Million Dollar Baby

WBA women's featherweight champion Choi Hyun-mi is no ordinary North Korean refugee. Born in Pyongyang, she joined the boxing team at the prestigious Kim Chul-joo Educational University in 2003 at the tender age of 13. The team was formed in anticipation of women's boxing becoming an Olympic sport in the 2008 Beijing games.

"Government scouts in North Korea detected Ms. Choi’s potential when she was 13," said the NY Times. "Ms. Choi, now 5 feet 7 inches, was almost a head taller than her peers in a country where many children suffer from malnourishment, and she was faster than anyone in her school in Pyongyang, the North’s capital."

"In 2003, she was approached by the head coach of the prestigious Kim Chul-joo Educational University in Pyongyang, who was developing a national women’s team in the hope that women’s boxing would be added as an event in the 2008 Olympics.

"She was the youngest of the 20 girls the government trained, encouraging them with more food and a cash allowance. (The International Olympic Committee, however, decided not to admit women’s boxing as an Olympic sport.)"

Of course, winning over her parents wasn't easy.

"Fellow 13-year-olds were working up a sweat punching bags, but to Choi their efforts looked beautiful. She then had to win over her parents, who were firmly opposed to a daughter in the ring," the AFP said.

"So I recorded a video of me defeating other fighters and showed it to my parents after practising for three months secretly," Choi told AFP in an interview. Her parents gave her their permission.


The Terror in the Neighborhood

From an early age, she was a "terror" in her neighborhood, her parents recalled.

"Once, she chased a boy who had beaten up her older brother to his home and challenged him to a fight," the NY Times wrote. "Her stunned father bought her an accordion, hoping to divert her energies into music."

But "sitting with a musical instrument was not my style," she said.

"I think I was born to box," said Choi.

Among North Koreans, her family was relatively privileged. Her father was a successful businessman by North Korean standards. According to the NY Times, "her family had lived a life of relative comfort in North Korea. Her father traveled overseas for his state-owned company, which exported zinc to China and sea urchins to Japan. The family's apartment was stocked with Japanese appliances."

"I dressed my children in nothing but Japanese clothes," said her father, Choi Chul Soo, a name he adopted in the South. "But in North Korea, even if you were rich, you were always under surveillance. People disappeared."


The Escape

During a business trip to China in 2004, Choi's father decided to flee to the South. Her father sent for his family and bribed border guards. "The high-risk escape was carefully disguised as a family trip to China," the AFP said. Eventually, they made their way to Vietnam where they would spend four months hiding in hotel rooms before being allowed into S Korea along with 460 other defectors, the largest group of northern defectors ever to land in the South.

"I was too young to understand what it took, and what it meant. But I said yes because I longed for a new environment," Choi said.

In South Korea, a difficult transition would begin.

"I literally thought I would live in a three-storey building where there was a swimming pool. I imagined living like a princess, wearing dresses. But the reality was different," said Choi.



Instead, the family lived in a "rented apartment half the size of the one they had in Pyongyang. Choi's father found himself jobless in South Korea, dependent on government subsidies for North Korean defectors."

"I sometimes miss my life in North Korea and wonder whether I made a right choice," the father said with a sigh.

Choi's schooling wasn't going so well either. "At first she was thrilled about the fact that she could study like others and live a normal life," the AFP said. "But she started to get angry when she could not match the school grades she achieved in North Korea, and decided to seek success in the boxing ring."


The Call of the Ring

"I was desperate," recalled Choi, of her decision to lace up her gloves again after her family had escaped from North Korea to Seoul, the Korea Times wrote.

"Since my family came to Korea (in 2004), my parents had a lot of difficulty finding jobs here," the World Boxing Association (WBA) women’s featherweight championship said in an interview with The Korea Times at her gym in Seoul. "Boxing was the only thing I did well at that time because I boxed in the North."

"I felt the need to help my family and make up for their never-ending support and love," said Choi.

She entered amateur contests in 2006 and immediately became a dominant force in the women's boxing scene, claiming five titles and going 16-1. But "for the talented young female boxer, who was getting paid to box in North Korea, the amateur stage was not lucrative, despite her dominance," the Korea Times said.

"Frankly speaking, it was easy, because I had trained so much as an Olympic hopeful in the North. I never hit the wall as an amateur," she said.

Not making enough money to support her family in the amateur circuit, Choi decided to turn pro in 2007. She was still in high school.

"I liked boxing and I was very confident, so I never felt pressure," she said.

In just her second pro bout, Choi challenged then champion Xu Chunyan of China in Oct. 11, 2008, and became the youngest male or female champion in the history of Korean boxing and only one of five S Korean women to hold a boxing championship title.

"I could not believe that I won the world title. The road to get there was difficult enough to make me think about quitting the sport several times," she said. "But boxing was my last resort, so I could not give it up."

"Frankly speaking, I don't remember how I felt or what I thought," Choi said, tears in her eyes as she recalled the moment, according to the AFP. "Everything was just passing before me like a panorama. The only thing I thought while preparing for the fight was that there is no such thing as defeat. No matter what, I had to win and I was going to win."

The NY Times said that "it was not an easy match. Ms. Choi’s more experienced opponent landed many punches. But she eventually tired, and Ms. Choi used her straight punches to dominate the later rounds. Her coach, Kim Han-sang, said Ms. Choi’s height gave her an advantage."



"When I returned to my corner between rounds of my championship bout, I glimpsed down at my mother sobbing," Ms. Choi said.

"My parents gave up everything in North Korea to give their children a better life in the South," she added. "I fight for fame and success. Boxing is my way to prove that my parents made the right decision."


Boxing for family, fame and figure

She said she boxed for her family, for fame and for her figure, according to the NY Times. "Boxing makes you curvy," she said, striking a pose with a giggle. "I want to be a pretty girl who does pretty boxing."

As a champion, Choi can earn $10,000 per fight. It's less than what men earn but nonetheless big money for her family.

She has since defended her title twice - a draw to fellow S Korean Kim Hyo-min in May 2009 and a victory over Japan's Tenku Tsubasa last November. In April, she will face Argentina's Claudia Andrea Lopez in her third title defense.

"The champion says she is hooked on what she calls 'the most beautiful physical art' ", according to the AFP.

"If you win and your hand goes up, you get this sudden excitement. It is like an addiction. Boxing is everything in my life. It is my stepping stone."

"Promoters once advertised Choi as 'Defector Girl Boxer' while she is known as 'The Technical Boxer' or 'Beauty Boxer' to her fans," the AFP said.

"I prefer 'beauty boxer'," she said, laughing.

But out of all her nicknames, Choi says her favorite is "Million Dollar Baby," after the 2004 Oscar-winning movie.

"It means I am worth a million dollars, or more. I like that," Choi joked.

"I never back down in the ring," she said, describing herself as a "merciless" fighter, the AFP wrote. "And with my boxing philosophy, I intend to play the most beautiful and fierce game ever."


University Life

In March, Choi will enter a new chapter in her young life, swapping her gloves (for now) for books and paper in university to study sports science.

"I'm already excited about going to lectures at university," she said.



"Although Choi wants to make the most of her four years at university," Chosun Ilbo said, "boxing is still the top priority.

"Although training is so hard that I sometimes feel I want to die, learning about the world of boxing is such fun," she says. "My first goal is to defend my title 10 times."

Choi has become a bit of a celebrity as well. Yoon Seung-ho, her promoter, "alerted the producers of the popular MBC show 'The Unlimited Challenge,' which will air an episode next month looking back at Choi's three-month struggle to prepare for the fight. It was also Yoon who helped Choi get a place at university," said the paper.

A future in entertainment may also be in the cards as well. After a sweep of all the world titles in her weight division, Choi said she wanted to get into the entertainment industry, "where a few former athletes have proved hugely successful."

But at times, Choi is disappointed when people are more interested in her North Korean background than her boxing skills, but "it's my fate," she says. "When I miss my hometown, I run along the Han River, which looks a bit like the Daedong River in Pyongyang."


Inspiration for Others

Despite Choi's struggles, she serves as an inspiration to many North Korean defectors living in the South, facing discrimination and their own personal hardships.

"The young woman who fled from North Korea has become one of South Korea’s most revered faces since winning the 2008 featherweight championship of the World Boxing Association, a title she still holds today," wrote the Christian Science Monitor.



"She overcame all the difficulties and achieved her dreams, though she might have faced discrimination as North Korean woman," says Kim Kyung-soo, a defector in Seoul, using an alias because he fears government reprisals against his family still in North Korea. "She motivates me to get over the difficulties in front of me."

With her increasing fame, Choi is sometimes greeted by public fans. "It’s so great to be the role model for defectors," she says, giving a hearty smile. "They came so far to live a good life, so they need a reason to be cheerful."

About 20,000 defectors live in the South and often struggle to adapt to a very different life, facing both social and economic hardships, including discrimination. According to a 2006 government survey, more than half of defectors said they were unemployed and felt "discriminated against."

For fellow defectors, "watching Choi fight offers an escape from the problems of their everyday lives," CSM said.

"She’s wonderful!" says Choi Kyung-jun, a manager at North Korean Intellectuals’ Solidarity, a group of defectors in Seoul, also using a pseudonym. "She’s so young, and she’s overcome so much to reach her fame. She’s a role model for us all."