COLUMBIA — Grace Jo still remembers having to cross the Tumen River, which forms the border between China and North Korea.

The water was flowing fast after a hard rain, and it reached her mother’s knees. To stay above the water, then 6-year-old Grace had to climb into her mother’s backpack. After an hour, Grace, her mother and her 10-year-old sister successfully reached the other side.

That was one of several stories Jo shared about escaping North Korea during her speech at the Thursday launch of the newly-created MU Institute for Korean Studies.