Editing and translation by Nara Han / Artwork by NK NEWS illustrator Cammy Smithwick

My name is Ji-woo Park. I am glad to be able to share my story with you.

I was born in North Hamgyong province, North Korea, which is located in the far northeast of the country. It is extremely cold in winter. When the North Korean food distribution system collapsed in the early 1990s, my father who was a doctor and the breadwinner for my family, couldn’t bring us food anymore. Like other North Koreans, my parents had no idea how to get food when they stopped being