Why North Korean news media don’t report news
One day in Pyongyang, in the summer of 1993, I was walking along Tongil Street in the city’s Rangrang district, heading for a bus stop,...
Slaves in uniform: The secret behind North Korean’s ten-year mandatory military service
Around North Korea in late February, there were grand groundbreaking ceremonies for large-scale housing construction projects and new factories. The showy events kicked off this...
A North Korean laborer in Russia tells his story
The author recently interviewed a North Korean defector who, despite UN sanctions which forbid North Korea dispatching laborers overseas, spent several years near St. Petersburg...
North Korean defectors propose democracy activist Kim Seong-min for the National Assembly
North Korean defector organizations have issued an appeal to political parties preparing for next month’s National Assembly elections to include defectors in their line up...
Shouldn’t Kim Ju-ae be in school?
As Kim Jong-un intensifies the confrontation with South Korea, he appears to be raising the profile of his 11-year-old daughter, Ju-ae. Is he positioning her...
Kim’s saber-rattling looks like a prolonged childish tantrum
With Kim Jong-un now walking a path of military escalation, defense experts in South Korea and the United States are assessing the impact on their...
Forced repatriation: The suffering mothers and their abandoned children
This is Part Two of a four-part series based on the writer’s personal experience. See Part One here. In the 17th century, when Korean women...
With her Mount Paektu bloodline, there is nothing preventing Kim Ju-ae being the next leader
The Korea Institute for National Unification, a government think tank in Seoul, has released a report saying that, considering the increased role of women within...
Pro-North activist group in South Korea dissolves itself
A prominent civic group in South Korea dedicated to reunification and with counterparts in North Korea and overseas, announced its dissolution after a general meeting...
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...
Kim Jong-un loves his luxury cars
Kim Jong-un is a big fan of luxury cars and doesn’t let the fact that most citizens can’t secure their next meal distract him from...
North Korea restructures government departments following policy shift toward South Korea
Agencies in North Korea responsible for inter-Korean affairs are being reorganized and, in some cases, closed down, following Kim Jong-un’s strategic decision in December to...
North Korea adopts the concept of “human rights abuse” for law enforcement training
The Ministry of Social Security, North Korea’s main law enforcement agency, is stepping up education for its own officials and police to train them not...