North Korean defector who escaped prison camp offers $1m bounty to ASSASSINATE Kim Jong-un

Dr Lee and Kim Jong-unPA/FACEBOOK

Dr Lee Ae-ran is offering $1million to anyone who kills Kim Jong-un

Dr Lee Ae-ran suffered savage beatings, starvation and extreme forced labour at the hands of the cruel regime before she managed to escape to South Korea in 1997.

And now she hopes to raise a $1million bounty which she has pledged as a reward to anyone who manages to kill dictator Kim.

Dr Lee, 53, says “world peace isn’t possible” until the despot is dead and revealed she had been considering the idea for years but felt forced to act after US student Otto Warmbier died in June.

The 22-year-old was jailed by a kangaroo court in Pyongyang in 2016 for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster.

Dr Lee Ae-ran and a restaurant customerFACEBOOK

Restaurant owner Dr Lee has so far raised £2,334

I believe North Korea needs to implement a society based on democracy and that Kim Jung Un must be eliminated

Dr Lee Ae-ran


He was sentenced to 15 year hard labour, but after serving 17 months he was released to US officials in a coma and died just days returning to his home in Ohio.

Dr Lee, who runs a restaurant in Seoul, said: “As long as Kim Jung-Un is alive, world peace isn’t possible.

“I believe North Korea needs to implement a society based on democracy and that Kim Jung Un must be eliminated.

“The best way to do that is to assassinate him.”

Dr Lee Ae-ran with human rights activisitsFACEBOOK

Dr Lee Ae-ran (centre) said the death of Otto Warmbier spurred on her bounty idea

Dr Lee conceded killing the hermit state’s supreme leader would be extremely difficult.

Kim’s movements are top secret and even US and South Korean intelligence services are rarely aware of his whereabouts.

But she said she hoped the bounty might encourage someone in his inner circle to turn on the tyrant.

She said: “North Korea is a closed society so of course this will be difficult. 

“So I decided to have a campaign awarding prize money to anyone that could kill him.

“This may motivate people close to him. 

“The fundraising campaign will reward the person who can kill him.”

Dr Lee’s campaign has so far raised £2,334, though she admitted her efforts have alienated some of her loyal customers. 

Dr Lee Ae-ranFACEBOOK

Dr Lee Ae-ran says “world pace isn’t possible” so long as Kim Jong-un is alive

She said: “Some customers strongly support the campaign and have donated to it. 

“Others have gotten angry, said it’s awful and that they won’t return to my restaurant.”

While living in North Korea, Dr Lee, then just aged 10, was exiled to a “nightmare” political prison camp in the mountainous Ryangganag Province.

The brutal regime imprisons entire families even if just one member is alleged to have committed a crime against the state.

Money collected by Dr LeeFACEBOOK

Dr Lee is trying to raise $1million in total which she hopes will motivate someone to kill Kim

Subsequent generations are then seen as “tainted” and considered inherently treacherous, so they are frequently imprisoned as well, despite never having been accused of any crime or having met their ‘criminal’ relatives. 

Dr Lee’s family eventually risked execution by breaking out of the prison camp and escaping in to neighbouring China, then eventually on to South Korea after months of travelling. 

She was forced to leave her husband behind in North Korea. 

Dr Lee was awarded the 2010 International Women of Courage award by the US Government and now campaigns as a human rights activist as well as teaching other female defectors how to adapt to life in the South.