Female Defector Describes Harsh Life in N. Korean Army

 Lee So Yeon volunteered to join the North Korea army in 1992, lured in part, she says, by the promise of a daily meal. 

While cautioning that stories of defectors like Lee have to be taken with a grain of salt, the BBC presents an interview with the now 41-year-old about a military experience that she describes as brutal on the body. 

Lee says she was 17 when she enlisted, and she was initially energized by the experience. That quickly gave way. "After six months to a year of service, we wouldn't menstruate anymore because of malnutrition and the stressful environment," she says. The training was tough—essentially equivalent to what the men underwent, just slightly shorter—and they had to do domestic chores that the men didn't.

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