From 1970 to 1976, Kim Yong-hwa worked as a driver at the 4th Corps headquarters in Okkye-dong, Haeju City in South Hwanghae Province, North Korea, right on the border with the South.

When floods hit the South, he saw pigs and beds coming down from the Imjin River and floating in the sea.

“I realized many things [about the South],” Kim tells NK News, admitting he didn’t know anything about his southern neighbors as he rifled through the furniture which had washed up on the beach.

It’s unlikely that he knew then that these simple discoveries would inspire a campaign