Every week we ask a North Korean your questions, giving you the chance to learn more about the country we know so little about.

This week’s question is:

Yoo-sung, in your very first column you said you volunteered to build houses for people in the Philippines . Tell us about your time in the Philippines and what it felt like, having come from North Korea, to be doing something like that.

I volunteered for Habitat, which builds houses for people in need free of charge. It began when a married American couple began building houses for African families living in