Pyongyang (CNN)The door opens and seven women walk quietly into the ornate lobby of the Koryo Hotel in Pyongyang. Their faces are expressionless. Most wear little or no makeup, black jackets, and patriotic red lapel pins.
The women, all in their 20s, represent some of the most trusted citizens in the North Korean capital. They come from good families and were chosen for the coveted assignment of working abroad to earn money for their government.
Until earlier this month, they were waitresses at a state-owned and operated restaurant in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, in southern China. Now, that restaurant is closed. And these women's lives have become extraordinarily complicated.
"We would never leave our parents, country, and leader Kim Jong Un. None of us would ever do that," said waitress Han Yun Hui, sobbing alongside her colleagues.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/20/asia/north-korea-restaurant-defectors/index.html