Le Monde has published the account of Kang Gyu-ri, a 25-year-old North Korean refugee who escaped to the South by boat on an autumn day in 2023. Her story comes as stronger controls complicate North Koreans’ attempts to flee southward, the newspaper reports.
According to Le Monde, Kang had grown weary of permanent surveillance and was hooked on K-pop. She recounts a North Korea that moves between capitalist resourcefulness and socialist repression.
