North Koreans Losing Interest In Cult Of Kim?

Kim Statues 2

North Korea’s state newspaper (Rodong Sinmun) and official news agency (KCNA) have released in recent years an average of at least 300 articles a month relating to the cult of Kim. In deifying Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, DPRK state media refers to them as “Eternal Chairmen of the National Defense Commission of [...]

In Conversation With: Kim Moon-soo, Governor of S Korea’s Gyeonggi Province

Governor of Kyeonggi-do, Kim Moon-su.

In conversation with Governor Kim Moon-soo, a true progressive Governor Kim Moon-soo believes that “If civil servants are corrupt, the country will fall,” and that “[they] must be upright for the country to thrive.” Gyeonggi Province in South Korea employs the largest number of North Korean exiles as civil servants; and Governor Kim demonstrated his [...]

Sex in the North Korean army

North Korean soldiers having a laugh.

We talked to a group of North Koreans in exile who used to serve in the North Korean army, and asked them what they thought were the most significant weaknesses in the DPRK military. The unanimous conclusion was unexpected: at present, the greatest problem faced by the North Korean army is not the chronic shortage [...]

A banned North Korean idiom: “I follow my friend to Gangnam”

Across the Tumen River

There is a Korean idiom that goes “I follow my friend to Gangnam”. Gangnam – of ‘Gangnam Style’ fame – literally means “south of the river”. Specifically, it refers to a district located south of the Han River in Seoul, South Korea. The idiom describes a situation where one acts not according one’s own desire, [...]

As rhetoric escalates, life gets better for North Korean soldiers

North Korean soldiers

In response to the recent US-ROK joint military drills and the latest UN sanctions that followed North Korea’s nuclear test, DPRK state news agency KCNA released a statement this morning, declaring its intention to enter into a state of war with South Korea. Even those who do not take these threats at face value saw [...]