Ask A North Korean
Your chance to ask questions to North Koreans about life growing up in the DPRK
Ask a North Korean: Why a party propagandist decided to escape the DPRK
Soo-ah went from warning citizens about the false promise of defecting to crossing the Yalu River to flee to the South
Ask a North Korean: What was it like working in Russia during the pandemic?
Former overseas worker recounts regime’s orders to follow strict COVID rules and threats to treat violators as traitors
Ask a North Korean: What are friendships like in the DPRK?
A defector writes about her difficulties making friends and why keeping secrets is so important for relationships
Ask a North Korean: Does North Korea really carry out public executions?
A defector writes about witnessing someone sentenced to death and why the regime ‘kills the chicken to warn the monkey’
Ask a North Korean: What is forced labor like in North Korea?
A defector writes about being forced to work even as an elementary school student and the trauma it left him with
Ask a North Korean: How do North Koreans spend their time?
A defector writes about daily routines and the supremacy of work, and why DPRK citizens don’t even think about hobbies
Ask a North Korean: Can North Korean couples get divorced?
DPRK society has become more accepting of divorce over the years, but this hasn’t made getting one much easier
Ask a North Korean: What is North Korea like for people with disabilities?
A defector shares how her father carried her paraplegic mother on his back to escape injustices in DPRK
Ask a North Korean: What are working hours like in the DPRK?
The state frames labor as a form of war and gives workers little rest, wringing out everything it can from citizens
Ask a North Korean: What is it like to work as an overseas laborer in Russia?
A former worker in Far East details why the regime sends citizens abroad and a typical day on a construction site
