North Korea's heavily fortified borders offer few glimpses of life inside the secretive communist state, but hundreds of people risk their lives and defect to neighbouring countries every year.<br /><br />What they bring with them are the few reliable accounts of the hardship of daily life and brutality under Kim Jong-il's totalitarian rule.<br /><br />Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley met some of them in their new home in South Korea, where they feel increasingly like outcasts. (Oct 02, 2010)
