Stateless: How I Helped Nineteen People Get Out of the North Korean Black Hole

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Sagid Salah was born in Seoul, Korea. His parents migrated to Seoul after fleeing the Soviet Union during the Russian Revolution. Their family resided there until the outbreak of the Korean War, when they were captured by North Korean forces and held in various prison camps together with American and other foreign prisoners, both civilian and military, for almost four years.

Sagid's story describes the harsh conditions their prisoner group was subjected to during their forty-three months of captivity, which many in their group did not survive. They witnessed shootings and torture and were subjected to starvation diets and cruel treatment by the North Korean guards, most notably one major who became known as "The Tiger", and sent the group on a 120 mile Death March for nine days through snow and freezing temperatures, with some prisoners weak and sick, and some having only summer clothes and no shoes. At the same time, they made some lifelong friends. Sagid and his five younger siblings were taught languages, writing, electronics and various subject matters and trades by the other internees. Those who made it out, the "Tiger Survivors" continued to gather and have reunions for many years after their return.

At the end of the war, the surviving prisoners were returned to their home countries. Nineteen prisoners remained, who were refugees from the Russian Revolution, and therefore stateless with no home countries to request their return and what appeared to be no hope of getting out of North Korea. At that time, Sagid made a secret deal to get them all back to South Korea. He kept his secret for 65 years, and in his mid-80s decided to write this book and reveal his story.

Author Bio

Sagid Salah was born in Seoul, Korea on September 2, 1932. Both of his parents were from Tatarstan in the former Soviet Union. After fleeing the Soviet Union during the Russian Revolution, they settled in Seoul and ran a clothing business. Sagid attended primary boarding school in Yokohama, Japan and secondary school at the Seoul American School for two years, until the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, when his whole family was captured and held prisoner in North Korea for 43 months. His North Korean prison internment was spent with American and other foreign prisoners, both civilian and military.

After his family's release from North Korea, Sagid immigrated to the United States by himself at the age of 21. He attended Gainesville High School for one semester then enrolled in the University of Florida, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering, Master of Science in Engineering and Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering.

Sagid became a naturalized American citizen on October 6, 1959. This was his first adopted country. He had been considered stateless his entire life until this time.

From 1964 until his retirement in 1993, Sagid held positions with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission as a Nuclear Engineer; for Westinghouse Corporation designing nuclear rocket systems for space exploration and designing nuclear power plants; and with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission as a Nuclear Engineer reviewing and evaluating the safety and operations of U.S. commercial nuclear power plants.

Sagid Salah resides in Northern Virginia with his wife Ravile and enjoys traveling, gardening and astronomy.