North Korean Orphans: A Long-Running Story

Three North Korean children found wandering in northeastern China have been granted refugee status in the United States, and overseas rights groups say there could be thousands more. These “second-wave” orphans are mostly the children of North Korean women who were forced to marry Chinese men. But the problem isn’t new. Georgeta Mircioiu, 75, [...]

North Korea: Defectors will endorse a S. Korean presidential candidate

Interview with Kang Chul-hwan, co-director of The Committee for the Democratization of North Korea and author of The Aquariums of Pyongyang
(Wonhee Lee, November 2, 2007)
We must support a candidate who is supportive of improving the lives of North Korean citizens, of reform and openness, a candidate who is supportive of us, North Korean defectors [...]

Confinement and Discrimination: Disabled in North Korea

Based on accounts by North Korean defectors, it appears that the disabled are one of the most vulnerable categories within a general population that has long been suffering from severe food shortages and the de facto collapse of the health system. According to the defectors, the disabled are held in contempt, marginalized, and often [...]

Propaganda Train or Friendship Train?

-A Few Remarks on the Historic Inter-Korean Rail Run-

Last May 17, a North Korean train crossed the DMZ into South Korea for the first time in decades. The train’s shrieking brakes suggested that the carriages and diesel locomotive suffered from old age, but a great paint job aimed to cover it all up.
Although its [...]

We’re jamming: North Korea blocks incoming radio transmissions

On May 13, 2007, Free North Korea Radio(Kor) posted a message on its website asking the North Korean authorities to stop jamming their broadcast. You can read a little background on them here.
The Research Institute for Northeast Asian Broadcasting, a short-wave monitoring group based in South Korea, has recently found out that the North Korean [...]

South Korea: N.Korean defectors in poor mental, physical health

Researching our English Web story on the mental and physical health problems that persist among North Koreans even after they have resettled in the South, I was sent an article in The Lancet [Correlation Between Traumatic Events and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among North Korean Defectors
in South Korea WooTaek Jeon, ChangHyung Hong, [...]

Newsdesk: North Korea Orders Children Home

RFA REPORTING FROM BANGKOK: CHILDREN OF NORTH.KOREAN DIPLOMATS AND BUSINESS OFFICIALS IN THAILAND CONFIRMED TO HAVE BEEN SENT BACK TO NORTH KOREA BY THE END OF APRIL 2007
(Dong-June Lee, May 9, 2007)
Following the official order to repatriate the children of all North Korean officials overseas, including trade and business representatives, by the end of [...]

Call for Chinese and Korean speakers to make charity podcasts

Jacky Peng at Little Bridge wrote, on the Chinese Content Wikispace:
-The real life in North Korea It’s been on the net for quite a long time, and been cross-posted on many other BBSs. It gives many detail information of the normal people’s life in North Korea with many interesting photos, but apparently, the photos were [...]

North Korean women trafficked to China – RFA Korean transcripts

RFA’s Korean service [홈페이지]] has recently had its 10-part series of programmes on the trafficking of North Korean women in China translated by Grigore Scarlatoiu, who provided the English Web team with an epic tale in English. We have only been able to showcase a fraction of this translation work in our regular Web story [...]