North Korean defectors are embracing all kinds of new media channels, from soap operas to comic strips and online live video-streaming, to tell their stories – and many have already hit the big time among young people in South Korea.

The soap opera titled ‘Blow Breeze,’ broadcast by MBC, tells the story of North Korean defector Kim Mi-poong (actress Lim Ji-yeon), once a popular girl raised in an affluent family and a student at the Pyongyang University of Music and Dance.

A drama on public TV channel starring a defector represents a major change in the ways that media in