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

Dear NK News readers,

I assume that you would be wondering how I have been recently. I have not written essays for a while because a few weeks ago, I went back to my country of citizenship, South Korea, where my beloved mother lives. It was actually much earlier than I had planned. Since I was supposed to take a summer course to graduate from my university, I had to fly back earlier even though I really wanted to stay in New York City longer.

I have been