Adapting from life of starvation, state control and censorship to one of freedom and democracy (and supermarkets full of food) can be a shock to the systems.
Kim, 16, still remembers her disbelief as she arrived in Seoul, South Korea and saw aisles lined with meat and vegetables, and street lights turned on for more than two hours a day. It was a different world compared to her home in the North – even if it was just on the other side of the border.
Kim was just ten when her mother decided she could no longer bear the misery, lack of freedom and food deprivation, so decided to flee from North Korea, despite the threat of being killed if they were discovered.
They had to leave the rest of her family, her friends and her school without even having the chance to say goodbye, and crossed a river bordering China on foot under the cover of darkness.
It took the pair eight months to reach South Korea, as her mother used her meager savings to pay smugglers to go from China to enter Laos, Thailand and finally South Korea in 2012.
Kim is now much like any other teenager on the streets of Seoul, where she attends a Christian boarding school, obsessed with American film, ice cream and manga.
New life: Kim, 16, arrived in Seoul, South Korea, five years ago, after an eight month journey from the North through China, Laos and Thailand before reaching their new home
Escape: Kim and her mother left North Korea in 2011, leaving everything they owned and all the people they knew behind, and having to pay smugglers to get safely to Seoul
Back to school: Kim now studies at the YeoMyun school, A Christian boarding school which adapts education to students with special needs such as young North Korean defectors, and even use textbooks specially designed to help fill the gaps of knowledge they have following the restricted education in North Korea
Girls just wanna have fun: On the weekend, the other girls in Kim’s dormitory reunite with their families. while Kim often stays behind alone
Space: The teenager says she uses the peace and quiet when her classmates leave the dorm to rest and read Korean mangas. She will often spend Sunday preparing a surprise meal for her friends when they return, as she loves to cook
Treats: Kim says her guilty pleasure is ice cream. She loves buying a large container to share with her friends while watching a DVD on Sunday night, before school starts again
Different way: Discipline in the classroom at Kim’s school is more relaxed than in many others in Korea. While some students, including Kim, are very attentive, others are sleeping, putting on makeup or eating a snack during lessons
Very relaxed: During an anatomy class, Kim is busy blow-drying her hair under the teacher’s unfazed gaze and finishes class with rollers in her hair. Teachers know that these students have been through trauma when they fled the North, so they deserve special attention.
Memories: As a child in North Korea, Kim and her family were forced to kill and eat her pet rabbits to survive, something which left Kim emotionally scarred for life. Now in South Korea, she fights for animal rights and campaigns against the consumption of dog meat in Seoul, a tradition that is still alive in both Koreas
Memories: There are no pictures of her family in North Korea. She lost everything while crossing the icy river to enter China. The only picture in her possession shows her during a military training in Seoul
A new diet: Kim says she could not believe her eyes when she saw all the shops filled with fruits, vegetables and meat when she arrived in Seoul. While in the North, Kim suffered from anemia, due to the lack of variety and vitamins in her diet which consisted of soup and rice every day – very rarely did she get to eat meat
Discoveries and revelations: She says was amazed to see so many lights in the city, as in North Korea, power was available only two hours a day at best
A whole new world: While in North Korea, South Korean television was banned, and those who broke the law risked going to jail. Kim now revels in the ability to choose, and loves American movies – particularly ones starring Drew Barrymore
Her own tune: Like all children in the North, Kim was taught music at school, and loves playing the drums and the guitar