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...
Forced repatriation to North Korea: The silence of the victims
This feature is Part One of a four-part series. It is based on the writer’s personal experience If silence is negligence, as the saying goes,...
What is causing North Korea’s low birth rate?
With North Korea’s fertility rate under the 2.1 needed to maintain the current population level, Kim Jong-un recently is urging mothers in the country to...
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...
There’s ideology in those blue jeans
Everyone has at least one pair of jeans. They have the distinction of being ordinary and fashionable at the same time. The designer Yves Saint...
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...
Why North Koreans would vote for Trump if they could
With the US presidential election campaign picking up steam and, despite the controversy and legal issues swirling around him, Donald Trump might win in November....
The Birth of Korea Documentary Leaves No Room to Deny Achievements of Syngman Rhee
“If it weren’t for President Syngman Rhee, South Korea today would hardly differ from North Korea,” said Jo Dong Jin, a 45-year-old North Korean defector. Jo made the comment on February 23 after watching The Birth of Korea, a documentary on South Korea’s first president which has been creating something of a sensation since its release in mid-January.
Kim Il Sung-Kim Jong Il Fund, “Using the Dead to Exploit the Living”
The bodies of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leaders who died in 1994 and 2011 respectively, are enshrined in the...
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...
Russian Foreign Minister Visits Cuba on the Heels of Surprise Havana-Seoul Ties Announcement
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Cuba’s President and Communist Party First Secretary, Miguel Díaz-Canel, in Havana Monday at the start of a Latin American tour that appears designed to shore up Moscow’s declining influence in the region.
Defectors Prefer a Preemptive Strike to Remove Kim Jong Un but Speaking Softly and Carrying a Big Stick is the Wiser Strategy
One of the options for dealing with North Korea’s military provocations is a preemptive strike, on military targets and/or on Kim Jong Un himself. Given what could go wrong, this is a scary idea, especially for those of us living close by in South Korea. It also appears somehow undemocratic or certainly unpeaceful for a democracy to even consider it. Furthermore, why advocate war in a situation where war has been avoided for 70 years?
Secret Police Intensifies Pressure on Defectors’ Families
The secret police in North Korea has increased surveillance and suppression of families of people known to have defected to South Korea. Defectors say they have been receiving more worrying news about their relatives since Kim Jong Un re-framed South Korea as the North’s number one enemy on January 15.