June 06, 2023
Evergreen

Dandong, China: Where North and South Koreans live side by side

In a new book, anthropologist hopes to dispel myths about life in the border city

Kang Ju-won, a 43-year-old South Korean cultural anthropologist, hopes to break down walls of prejudice in China’s Dandong: a border town filled with tension, with North Korea’s Sinuiju located just across the border.

The Amnok (Yalu) River, which flows between Dandong and Sinuiju, brings the image of a boundary with barbed-wire fences to most South Koreans' minds. But Dr. Kang wants to challenge this stereotype with his book entitled “The Amnok River Flows Differently” published on October 19th.