Rising oil prices send ordinary North Koreans into survival mode
When I escaped from North Korea and came to South Korea in May 2023, I had no way of knowing when or how deeply the...
Kim Jong-un’s emphasis on women is core part of regime survival strategy
For Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, women are “incomparably beautiful beings” who are indispensable to the revolution and to nation-building. This was how he described them...
The value of a being a Party member
(Part Two) The most important factor for advancement is never ability or loyalty. It is family background. If your parents worked in the security services,...
The value of a being a Party member
(Part One) Every North Korean dreams of becoming a member of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea. Why? To be more loyal to the Party...
Power, the dinner table, and the cold sea
If a fisherman working for Songhak Fisheries dies on a boat on the icy winter waters of the Yellow Sea, the boat does not return...
The people at the front are the poorest: The life of a Party member
Today, watching the news, I suddenly found myself thinking about North Korea again. There was the propaganda, once again declaring that “the Party devotes itself...
New propaganda material aims to enforce loyalty amid declining faith in leadership
Study reference materials for the party faithful published last month by the Korea Workers’ Party Publishing House, provide a good indication of how the Kim...
Can Chanel bags spark a revolution?
For those who have fled North Korea in search of freedom and arrived in the South, certain questions always follow. For example, how can we...
Anti-socialist and non-socialist struggle video reveals changing lifestyles (Part 1)
An educational video, produced by North Korean authorities and obtained by NK Insider, highlights recent propaganda efforts to eradicate “anti-socialist” and “non-socialist” behavior. The video,...
2026: In a world hungrier than ever for electricity, nuclear-armed North Korea is unable to power daily life
Dandong, the Chinese port of 2.4 million on the North Korean border, remains brightly lit well into the night. At 9 p.m., neon signs glow...
The low status and sorry life of scientists in North Korea
“Plant your feet firmly on your own soil, and set your eyes upon the world.” There is not a single university student in North Korea...
Pressure on all citizens to supply fertilizer creates a clandestine trade
Fertilizer has recently become a significant commodity in North Korea. Sources reached in the northern provinces bordering on China say that the official setting of...
2026 calendars reveal regime priorities: Nuclear weapons, hereditary rule, and tourism
North Korea has unveiled its 2026 New Year calendars and, true to form, they feature beautiful scenery and missiles. That is because, in the isolated,...
My life, and the lives of Koreans who relocated from Japan to North Korea
I sometimes wonder how it would have been if South Korea had not been a nation of single ethnicity but a multi-ethnic country. Would I...
For children, learning loyalty to the leader is more important than classes
Children born in North Korea grow up with the word “loyalty” from their earliest years. This word does not refer simply to moral education or...
New system for distribution grain to farmers based on performance, Not everyone is happy
North Korea has changed its method of grain distribution in collective farms, but the new system that began this fall is already causing problems. The...
The criminalizing of divorce to maintain the fiction of the happy socialist society
In North Korea, marriage is considered a lifelong bond, but the cultural and political framework transforms it into a tool of state control.Divorce is not...
Party to hold annual review meetings early this year… Members fear public criticism
Ruling Workers’ Party members in the regions have been instructed to hold their annual year-end party “review meetings” earlier than usual and are braced for...