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Outlook: 'I Want to Go Back to North Korea'

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Kim Ryen-hi

30/09/2015 GMT

'I Want to Go Back to North Korea'

BBC World Service - Outlook, 'I Want to Go Back to North Korea'

Kim Ryen-hi is a North Korean defector who is trying to return home

Kim Ryen-hi is a North Korean defector who is trying to return home.

Four years ago Kim Ryen-hi left her family in North Korea to visit her cousin in China. She ended up defecting to South Korea. But now she has become the only known defector to try to return to the North - a country known as one of the world's most secretive and repressive states. She says her defection was all a terrible mistake, and she has gone to great lengths to get back. But her efforts have got her into serious trouble with the South Korean authorities.

Walter Mugwe is a professional yoga teacher giving free lessons to poor communities across Africa with the Africa Yoga Project. But his childhood years were very different. Walter grew up as one of six children in a notorious slum area of Kenya's capital Nairobi. His father died in a car accident when he was just seven years old and despite his youth, Walter took on the responsibility of providing for the family.

The Polish cellist Dominik Polonski was a child prodigy who performed in concert halls around the world. In 2004, at the height of his career, he was diagnosed with a serious brain tumour which meant he could no longer use his left hand. But as he tells Anna Bailey, he did not let this stop him playing and he is now the only cellist in the world to play with just his right hand. 

Laura Hospes is a 21-year-old Dutch photographer who has made her name with a series of intimate self portraits. What is remarkable is that Laura took the photos whilst she was being treated in a psychiatric ward. She was admitted to hospital earlier this year after suffering a period of severe depression and attempting to take her own life.

(Photo: Kim Ryen-hi with kind permission from Kim)

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