The team joined two escape missions from China between Aug. 15 and Nov. 20, 2007, aiming to experience the same problems, difficulties and dangers that any North Korean refugee goes through.

We disclosed our identities to North Korean refugees in the group. However, while they would directly enter Thailand, the news team had to take a different route of China to Thailand via Laos -- as we would illegally enter the Southeast Asian nation.

On Aug. 21 at the China-Laos border, our trail reached a dead end, a mountain. Left with no other choice, the refugees started jumping into the rapidly shifting river. One of our news team lost his step and was swept into the river. He emerged with a broken ankle, his body scratched all over from the rocks and his soggy camera rendered useless, although, luckily, the film was fine.

Shoes and sack worn, torn and soiled from an 18-hour forest expedition on Winnan mountain, and discarded on the Laotian border.

A few days later, the reporter had fallen behind, held up by the pain from his ankle. Our guide had lost his patience with the reporter's dawdling pace, blasting that, "You guys are putting us in great danger!" The reporter finally decided to stay behind, forced to give up the journey. Other refugees in the group, however, disagreed, asking, "How can we abandon one of our team?" They practically dragged him along the remaining three-hour hike to Laos.

On Aug. 22, 2007 at a Checkpoint at Laotian Border, we decided to pass briefly into China again to fix our immigration issue, agreeing on the shortest available route. But Laotian police caught us sneaking behind a National Border Guard of Laos and China building. Our passports were confiscated and we were made to wait five hours to see an officer. Having seen our visas to Laos, the officer guessed that "Your entrance stamps were omitted by mistake." We were thus set free by a miracle.

On Nov. 17, we started the second stage of the journey, following Young-wha's mother. The news team split up with North Korean defectors in Laos, heading for China. When the passageway through our preferred shortcut was closed due to tightened security, we chose to turn back, still clad in our damp clothes. By sunset, our body temperatures plummeted with the evening chill. We collected dry wood and made a fire, even though the guard warned us that "soldiers will rush in." However, we seriously needed to warm our frozen bodies, which had started to shut down. We left after an hour to pass the Chinese border with Chinese soldiers in hot pursuit, alerted by the light of our fire. "They just missed you by a whisker," said the guard the next day, having heard the news spreading through the border region.

But while the news team was blessed with good luck, the other defectors were not so lucky. After returning to Seoul, the news team received a phone call from Durihana Mission on Aug. 29, 2007. Chinese police had raided a shelter in Sunyang and six people, including the family of Kum-mi, Young-mi's sister, were captured, including her two-year-old nephew. "My brother-in-law crossed the Duman or Tumen River, carrying him in a black plastic bag," Young-mi told us. It was confirmed the six people would be escorted back to North Korea. There was no more news after that.