HarperNorth lands 'harrowing' story of woman who escaped North Korea twice

HarperNorth has landed a “harrowing” story of a woman who escaped famine and terror in North Korea twice.  

Jonathan de Peyer, senior commissioning editor, acquired world English-language rights to The Hard Road Out: Escaping North Korea by Jihyun Park and Seh-Lynn Chai from Caroline Michel at PFD for HarperNorth. The book will publish in May 2022. 

The Hard Road Out follows Park’s story. The first time she escaped North Korea, she was forced to abandon her father on his deathbed, crossing the border under a hail of bullets. In China she was sold to a farmer, with whom she had a son, before being denounced and forcibly returned to North Korea.  

Earlier this year she became the first defector to seek political office outside of the Korean peninsula, when she stood as a councillor in Bury, Greater Manchester. She was granted political asylum in Britain with the aid of the UN in 2008 but has only now felt able to tell her story with the aid of her South Korean co-writer Seh-Lynn Chai, who lives in London. 

The authors said: “This is a book for anyone who wants to believe in hope and reconciliation.” 

De Peyer said: “I was gripped from the first line of this astonishing story of survival and humbled by Jihyun’s indomitable spirit. Hers is a story for the ages, bearing witness to the unspeakable but often overlooked human-rights abuses perpetrated by one of the world’s most tyrannical regimes. And crucially, that story is relayed in her own words, on her own terms. I think anyone who has read Philippe Sands, Barbara Demick and Yeonmi Park will find much to admire here.”