"I'm used to being excluded and feeling unwelcome. I've been a hoodlum my whole life. They want to tell me I'm stealing her? F*ck it. Okay, I'm stealing her."
--Mark D. Diehl, South Korea, 1994

Mark, a recent college graduate and part-time delinquent, showed up in South Korea with $20 and a dubious offer to teach English. Jennifer was the smart, independent second daughter of one of Korea's most influential families. They fell in love in a country where even sitting together brought angry stares, taunts, and threats. Their employer forbade the relationship, but they continued to meet in secret until Jennifer's family grew suspicious and had her followed. Their subsequent efforts to separate the couple were relentless, vindictive and increasingly violent, forcing Mark and Jennifer to abandon everything and flee together to Hong Kong. They both realized that the narrow escape did not mean the end of their ordeal, but they could not know how dire their situation was about to become.