“Back in North Korea, he was doing extremely well. He was a driver!” This is a remark I once heard from a North Korean defector. Indeed, it’s common knowledge in the DPRK that being a driver is a dream job.

In contrast, one should not expect a similar outburst of admiration when it is mentioned that somebody was a doctor in North Korea. Indeed, doctors, objects of near-universal respect in many developed societies, are seen in North Korea in a completely different light – as regular white collar workers, not much different from, say, a middle school teacher.

When it