SEOUL — In a frigid basement gym reeking of sweat, 14-year-old Choi Hyun Mi hammers a punching bag with ferocious three-punch combinations, her rosy-cheeked face burning with the intensity of an Olympic dreamer.
Her talent was discovered in North Korea, her country of birth, where she was identified at age 11 as a top athlete and given special training and food rations. She fled with her family last year and is back in training, hoping to represent her new home in the ring.
Choi's family lived a privileged life in North Korea; her father was allowed to travel to China to negotiate export deals for the seafood company where he worked. But in South Korea, Choi's parents are unemployed. They rely on the kindness of their daughter's trainers.
It would be a stretch to call her Korea's equivalent of the "Million Dollar Baby" in the Oscar-winning film, but her trainers are excited enough about her prospects to offer their services free.
Choi's father said his decision to defect stemmed from the pressure of being under constant surveillance as a member of the North Korean elite.
"The government watches you and controls you because you have money," he said, speaking on condition his name not be used for fear of repercussions against family still in the North. Other relatives have tried to join them, and his 70-year-old mother is in jail after being arrested in China and sent home for attempting to escape.
Choi said she was walking with friends on a street in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, when a boxing trainer spotted her and saw the makings of a fighter.
At first, her parents were opposed. But the trainer kept coming to their house and urging Choi to sign up, so she left her ordinary schoolgirl life for the privileged world of North Korea's top athletes.
Choi's parents said their daughter told them she wanted to make it to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing because "I want to make Kim Jong Il happy," referring to the North Korean leader.
North Korea relies on outside aid to feed its people, and Choi's parents said adults receive daily rations of about 25 ounces that actually end up at 18 ounces after what they called "taxes."
As a potential star athlete, Choi was guaranteed the full 25-ounce ration along with meat and cooking oil, and all the clothes and equipment she needed.
It wasn't easy, though: She would wake up at 5 a.m. six days a week for a five-mile run, then take classes, then train from 2 to 6 p.m. After dinner she would train another hour. She saw her parents only on Sundays.
