“Ask a North Korean” is an NK News series featuring interviews with and columns by North Korean defectors, most of whom left the DPRK within the last few years.

Readers may submit their questions for defectors by emailing [email protected] and including their first name and city of residence.

Today’s question is about what life in North Korea is like for people with disabilities.

Hyosim Maeng — who was born in North Korea and escaped the country with her parents in 2018 — writes about the prejudice her paraplegic mother faced in the DPRK, how it drove her family to defect