The landmines were supposed to keep enemies out. Who were they really keeping in?
A few days ago, a news report left me staring at the screen, unable to look away. On Sept. 21, three South Korean soldiers were...
For North Korean footballers, Japan is more than just an opponent
Watching North Korea’s recent men’s football match against Japan brought back memories of the education I received at school many years ago. North Korea lost...
Under the same full moon, two versions of the same holiday
South Korea’s roads were already growing crowded ahead of the traditional Chuseok harvest festival holiday. Traffic worry is an integral feature of the three-day holiday...
The freedom to ask: Where should we go today?
When I was a child in North Korea, I once wanted to visit my uncle. It sounds like an ordinary thing for a child to...
When the past became hope
Today, I came across an article with a photograph of Kim Jong-un smiling brightly. The moment I saw his face as he waved to the...
Why is North Korea sending women to Russia?
I recently saw a report about an advertisement on an online marketplace offering to supply 40 North Korean female workers to a single workplace. According...
North Korea calls China a ‘brother.’ So why does it erase China from history?
A few days ago, as I watched television images of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pyongyang, I was struck by a familiar dissonance. The...
Pyongyang’s lights are North Korea’s greatest lie
To outsiders, North Korea seems to be changing and for the better. More cars fill the streets. Young people carry smartphones. New apartment buildings glow...
Cry unification: the word that refuses to die
Last weekend, while watching news reports about North Korea's latest policy shift, I was stunned into silence. Before my escape, I grew up with the...
A North Korean team wins a trophy in South Korea. The victory raised harder questions about freedom.
Sign up here. North Korea’s Naegohyang Women’s Football Club lifted a trophy on South Korean soil. On May 23, in the AFC Women’s Champions League...
North Korea’s COVID quarantine was a performance built on fear and deception
One night during the COVID-19 pandemic, while I was still living under quarantine in North Korea, I saw a group of people gathered around a...
The unspoken burden of being a woman in North Korea
A few days ago, I was interviewed about the lives of women in North Korea. At first, I thought I would simply speak about what...
Women footballers return to the South but an invisible DMZ remains
Sign up here. As May warms the land, one piece of news has lingered in my mind. On May 20, women from a North Korean...
“Set your eyes upon the world” the regime said, so why does watching a TV drama carry a 10-year sentence?
Sign up here. What is life? For me, it is a journey of discovery, of understanding what I am good at and enjoy, and then engaging...
Why North Koreans are unable to understand South Korea
Born and raised in North Korean society, for many years my world was confined within its borders. I lived, breathed, and believed in the narratives...
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...
Is Kim Ju-ae being groomed for a support role?
One question that keeps surfacing in the news these days is whether Kim Ju-ae will be anointed the official successor to her father, North Korean...
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...