Eight and a half years ago, a North Korean orphan walked onto a stage in South Africa, never imagining how the next 7 minutes would change her life. In the Spring issue of Biola Magazine, writer Joanna Wu tells the story of Sarah Chang’s freedom journey from the persecution and heartbreak in her North Korean homeland to her joyful graduation from Biola University this past December and plans for the future.
The following is an excerpt from the article.
It was the first speech Sarah had ever given. She wasn’t even fluent in English at the time.
She began by introducing herself, reading the carefully practiced English translation of a speech she had originally written. She was born into a wealthy family, she continued. Her parents and many of her relatives worked for the government, her father an assistant to Kim Jong-il, former supreme leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Sarah was only 6 when her family escaped to China with the help of a hired broker. Her parents were motivated to escape the North Korean regime because they wanted their only daughter to experience freedom.
In North Korea, the Kim family were considered the supreme leaders and the North Korean people were expected to worship them like gods. If anybody said anything negative about the Kim dynasty or the government, they risked retaliation and imprisonment.
Sarah’s mother was imprisoned for a few months when she was pregnant with her second child and while in prison, she lost her baby. Sarah’s father was shocked by the government’s treatment of his wife, after so many years of loyal service. The family became determined to escape.
When they made it to China, one of their relatives took them to church and an American missionary eventually led her parents to Christ. But within months of their escape, Sarah’s mother passed away from leukemia while pregnant again with another child…
Click here to read the entire story as she is ready to take the next step in her unlikely journey of faith and freedom.
Source & Photo Credit: Biola University