By Jonathan Samuels, Australia Correspondent
A young woman who escaped from North Korea with her mother and brother has been reunited with an Australian good Samaritan who came to their rescue.
Hyeonseo Lee fled North Korea three years ago when she was just 17, making the treacherous journey through China to South East Asia.
The family crossed into Laos, but Hyeonseo's mother and brother were detained at the border and put in prison.
Desperate, in tears and with no money she was spotted in a café by Australian backpacker Dick Stolp, who gave her £645 to pay prison officials to release her family.
They went their separate ways, but Hyeonseo has always wanted to thank Mr Stolp in person.
With recent events in North Korea highlighting the grip the regime has on its population, an Australian TV programme looking at the issues involved brought the pair back together in an emotional surprise reunion.
"I was really happy, but I can't explain the feeling, I can't explain with words, but it was really amazing" Hyeonseo told Sky News.
"There were television cameras everywhere so it was hard to express my emotions, but I am so happy."
Hyeonseo described the prison from which her mother and brother were rescued.
"The conditions were really horrible. Dirty water, killers, murderers, my mum told me. I was so scared."
Describing Mr Stolp she explained: "He says I'm not a hero, but I say he is a modern hero."
Hyeonseo Lee during her visit to Australia Dick Stolp says he doesn't need thanks, he is just glad he could make a difference.
"You help a small hand and it reaches to other hands and you think that's great, that's good stuff."
The associate producer of SBS Television's Insight programme, Luan McKenna, explained how hard it was keeping the reunion a secret.
"The whole operation was fraught with difficulty and was almost foiled by Hyeonseo's reluctance to come to Sydney without knowing Dick was coming," Mr McKenna writes in his blog.
"But it was worth it to see her face when she met Dick in the SBS foyer. ... After all, not only did his money get Hyeonseo, her mother and her brother to safety - it was also an act of kindness that restored her faith in humanity."
Hyeonseo now lives in Seoul where she helps other North Korean refugees, and gives lectures around the world about the difficulties facing the friends and family she left behind.
Mr Stolp says he is happy to see her making a difference.
"I'm meeting someone who is now doing good things, and inside I can't help but feel 'Hey! I helped this lady to go out and change her life'," he said.
"People have been touched (by the story) and hopefully they will go and do something."
Food shortages, indoctrination and labour camps are just some of what Hyeonseo left behind.
She says the kindness of a stranger was in contrast to the darker side of human nature she witnessed in North Korea, adding that such kindness has given her hope for the future of her country.
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