Despite a shared language, blood and culture, as decades of division continue to pass the two Koreas keep growing further and further apart. And while reunification remains an official goal in both North and South Korea, there has been little meaningful progress towards it since the year 2000, when the two countries agreed to seek peaceful unification at the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration.

But while progress towards reunification has been politically frozen for nearly fourteen years, it was in this period that the largest ever number of defectors arrived in South Korea. And today, with around 25,000 former North Koreans calling South Korea home, this community is playing an increasing role in shaping local opinions towards not just reunification, but the people and society of North Korea more generally.