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Comment by anxx | Hacker News Reader

Touching story, but it leaves out the part that most intrigues me: how this person made it to the US. Who would give this person a visa? Illegal resident of China whose background you can't verify. Having been through the US visa application process, I am genuinely baffled that she was given a visa.

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FBI Background check is not really accurate. I am from Iran. They can't really check the background of people form Iran and North Korea because those governments do not help FBI for background check. All they can access to is international flight information and anything outside of those countries.

I saw an Iranian man in Ankara who were rejected for Green Card Lottery visa because he had a trip to North Korea (Iranians can go there without a visa). In a private talk he admitted that he was working for army and he was educated for missile stuff in N. Korea. My point is, if he never went to N.Korea, he could have make it to the US. Someone who worked for Iranian Missile Program. FBI background check is not accurate.

From the interview linked at the bottom of the article [0]:

I was sent back to North Korea three times and finally I escaped to South Korea. I was lucky because I got a scholarship from a organization, so I was able to come to the US to study English. The first time I went to China, I thought they were really rich because they ate rice and meat everyday. It was the same as I heard when I was in North Korea.

Edit:

She also mentions an organization called "Liberty in North Korea", which helps refugees to escape via China. China has an agreement with North Korea to send illegal immigrants back to their home country. Apparently, if you know the right people and pay some money, you can circumvent this agreement: [1] lists "rescue fees" as "Costs for fines, fees, and the network of partners and staff in the underground to bring refugees to safety".

[0] http://interviews.kinja.com/how-did-you-end-up-making-it-to-...

[1] http://libertyinnorthkorea.org/rescue-teams-about/

Probably by way of South Korea. South Korea accepts North Korean defectors and grants them citizenship and various resettlement benefits (after first determining that they are not spies). South Koreans don't even need to apply for a visa to get into the US anymore, they are granted a tourist visa upon landing.

You're assuming that everyone that enters the states received a visa. This is very far from the current state of affairs. Although I don't know exactly how the author came into the country, there are countless ways to sneak in.

I've been addicted to these documentaries on Netflix lately, but they seem to glance over those precious details.

This is a general pet peeve of mine - I hate it when people present "rags to riches" or "prison to freedom" stories without giving a real sense of the "how" part. To me that is where the real story and the real character lies. Too often stories focus on the pain and suffering alone and the stories feel very incomplete to me. That is also why I kike reading biographies or autobiographies, because there finally the focus shifts from "what" to "how".

update: this was a general comment, not specific to this article where the writer might need to protect her family and thus have good reason not to go into details.

Seems easy enough to verify. Just check what language they speak and with what accent.

Refugee's are a separate category altogether -- did you go through the refugee process?

This law: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korean_Human_Rights_Act_o... offers details on how the US treats North Korean refugee's and should provide a springboard for more research.

Interesting, no I went through the regular process. Thanks fir the link.

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