North Korean defector
Why I Decline 'North Korean Defector' Interview Requests
Over the past few years, journalists from all sorts of global media have contacted me to get my ‘defector point of view’ on all things North Korean. And the current inter-Korean drama has been yet another occasion. A famous European TV station crew, flying to South Korea for the Apr.
Meet North Korea’s Former Elite Journalist
Kim Gil-sun is an ex-journalist from Pyongyang. She worked for 17 years at the publishing arm of the Academy of National Defense Science, which is in charge of its missile program. For nearly two decades before defecting in the late 1990s, Kim had close contact with the confidential sectors within
North Korean Soldier's Choco Pie (NOT Lifetime Supply)
Last month, Oh Chung-sung, a 24-year-old North Korean soldier, made an audacious sprint across the intensely guarded border that separates North and South Korea. He was dragged to safety by South Korean soldiers after fleeing a hail of gunfire. He sustained five gunshot wounds, and after undergoing surgeries, he woke
How Do North Korean Defectors View South Korea?
It’s easy to say that South Korea must be a paradise for the North Koreans who flee the brutal communist regime and make their new home in South Korea. But for many such defectors, the process of relocating to the capitalist country can also be a painful experience. It
Inside the North Korean Military: The Plight of Women
Just over 10 years ago, North Korean defector Lee Da-eun would not have imagined munching on fried chicken topped with gooey cheese, at a faux-military restaurant surrounded by ammunition and gas masks. Back then, she was more familiar with slaughtering a chicken or holding a real gun, working for the
A Candlelight Effect: Kim Jong-un Bows to His People
This concern [to improve the lives of the citizens] was in my heart, but I lacked the ability to see these dreams to fruition and spent the last year in regret and guilt. If I ask you to guess who the quote above is from, what name comes to
Beyond Blood and Bloody Relations
My grandmother was born in Inje County, Gangwon Province, in what is now South Korea. She was displaced by the division of the peninsula, ending up in the North. I vividly remember her repeatedly saying she wanted to visit Jeju Island before leaving this world. The irony is that I,
The Republic of Konsumerism
Upon entering a supermarket in Seoul for the first time, I was completely lost. What I thought would be a simple challenge became nerve-wrecking: choosing a tube of toothpaste. Everywhere I looked, each product claimed to be better and cheaper than the last. “Three for the price of two”, “20%
A North Korean Views South Korea
It has been more than a decade since I left North Korea, but every time I read George Orwell’s Animal Farm I am reminded of my life back ‘home’. The novel points to the North Korean regime’s hypocrisy without using complex language. Published on 17 August 1945, just