The North Korean classical pianist Cheol Woong Kim gave a special performance and spoke about his experiences escaping to South Korea at a private club in Manhattan on Wednesday.

Born and raised in Pyongyang, the site of the New York Philharmonic’s recent landmark concert, Mr. Kim, 33, spent two years attempting to flee his native country before arriving in South Korea in 2003. This was his debut performance in Manhattan.

“I did not leave North Korea because I was hungry for food, but because I was hungry for music,” Mr. Kim, who gave remarks before and after each piece, said. “People do not leave because they know that they deserve food, but because they know that they deserve freedom.”

Mr. Kim was first exposed to music banned in North Korea when he won the opportunity to study abroad in Russia. He first escaped from North Korea to China in 2001, where he worked as a laborer, transporting trees and living on two scraps of bread a day. He was captured and repatriated twice before reaching safety.

The president of the National Endowment for Democracy, Carl Gershman, introduced Mr. Kim as “a man whose story opens a rare window into his country.”

Performing a total of six pieces, Mr. Kim, who spoke with the help of an interpreter, explained the significance of each piece in his journey for freedom. His first piece, Tchaikovsky’s “November” from “The Seasons,” demonstrated his classical training in Pyongyang. The next two were traditional North Korean pieces, with dramatic chords and thundering crescendos. The fourth was a pop song by Richard Clayderman titled “Autumn Leaves,” the fifth a demonstration of a piece by a North Korean composer, and the sixth a popular nationalist North Korean song titled “Arirang.”

Mr. Kim prefaced the third piece with a story. “The first North Korean who played this piece won first place at the Chopin competition,” Mr. Kim said. The young pianist was rewarded by Kim Jong-il with the opportunity to study abroad at a prestigious music school. The musician, aware of the music school’s high standards, said that he wanted more time to practice before attending. Angry that his orders were not being followed, Kim Jong Il sentenced the boy to 10 years of hard labor.

When he finished the second and third pieces, Mr. Kim arrived at the microphone panting slightly. “After I perform North Korean pieces, I often lose my breath,” he explained.

Mr. Kim described his fourth piece, a sweet, slow pop ballad by Richard Clayderman, as “life-changing.”

“It is a result of playing this piece that I escaped from North Korea,” he said. “Richard Clayderman was forbidden, but I was practicing this piece because I wanted to dedicate it to a girl.” He had heard the piece when he was in Russia, and all the other pieces he was allowed to play in North Korea were, as he put it, “too stiff” for him to play in courtship; he wanted something “soft.”

Someone in North Korea overheard him practicing, however, and reported him. For punishment, he had to write 10 pages of repentance, after which he made the decision to escape. “At that point I almost hated this piece,” he said. “But now I am thankful. It showed me what freedom was.”

When an audience member asked him about the girl for whom he had been practicing the song, Mr. Kim looked down for a moment before answering: “She’s still in North Korea.”

Mr. Kim also spoke about the New York Philharmonic’s recent performance in North Korea. Mr. Kim regarded the trip as a success because the orchestra’s music had been broadcast publicly for all North Koreans to hear. “The contract through which the Philharmonic came to North Korea was superbly arranged,” he said. “In order to change North Korean people, you need to engage.”

Still, the North Korean government is not quick to change. It bans most new music, which can becomes monotonous for musicians and audiences alike. “Official music has not changed in many years, and people in North Korea have actually gotten very sick of that music,” Mr. Kim said.

Freedom does not come without challenges, however. “One of the hardest things I have experienced since leaving North Korea is having to choose what to play,” he said.