Why has Christianity become the religion of choice for most defectors?
“There’s no religious freedom in North Korea? What are you talking about—there are churches in North Korea. You know less about North Korea than I...
Locals subtly oppose Kim’s reforestation program… ‘Trees Are Planted, But They Don’t Grow’
Authorities in North Hamgyong Province are struggling to deal with the destruction of recently planted trees by local residents. Forestry officials in Hoeryong and other...
North Korea harangues people to exhibit “noble and civilized” standards
Citizens throughout North Korea this month are studying how to “thoroughly establish” noble and civilized socialist moral standards. This is the theme this month of...
Why does North Korea criminalize sex?
The regime in North Korea makes people consider their natural desires shameful. It makes us feel guilty about the desire for sex or the instinct...
Manpower shortage delays planting of this year’s spring wheat and barley
Following a directive on February 27 to agricultural institutions nationwide to complete planting by mid-March, the sowing of spring wheat and barley would appear to...
The capricious dictator
What kind of person is Kim Jong-un? As a former subject, I am genuinely curious about who he really is. But ordinary people like me...
New fence blocks well-trodden escape route into China
China is installing a formidable barbed wire fence with the latest surveillance cameras along a section of its border with North Korea that is used...
North Korean soldiers arrested after watching foreign videos
In North Korea, a person coming into contact with content deemed undesirable by the authorities, including books, images, movies, music, and other media, is considered...
“Wearing unusual clothing is an act of submission to the enemy”
One of the hard-to-imagine aspects of life for young people in North Korea is the inherent danger in any attempt to follow fashions that are...
Ministry of Social Security investigating people over inflation and Russian war complaints
North Korea’s Ministry of Social Security has instructed agencies nationwide to monitor the movements of citizens for expressions of dissatisfaction over the dispatch of troops...
“Singing while eating at a restaurant is an expression of puppet culture”
A recent government video from North Korea gives an idea of how something that would be seen as enjoyable and harmless in any other country...
Copyright in North Korea
For North Koreans, copyright is an unfamiliar concept. That said, if you were to ask whether copyright exists there, my answer would be yes. It’s...
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...
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. ...
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...
When true self-reliance turns on the lights
What image best captures the core difference between the two Koreas? Perhaps it is that famous photograph of the peninsula at night with the stark...