When the enemy of my enemy becomes my friend: the South Koreans who scratch Kim Jong-un’s back
In a peculiar dynamic, North Korean media has been reporting on the activities of certain leftist lawmakers and activists in South Korea in a way...
Students under pressure to erase South Korea from textbooks before the school year starts
Since Kim Jong-un declared South Korea to be his implacable foe, authorities in North Korea have been issuing instructions to have all references to the...
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...
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...
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...