Pyongyang chronicles: The privileges of life as a foreign student in North Korea

Opinion

Pyongyang chronicles: The privileges of life as a foreign student in North Korea

Students enjoy wider access than almost all other outsiders, but they can still run afoul of DPRK authorities

Alek Sigley October 17, 2022

Pyongyang chronicles: The privileges of life as a foreign student in North Korea

Alek Sigley (left) with a local North Korean student in front of Mansudae Art Theatre in Pyongyang | Image: NK News

Editor's note: The following is the first in a multipart memoir series written by Alek Sigley about his time studying at Kim Il Sung University.

About the Author

Alek Sigley

Alek Sigley is a PhD student at Stanford University's Modern Thought and Literature program, where he is writing a dissertation on North Korea. From 2018-2019 he studied for a master's degree in contemporary North Korean fiction at Kim Il Sung University's College of Literature. He speaks Mandarin, Korean and Japanese. Follow him on Twitter @AlekSigley.

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