ded heavily on foreign currency remittances. Many Koreans living in Japan were sending their remittances to North Korea. These people were protesting the re
“Every aspect of life is the worst you could imagine for a human being."
sh; 1994) was the founder and leader of the North Korean state from 1948 until his death in 1994. Kim Jong Il (1941 – 2011) succeeded his father and l
ed in 1948. Songbun is a system used by the North Korean regime to classify citizens’ attitudes toward the regime as core, wavering, or hostile. An in
versity in South Korea and also worked as a North Korean expert reporter for Cho-sun Ilbo, Chol-sun Daily newspaper for 10 years. To this day, I am working
sh realities and human rights violations of North Korean political prison camps to South Korean students and the general public. The UN COI has completed it
nsibility and a huge role to play in fixing North Korean issues. I am not 100 percent content with what the U.S. government is doing regarding North Korean
Korea, nobody really knew about the hidden North Korean political prison camps. It wasn’t until after I arrived and made the information known that t
sh; 1994) was the founder and leader of the North Korean state from 1948 until his death in 1994.] When you join the prison guards you have to work [at a ca
to escape. Thanks to the assistance by the South Korean government, I was able to leave China. Otherwise I think I would have been shot to death. I’m
ere are a lot of Chinese people, including ethnic Koreans living in China, who have invested in North Korea. There are numerous cases where these people&rsq
tually, my mother was dissatisfied with the North Korean system. She was the first to leave North Korea in 2004 or so and went to China. My younger sister f
he state was established in 1948.] Like any North Korean student, I received a systematic education in North Korea. One of the required subjects was the his
“North Koreans are no longer giving unconditional and blind loyalty to the regime.”Koreans are no longer giving unconditional and blind loyalty to the regime.”
my brother, I think he felt life under the North Korean regime was unfair and unjust. I discovered his true feelings while we were defecting to the South b
le trying to improve the lives of my fellow North Koreans, that motivates me to become a democracy activist. [My organization], NAUH [Now Action and Unity f
pped. Second, I couldn’t believe that North Korean defectors could enter college and receive an education in South Korea. Given my grievances towards
“Today, many Americans show a lot of interest in North Korean human rights.”Korean human rights.”
