The Kim regime drove two North Korean sisters apart. One might now have disappeared for good
The Covid-19 pandemic drove millions of families apart, but for Kim Kyu it was to be the unexpected trigger that allowed her to reunite with her long-lost sister after nearly 23 years.
The North Korean siblings last saw each other when Kyu, 20, watched her 14-year-old sister Kim Cheol-ok being taken away by human traffickers to be sold into marriage to a Chinese man in his forties. By age 15, Cheol-ok was pregnant, and Kyu lost touch with her as she escaped to South Korea and then eventually the UK.
In 2020, they were miraculously brought back in touch online after a tech-savvy niece told Kyu that someone matching Cheol-ok’s description and family history was looking to trace her long-lost relatives via a post on the Chinese social media platform WeChat.
