Korean refugee who works at George W. Bush Institute will start new chapter at Harvard

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There's an empty bin in Joseph Kim's office at the George W. Bush Institute in Dallas. He hasn't started packing yet for his next chapter.

"For me that means helping people," Kim said. "I am sad to leave and I will miss them."

Kim is a Global Policy Program Director at the Bush Institute. "Supporting North Korean defectors like," like him. "Providing scholarships to go to colleges."

When Kim was 12 years old he was orphaned and begging for food in the streets of North Korea. Kim said his father died of starvation, his mother was in prison, and his sister was sold into marriage in China.

"North Korea is one of the darkest place on Earth when it comes to human rights abuses and lack of freedoms," Kim said. "So I decide to escape North Korea and I knew it was risky, but I didn't really have much other choice."

He fled over the border to China and then got refugee status to come to the United States. Kim was among the first refugees selected for one of the George W. Bush Institute's Lindsay Lloyd North Korea Freedom Scholarships, allowing him to go to college.

"President Bush is, ah, one of the kindest person I can think of," Kim said. "He invited North Korean defectors like myself to the Bush Institute, and that was my first time meeting him in person."

Fast forward a few years, and Kim was working for the Bush Institute. That will end at the end of June. Kim is leaving to pursue a master's degree in public administration at Harvard University.

"I mean, my story is about hope and resilience," Kim said. "But this story would not have been possible without the concept of generosity toward strangers."

Strangers that become friends. Kim is the subject of one of President Bush's paintings. "I see a better version of myself," Kim said about the portrait.

"The life that I have today is an incredible gift," Kim said. "And I want to appreciate it."