North Korea's Secret Stories

North Korea’s Secret Stories is a series written by Daily NK journalist Kim Jeong Hun that explores underreported areas of North Korean society, highlighting stories that the North Korean government does not want the world to know.

designer

How one North Korean man was purged for no real reason

In June 2020, the iconic Changgwangwon Health Complex in North Korea celebrated its 40th anniversary. The complex is known among Pyongyang residents for having...

How a Supreme Guard Command officer found himself in front of a firing squad

On Sept. 24, 2020, a high-ranking official in the Supreme Guard Command (SGC), the military branch responsible for the protection of the Kim family,...

The tragic story of one outspoken North Korean journalist

On Jan. 1, 2012, shortly after taking power, Kim Jong Un visited the offices of Rodong Sinmun - the country's most prominent newspaper -...
informant

The story of one victim of North Korea’s informant system

In early February 2023, a young woman knelt in a cell at a police station in Haeju, South Hwanghae Province, her hands cuffed through...
reactionary, crackdowns, guns

The impact of Kim Jong Un’s order in late 2020 to “sound the guns”

Before North Korea's government passed the "Reactionary Ideology and Culture Rejection Act" in December 2020, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued an order...
covid, disease, coronavirus, kangwon province, wonsan, east coast, ipo village

Was Ipo Village really ground zero for N. Korea’s COVID outbreak?

In early June 2022, a man surnamed Choe, the chief of the military medical department of the Second Division of the First Corps -...
border, china, north korea, dprk, defectors, defections. remittance

The tragic story of a North Korean “defector hunter”

Editor's Note: This article was originally published in Korean in November 2021.  In early November 2012, North Korea's Ministry of State Security (MSS) made it...
weapons, nuclear, nukes, research, researchers, money

Behind the idyllic-looking lives of North Korea’s nuclear weapons researchers

After announcing plans to upgrade North Korea's nuclear arsenal at the Eighth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea in early 2021, Kim Jong...
trade, north korea, dprk, china

Former N. Korean defector hunter reflects on her experiences

In September 2018, a woman in her late 30s lay on her side in a safe house of the North Hamgyong Province state security...

N. Korean teacher replaced after encouraging competition among students

On Aug. 31 of last year, the teaching staff at an elementary school in Taegwan County, North Pyongan Province, nervously gathered for an emergency...

Recent Articles