From hunger to freedom: 30 years of changing reasons to escape North Korea
During the famine of the 1990s, estimates of the numbers who starved to death or died from related illnesses ranged from 240,000 to over three...
Dismantled communications network makes life worse for North Korean dissidents
The Korean Peninsula is witnessing a potential renewal of hostilities due to an even more emboldened North Korea post its involvement in Russia and with...
North Korea marks 77th anniversary of national founding with a one-day break… Farm workers mobilized for harvest
On the occasion of the 77th anniversary of the national foundation day on September 9, workers at factories, enterprises, and farms were officially given the...
Can a female leader emerge in patriarchal North Korea?
Kim Jong-un has been repeatedly exposing his daughter, Kim Ju-ae, to public events, fueling discourse around leadership succession. Her appearances go beyond simply showcasing the...
Sticking your head out between the bars, What is the explanation for the new Yalu River cruise?
North Korea has been running river cruises since April along the Yalu River that forms the border with China in a development that is so...
What will bring change to North Korea?
Once thought of as the most rigid of societies where change was not possible under the heavy grip of dictatorship and indoctrination, North Korea has...
North Korea under lockdown: My COVID experience (Part 6)
Everything started changing in North Korea in January 2020, when the border was suddenly closed. At first, we thought it would just be temporary, that...
Evolving North Korean rights abuses – state-sponsored human trafficking
Young North Korean men sent to fight Russia’s war in Ukraine are caught up in a new kind of modern-day slavery. They have no idea...
The end of free medical care: My COVID experience in North Korea (Part 5)
During the pandemic, we would often see soldiers on TV and in movies in protective suits handing out medicine and checking people’s temperatures during the pandemic.
Marathons, memes, and misunderstanding: The West’s flawed view of North Korea
On April 6, when Scottish YouTuber Lewis Buchan set off through the streets with thousands of other runners at the start of the annual Pyongyang...
My COVID experience in North Korea (Part 4)
Most people naturally assume that when you get sick, you can go to the hospital, get a prescription, receive treatment, maybe even get vaccinated. But in North Korea, none of that was taken for granted.
How pro-North Korean activists and their friends tried to suppress a human rights documentary
By Lawrence Peck When Leo McCarey, director and producer of “Going My Way,” starring Bing Crosby as a Catholic priest, was testifying before Congress and...
As young people embrace the finger heart, the regime is yet to respond
Korea’s finger heart, arm heart, and cheek heart gestures have recently gained wide global popularity. Now, reports suggest that even in North Korea, they have...