A few years ago, a North Korean defector told this author that while women dominate commerce in the DPRK, other activities are almost exclusively done by men.

“Men do dangerous things like, say, smuggling, or trade in gold dust, or antiques,” she said, as other refugees with her nodded in agreement. “It is not something a woman does.”

This statement is a generalization and contains a seed of truth about the situation in North Korea, but like all generalizations, this one has exceptions. And one such exception is a defector whom I’ll call Kim Mi Sook, a recent arrival to