In 2009, Dick Stolp helped Hyeonseo Lee and her family escape from North Korea; watch Lee’s TED Talk and see their emotional reunion.
On May 7, SBS, an Australian broadcasting service, arranged for the reunion of North Korean defector Hyeonseo Lee and Australian backpacker Dick Stolp on their program Insight: North Korea. It had been over six years, but Lee was crying with joy to see the man that had saved her and her family.
When she was 17 years old, Lee had already escaped North Korea to live with relatives in China. Unfortunately, the North Korean government found money that she had been sending home to her family, which resulted in them being arrested and jailed. In 2009, she returned to North Korea and began the arduous journey with them to the South Korean embassy only to have her family detained in Laos’ capital, Vientiane.
Stolp had been backpacking through Laos and saw Lee crying at a cafe, unable to bail them out and fearing for their lives. In an act of trust and selflessness, Stolp withdrew the $1000 that it took to bail out her family and two other North Koreans and, without hesitation, gave it to Lee.
“Why are you helping me?” she asked him.
“I am not helping you. I’m helping the North Korean people,” he replied.
And until last week, that was the first and only time Lee had ever seen him.
Insight’s Associate Producer, Luan McKenna, arranged with Stolp and Lee’s fiance, Brian Gleason for Lee to go to Sydney and once again meet the man that had saved not just her family but her faith in humanity.
Feature Video: TED Talks
Video: SBS On Demand
At least there is some good in this world.
But you never hear much about Asians helping the white people. I find this kind of interesting. I am sure there are lots of white people jailed in Asian..