, bang," Sungju says. "Blood came out. There was a hole in their forehead, and at the back of their head there was nothing left." As the months passed, Sungju struggled to adapt to his new harsh circumstances. Food was becoming more scarce as North Korea descended into a crippling famine and many of his classmates had dropped out of school to forage for squirrels or to steal from the local market. North Korean women tend to rice harvest in South Hamgyong province - photo taken in 1998Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES Then suddenly Sungju's father announced he was leaving. He told his son he was going to China to look for food, and would come back in a week with rice cakes. The week passed, but Sungju's father did not return. Soon afterwards, his mother told him she was going to travel to his aunt's house to find food. Fearing she would also not return, Sungju refused to leave her side. But eventually he fell asleep and she slipped away, leaving a note telling him to eat salt with water if he was hungry. He never saw her again. "I started hating my parents," he says. "They were so irresponsible. They just left me and I completely lost everything."
Granny says, "Dat's right - put dat Fatboy inna hooscow an' feed him on scant fare o' bread an' water... Experts: N. Korea Must Be Held Accountable for Crimes Against Humanity March 13, 2017 — A group of independent experts is calling for the government of North Korea to be brought before the International Criminal Court in The Hague for gross violations of human rights, including crimes against humanity.
That story could be from any inner city in the USA..Chicago, Detroit, NYC, etc...maybe while you are at it bring the authorities in the USA before the war crimes tribunal as well right?
