A man whose early life in North Korea was so bleak that he was prepared to be shot in the back while making a break for freedom across the Chinese border has told his story after defecting to Japan in 2017.

The man is one of many to have become involved with an Osaka-based charity that addresses North Korean human rights issues.

The organisation provides speaking opportunities for North Korean defectors on podcasts and other platforms, allowing them to share information about the realities of life in their insular home country.

While most attention in Japan and globally is given to North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, Hong Kyong Ui, the 66-year-old co-leader of the NGO Free2move, wants to spark “interest in the people living there as well”.

“When I woke up in the morning, my only thought was about how to get food. I never thought the country was bad,” the 29-year-old defector, whose name is withheld to protect his identity, explained during a study session hosted by the non-profit in Osaka in June.

The man was separated from his mother, a second-generation Korean born in Japan, at age six and put up for adoption. Life was difficult, and by the time he was around 10 years old, he was forced to quit school and start working, cutting down trees and on farms.