The dictator’s women
One day in July 2012, North Korea’s state media made a grand announcement. The First Lady, Ri Sol-ju, wife of the new leader Kim Jong-un,...
Obstacles to divorce force couples to live double lives
An increasing number of couples in North Korea live separately without divorcing and, at the same time, younger couples are increasingly living together without marrying. ...
Crackdown on smoking doesn’t stop Kim Jong-un from lighting up
North Korea has launched an educational campaign telling people to get with the times and stop smoking, but the chain-smoking leader Kim Jong-un doesn’t appear...
Busting of a smuggling ring in Guangxi Province blocks commonly used North Korean escape routes
Police have busted an extensive smuggling ring in China’s southernmost port, near the border with Vietnam, which has made it more difficult for escaping North...
Neighborhood watch units now expected to do police work
Police in North Korea are handing responsibility for local crime to neighborhood watch units. Untrained residents are even being held accountable for crimes in their...
Women forced into military service face increasing sexual abuse
After graduating from middle school in Chongjin, North Hamgyong Province in 2019, Kwon (not her real name) enlisted in the Korean People's Army, determined to...
The logging company that functions like a labor camp
When Choi, 57, failed to turn up for work at the Pihyon Logging Company at the end of May, the work unit sent someone over...
Residents complain about Pyongyang’s fancy new apartments
It has been three years since people moved into their apartments in the futuristic 83-story Songhwa Street Main Tower in Pyongyang and they’re not happy. ...
North Korean defectors rally in support of Venezuelan pro-democracy protesters
Representatives of leading South Korean civil society organizations and North Korean defectors gathered in Seoul, Republic of Korea, on August 17 to condemn Maduro’s attempts...
Ministries under pressure to meet research goals and improve conditions for scientists and engineers
The government in North Korea appears to be making a big push on science and technology to underpin its economic development plans. This has been...
Evidence of slavery: North Korean workers evaluation
Formal evaluation of employees may be a regular feature of corporate life, but the North Korean version, given the virtues and transgressions it highlights, and...
600 escapees repatriated from China are sentenced to life in the gulag
Six hundred North Korean escapees who were rounded up last year in China and forcibly repatriated have been given life sentences in political prison camps...
Pyongyang cracks down on Russian cultural content
North Korea has ordered a ban on Russian media and started cracking down on Russian cultural content. The move flies in the face of the...