From a Seoul office, a North Korean defector governs the province of his birth
Ji Seong-ho serves as leader of a place where he can’t set foot, tasked with preparing for unification that may not come
Ji Seong-ho, a North Korean defector who now serves as governor of North Hamgyong Province, sits in his office beneath portraits of former governors and a datachart of the region during an interview with NK News on May 14, 2025 | Image: NK News
Each morning in a quiet corner of northern Seoul, Ji Seong-ho walks into an office lined with maps of cities he cannot visit and nameplates marking towns he no longer calls home.
From behind his desk in a government complex in Gugi-dong, Ji receives briefings and leads meetings like any other provincial administrator.
Each morning in a quiet corner of northern Seoul, Ji Seong-ho walks into an office lined with maps of cities he cannot visit and nameplates marking towns he no longer calls home.
From behind his desk in a government complex in Gugi-dong, Ji receives briefings and leads meetings like any other provincial administrator.
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