Footage released by U.N. in South Korea shows the moment a North Korean defector makes a mad-dash across the border between North and South Korea in a KPA jeep. / United Nations
The reality of life inside North Korea is often so heavily guarded by its ruling dictatorship that it's somewhat of a mystery to the rest of the world.
That's why The Washington Post reporter Anna Fifield — who has covered national affairs in North Korea for a decade — hasthis week answered questions via an online thread relating to what life is really like in the country.
It quickly attracted hundreds of comments, news.com reports.
"Life in North Korea is changing and so are people's reasons for escaping," Fifield wrote in her open invite for questions.
"When Kim Jong Un became leader, many North Koreans thought that life would improve. But after six years in power, the 'Great Successor' has proved to be just as brutal as past leaders."
I talked to a girl who had to drop out of school when she was 12 to help her mother make tofu so they could feed themselves. Her only leisure was watching TV during the breaks between making tofu/selling tofu/tending the fields.
DOES THE GOVERNMENT WATCH TOURISTS?
Yes! Whether you're a tourist or a journalist or any other foreign visitor, you are assigned a "minder" at all times.
You can't leave your hotel without the minder (the doormen alert your minder if you try.) I also assume that my room is bugged with mics and maybe cameras.
WHAT IS THE GENERAL BELIEF ABOUT NK LEADERSHIP?
There's a whole range of beliefs. Some North Koreans believe in the system and believe all the propaganda they're fed.
One North Korean man I interviewed for this story told me he was so angry when he got to China and heard North Korean women in the safe house badmouthing the Kim leadership.
It wasn't until he had been in South Korea for a few months that he realised it was all lies.
But others told me that they know it's all garbage.
The stories about Kim Jong-un being able to shoot a gun when he was three/drive a car when he was five were laughable, they said, and showed how ridiculous the stories about the regime were.
Still, it's very, very dangerous to express disbelief or criticise the regime — you and three generations of your family ending up in a concentration camp kind of dangerous — so people try to escape rather than change the system.
WHAT ARE NORTH KOREANS SURPRISED BY AFTER LEAVING?
North Koreans now generally know about the outside world. Almost everyone has watched foreign movies, especially South Korean soap operas and action movies.
So they know that the outside world is a much richer and freer place.
That's why some try to leave — they want some of that freedom to move and speak their minds. They want to do better for themselves and their children, just like the rest of us.
