Life inside secretive North Korea with permission needed to keep pets and take showers

The defector, who escaped in 2019 aged 23, said whatever the risk, life in North Korea not worth staying - "It's better to die than to live like this"

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attending a celebratory event (

Image: KCNA VIA KNS/AFP via Getty Image)

North Korea is a secretive state known as the 'hermit kingdom' - but now a 25-year-old North Korean defector has lifted the lid on the totalitarian regime.

“Better to die than live like this,” the unnamed woman said from a cafe in Seoul, South Korea.

Some say residents need permission to keep pets, wear blue jeans, have long hair, and even take a hot shower.

According to a United Nations World Food Program report, 10 million people living in North Korea are malnourished.

This comes as Kim Jong-un's army fired two missiles today in a dangerous act of aggression.

The defector, who escaped in 2019 aged 23, said whatever the risk, life in North Korea was not worth staying.

She said they send entire families to concentration camps and make sure to put them on different shifts, so the family is never reunited.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un giving a speech (

Picture:

KCNA VIA KNS/AFP via Getty Image)

Concentration camps are essentially forced labor camps and young children are sent there with little or no formal education.

"It's hard to survive. A lot of the health issues that we see have gone down... [But] it's still a very widespread problem, malnutrition," she said.

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The defector said the government was doing everything it could to make sure the camps were noticed.