Kim Jong-un’s new border wall could be a sign that his grip on North Korea is slipping | Timothy Cho

The route I used to escape is now closed - but new technology makes it increasingly hard to keep the population under control

• Timothy Cho campaigns for religious freedom in North Korea with the charity Open Doors

When I was a kid, I had a friend who was a smuggler. You tell anyone about this - our lives are over," he threatened, and suddenly grinned, delightedly revealing his prize: the latest 007 movie, Die Another Day.

Two decades ago, viewing foreign material in North Korea was highly dangerous - and it is the same today. The news that a two-year-old toddler has been sentenced to life imprisonment - because his parents were caught with a Bible - does not surprise anyone who observes the state's cruelty to those who prefer not to worship the Kim family.