Overseas experts worry how North Korea might use AI
North Korea is using artificial intelligence to assist its extensive hacking activity and appears to be exploring the possibility of developing its own generative AI,...
Will wheat solve the food problem?
Kim Jong-un is trying to shift food production over from corn over to rice, wheat, and barley, and the party’s daily rodong sinmun is reporting,...
Kim Yo-jong’s whopper: Poop balloons represent “People’s Freedom of Expression”
North Korea launched 300 more balloons full of trash and poop in South Korea’s direction this weekend. The latest tit-for-tat barrage began at the end...
Home delivery in North Korea
With around five million people, or 19% of the population, owning mobile phones, delivery service through online platforms is making its appearance in North Korea. ...
Why are North Korean defectors conservative?
Nine out of ten North Korean defectors in South Korea support conservative parties. In National Assembly elections in 2012, for example, the turnout among defectors...
The consequences of loyalty and disloyalty in North Korea
Towards the end of his long career, Kim Ki-nam had good reason to worry about his future. As North Korea’s longtime propaganda chief, he had...
When free medical treatment is not free
"Oh, are you a North Korean defector?" the South Korean man at the book club asked me politely. "If it's not too intrusive, may I...
5-jang 6-ki: What a North Korean woman needs for her dowry
I love Pride and Prejudice so much that I've watched it dozens of times. It gets praised a lot for the wonderful story and beautiful...
“Loyalty is a form of business marketing”
Recent defectors from North Korea are different from the earlier generation who have settled in South Korea in one notable aspect. That is, that they...
By honoring defectors is South Korea unintentionally erecting a barrier to integration?
When I started English lessons again when I was 20, the first topic in the textbook was St. Patrick's Day in America. This celebration of...
South Korea is making it more difficult for defectors to send money to their families
“I once cried and swore all night, praying the broker who stole my money would die. I lost all I had. After that, I borrowed...
Private tutoring is catching on in North Korea
The American philosopher, psychologist and educator John Dewey, who advocated functional psychology and had a significant influence on the American school system, famously said that...
Call me oppa: the changing dating culture in Kim Jong-un’s Korea
“Don’t wait for a man who’s in the military. In fact, don’t date anybody who is going to go into the military.” This is something...
My mother, the Iron Lady
One of my most terrifying memories was the day the secret police ransacked our family’s house. Three men barged in and one of them barked...
The Differing Views of North Korean Women on Human Rights Activism
Why is it that women who defect from North Korea and come straight to South Korea have a different attitude to human rights activism than...
Collecting Taxes in the Country of No Taxation
Back in June 2018, after watching news of the summit between Kim Jong Un and then-US President Donald J. Trump on TV, a friend in my hometown had a quirky suggestion.
“Music Politics” Shows the Changing View of Women in North Korea
In recent years, the changing role of women in North Korean society, brought on by the famine of the 1990s, has become apparent through the...
The Rising Use of Cell Phones in North Korea: Catalyst for Change or Instrument of Control?
One of the few privileges I had as a child in North Korea was living next to a post office (referred to as cheshinso in North Korea). Since most North Koreans didn’t have their own phones at the time, they had to make phone calls at the post office.