Seoul ( CNN ) -- As the snow falls and the wind bites on a stark winter 's day in Seoul , a lady rugged up in a green woolen overcoat and scarf arrives at a church nestled among shops and office buildings . Kim Ha-young comes in from the cold and greets me with a warm and gentle smile . She shakes my hand - her gold wedding band still on display . It 's not her real name but she ca n't afford to reveal her true identity : She believes that would place her family in serious danger and she 's lost far too much already . It 's almost two years since she found her husband , Kim Chang-hwan , foaming at the mouth in the Chinese city of Dandong on the North Korean border . The 46-year-old father of two had been working as a missionary , helping North Korean defectors escape across the border . Kim Ha-young was living in the border city as well , helping her husband . She had just spoken to her husband 15 minutes earlier . `` He told me he was meeting a North Korean defector and would then come home . A short time later I got a call from one of his colleagues who said ( my husband ) collapsed on the street and he told me to rush to the hospital , '' she said . `` When I got there he was dead . '' Hospital officials said Kim Chang-hwan had committed suicide by swallowing pesticides . His wife believes he was killed by a North Korean agent . `` My husband was aware of the risk . People around us were telling us that it is a dangerous job because North Korean government will severely deal with people who helped North Koreans defect , '' she said . Defectors describe horror , heartbreak in North Korea 's labor camps . `` But I did not think that my husband would never come back . We never expected that it would cost a life . We thought maybe the risk was prison or being expelled from the country by Chinese government . We never thought that it would cost his life . '' Refusing to accept the hospital 's explanation for her husband 's death , Kim Ha-young demanded the Chinese government conduct an autopsy . The autopsy report came back saying there was no poison in his system . Fearful of a cover-up , she went to the morgue before his body was cremated and collected samples of his blood on a glove and gave them to South Korean authorities on her return to Seoul . The government report on that blood sample , reviewed by CNN , revealed levels of poison high enough to kill a person instantly . Fellow missionary Seok Sa-hyun said his friend had received threats in the past but nothing could stop him from helping defectors or providing food to North Korea 's malnourished children . `` Mr. Kim established a food company and factory in Dandong and he delivered tofu , noodles , bread and baby milk to North Korea . Mr. Kim provided food and spread God 's word , and so North Korea was threatened by it and put him at the top of their 'terrorist list ' -- I 'm certain they poisoned him . '' One man was arrested on espionage charges in connection to the murder and sentenced to four years in prison , but it 's little comfort to his grieving wife . `` He was too young to die . We had so many plans and dreams . He was taken away from us ... in such a cruel way . '' Defectors hold little hope for new Chinese leadership .
Kim Chang-hwan believes her husband was murdered for helping North Korean to defect . Her husband , Kim Chang-hwan , was found dead in a Chinese town across the Chinese border . Hospital officials said Kim Ha-young had committed suicide by swallowing pesticides . A blood sample tested in North Korea found high levels of a poison to kill a person .