{"id":3012,"date":"2006-11-26T09:17:00","date_gmt":"2006-11-26T00:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.dailynk.com\/en\/?p=3012"},"modified":"2020-01-17T08:58:06","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T23:58:06","slug":"hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cHunger Is a Daily Reality\u201d Defector"},"content":{"rendered":"

[imText1]\u201c(In North Korea) Hunger is a reality\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the nuke experiment and amidst rising debate by the international community over North Korea, a U.S. CNN correspondent went to the Yalu River near the North Korea-China border. <\/p>\n

On the 23rd, John Ray said on a CNN broadcast \u201cNorth Korea is a closed country but in places it feels close enough to touch, certainly close enough to hear the voices of children playing and to see villagers bring their washing to the freezing Yalu River that marks the border with China.\u201d<\/p>\n

He revealed his impression on North Korea, \u201cNorth Korean troops keeping a careful guard over an impoverished land. Hunger is a daily reality, basic necessities have become luxuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said \u201cIt\u2019s hard to imagine looking at the ramshackle collection of cottages across the river that North Korea is now a nuclear state but it is and yet is a state that can\u2019t even feed its people.\u201d
\n▶View CNN broadcast<\/a><\/p>\n

The broadcast records footages of children playing near the water, women out to do their washing, troops standing near the border and the daily lives of North Korean citizens who live near the border. <\/p>\n

Ray explained \u201cIt is a state untold that thousands of people risk everything to escape a few miles into China\u201d and \u201cNorth Korea might threaten the world with nuclear weapons but it cannot guarantee the obedience of its own people.\u201d<\/p>\n

While filming the coverage he met a North Korean woman, Miss. Kim.<\/p>\n

Kim crossed the Yalu River using a car tire as a raft to gather food to eat and has been tracking through the snow. Ray said \u201cMiss Kim is just one of many who are so desperately prepared to take the ultimate gamble.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the guide, Ray relayed that even the soldiers cross the frozen river to steal food from the Chinese. In this case, Kim said \u201cWe\u2019ll face a firing squad if we are caught and are sent back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kim even showed Ray a picture of her family she left behind. He said \u201cWe can\u2019t actually show this photograph because it would identify them to the North Korean authorities and put them in great danger.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[imText1]\u201c(In North Korea) Hunger is a reality\u201d Following the nuke experiment and amidst rising debate by the international community over North Korea, a U.S. CNN correspondent went to the Yalu River near the North Korea-China border. On the 23rd, John Ray said on a CNN broadcast \u201cNorth Korea is a closed country but in places […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":167,"featured_media":3014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cHunger Is a Daily Reality\u201d Defector - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cHunger Is a Daily Reality\u201d Defector\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[imText1]\u201c(In North Korea) Hunger is a reality\u201d Following the nuke experiment and amidst rising debate by the international community over North Korea, a U.S. CNN correspondent went to the Yalu River near the North Korea-China border. On the 23rd, John Ray said on a CNN broadcast \u201cNorth Korea is a closed country but in places […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-11-26T00:17:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-16T23:58:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2006\/11\/DNKF00001349_List.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"129\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Yang Jung A\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Yang Jung A\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Yang Jung A\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1f97ead686c0189a0b79d6d7ae0392bd\"},\"headline\":\"\u201cHunger Is a Daily Reality\u201d Defector\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-11-26T00:17:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-16T23:58:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":375,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2006\\\/11\\\/DNKF00001349_List.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\\\/\",\"name\":\"\u201cHunger Is a Daily Reality\u201d Defector - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2006\\\/11\\\/DNKF00001349_List.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-11-26T00:17:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-16T23:58:06+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2006\\\/11\\\/DNKF00001349_List.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2006\\\/11\\\/DNKF00001349_List.jpg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":129},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u201cHunger Is a Daily Reality\u201d Defector\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\",\"name\":\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Daily NK English\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/top_logo@1x.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/top_logo@1x.png\",\"width\":272,\"height\":90,\"caption\":\"Daily NK English\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"description\":\"An independent online news organization based in Seoul, South Korea, reporting on internal North Korean affairs through a network of in-country sources and defector journalists. Part of the Unification Media Group (UMG) consortium.\",\"email\":\"dailynkenglish@uni-media.net\",\"telephone\":\"82-2-732-6998\",\"legalName\":\"DailyNK\",\"foundingDate\":\"2004-12-01\",\"numberOfEmployees\":{\"@type\":\"QuantitativeValue\",\"minValue\":\"1\",\"maxValue\":\"10\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1f97ead686c0189a0b79d6d7ae0392bd\",\"name\":\"Yang Jung A\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png\",\"caption\":\"Yang Jung A\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/author\\\/yang-jung-a\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u201cHunger Is a Daily Reality\u201d Defector - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u201cHunger Is a Daily Reality\u201d Defector","og_description":"[imText1]\u201c(In North Korea) Hunger is a reality\u201d Following the nuke experiment and amidst rising debate by the international community over North Korea, a U.S. CNN correspondent went to the Yalu River near the North Korea-China border. On the 23rd, John Ray said on a CNN broadcast \u201cNorth Korea is a closed country but in places […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\/","og_site_name":"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","article_published_time":"2006-11-26T00:17:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-01-16T23:58:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":200,"height":129,"url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2006\/11\/DNKF00001349_List.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Yang Jung A","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Yang Jung A","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\/"},"author":{"name":"Yang Jung A","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/1f97ead686c0189a0b79d6d7ae0392bd"},"headline":"\u201cHunger Is a Daily Reality\u201d Defector","datePublished":"2006-11-26T00:17:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-16T23:58:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\/"},"wordCount":375,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2006\/11\/DNKF00001349_List.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\/","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\/","name":"\u201cHunger Is a Daily Reality\u201d Defector - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2006\/11\/DNKF00001349_List.jpg","datePublished":"2006-11-26T00:17:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-16T23:58:06+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2006\/11\/DNKF00001349_List.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2006\/11\/DNKF00001349_List.jpg","width":200,"height":129},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/hunger-is-a-daily-reality-defector\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u201cHunger Is a Daily Reality\u201d Defector"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/","name":"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization","name":"Daily NK English","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/top_logo@1x.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/top_logo@1x.png","width":272,"height":90,"caption":"Daily NK English"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"description":"An independent online news organization based in Seoul, South Korea, reporting on internal North Korean affairs through a network of in-country sources and defector journalists. Part of the Unification Media Group (UMG) consortium.","email":"dailynkenglish@uni-media.net","telephone":"82-2-732-6998","legalName":"DailyNK","foundingDate":"2004-12-01","numberOfEmployees":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","minValue":"1","maxValue":"10"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/1f97ead686c0189a0b79d6d7ae0392bd","name":"Yang Jung A","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png","caption":"Yang Jung A"},"url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/author\/yang-jung-a\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3012"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43528,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3012\/revisions\/43528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}