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Wed, November 21, 2018 | 09:11

Opinion > Blogs > Voices from the North >

A North Korean defector's account of English speech contest

Saturday November 3 was a regular day for most people in the world, and it started that way for me too. I got up as usual, I got dressed. Then I headed out to be an assistant at the second English speech contest hosted by the Korea Hana Foundation, the government agency that assists North Korean refugees after they enter South Korean society.

Voices from the North | 2018-11-11 10:59

Why I escaped from North Korea

Cherie Yang, a Special Ambassador to the nonprofit NGO Teach North Korean Refugees (TNKR), was born in Hye Ryeng, North Korea. Through her employment at a resort near her hometown, she realized that the North Korean regime had been lying to its people. She fled North Korea in search for freedom, departing in a dramatic escape. Whereas more than 30,000 North Korean refugees ha...

Voices from the North | 2018-10-28 13:13

The reality of overseas North Korean workers

A number of North Koreans are granted permission to work abroad. One such North Korean refugee escaped while abroad, arriving in South Korea a few years ago. She told her story on October 17, 2018, to a delegation of Americans visiting South Korea. Here is an extended excerpt of her remarks, with identifying details and dates deleted, posted with her permission exclusively at...

Voices from the North | 2018-10-20 10:45

[INTERVIEW] Don't be duped by double-faced North Korea

Jang Jin-sung, author of the best-selling book “Dear Leader: My Escape from North Korea,” was a psychological warfare officer with the North Korean regime before he made a dramatic escape from the country in 2004. He is a sought-after lecturer and analyst who has advised people and governments around the world about North Korea. He shared some of his thoughts about North Kore...

Voices from the North | 2018-10-14 10:06

Defectors respond to Kim Jong-un 'finger-heart' pose

South Korea's Cheong Wa Dae, or “Blue House,” released photos showing North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un making a "finger-heart" while visiting Mount Paektu with President Moon Jae-in on the third day of the Pyongyang summit. North Korean refugees responded to the photo.

Voices from the North | 2018-09-29 10:15

Unseen part of North Korea [VIDEO]

Today I am going to tell you about my own experiences. First of all, what was my daily life like in North Korea?

Voices from the North | 2018-09-23 10:05

The importance of North Korean refugees learning English

Thae Yong-ho, former deputy ambassador of North Korea to the United Kingdom before defecting with his family to South Korea in 2016, was the featured speaker at a Teach North Korean Refugees forum on July 22. Near the end of the forum, he praised TNKR, discussed that he had learned the importance of North Korean refugees learning English, and mentioned the importance of offer...

Voices from the North | 2018-09-16 13:51

'I have arrived in South Korea. Now what?' (3)

There are some North Korean women who are tricked into going to China, but in my case, I willingly went through human trafficking. My family was starving, we were outcasts in North Korean society. I was bought by a Chinese man with mental problems. I realized that I couldn't live with him, so I escaped with my new-born baby who was then sick.

Voices from the North | 2018-09-08 10:38

Locked in a small room called North Korea

There is a movie called “Room.” In this movie, a woman named Ma was kidnapped by a vicious stranger when she was a teenager. In the interim, Ma has given birth to a son, Jack. The two of them lived in a 10 by 10 room. For Ma, the room was a prison, but for Jack, “Room” is an entire world that is the only life Jack has known. Ma formulated a plan to escape from the?room, takin...

Voices from the North | 2018-09-02 13:59

Voices from the North

Three years ago, when Teach North Korean Refugees (TNKR) held its second English speech contest featuring North Korean refugees, I reminded the audience of the Aesop fable "The Man and the Lion."

Voices from the North | 2018-08-25 10:11

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