“The past always follows me, I will always be a North Korean, I will always be on the outside, and this is how I feel, like I am able to do things like interviews and documentaries, but I feel that it is hard to be on the inside, I feel that people and companies worry about hiring me because I am from North Korea”.

The above quote, taken from an interview with a North Korean man who has lived in South Korea for over five years, points to two prevailing factors amongst North Koreans residing in the South. Firstly, that