North Korean refugee

Jieun Choi
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Meet North Korea’s Former Elite Journalist

Kim Gil-sun is an ex-journalist from Pyongyang. She worked for 17 years at the publishing arm of the Academy of National Defense Science, which is in charge of its missile program. For nearly two decades before defecting in the late 1990s, Kim had close contact with the confidential sectors within

Daniel Corks
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Weekly Brief: Nov. 7th - 13th

Seoul plans to clear the air Seoul’s poor air quality has become a big talking point in recent months. TV weather reports now often include levels for particulate matter. Before last year, most South Koreans blamed the quality on the yellow dust from China, but Greenpeace has revealed

Daniel Corks
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Weekly Brief: Oct. 17th - 23rd

Conscientious objectors to military service not guilty, appeals court rules. In a rare decision, two conscientious objectors were found not guilty by an appeals court. Though lower courts have ruled similarly in the past, this ruling is a first at the appeals level. In South Korea, any man refusing to

Gyoon Heo
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Beyond Blood and Bloody Relations

My grandmother was born in Inje County, Gangwon Province, in what is now South Korea. She was displaced by the division of the peninsula, ending up in the North. I vividly remember her repeatedly saying she wanted to visit Jeju Island before leaving this world. The irony is that I,

Gyoon Heo
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The Republic of Konsumerism

Upon entering a supermarket in Seoul for the first time, I was completely lost. What I thought would be a simple challenge became nerve-wrecking: choosing a tube of toothpaste. Everywhere I looked, each product claimed to be better and cheaper than the last. “Three for the price of two”, “20%

Gyoon Heo
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A North Korean Views South Korea

It has been more than a decade since I left North Korea, but every time I read George Orwell’s Animal Farm I am reminded of my life back ‘home’. The novel points to the North Korean regime’s hypocrisy without using complex language. Published on 17 August 1945, just