“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 asks about what Mother’s Day is like in North Korea.

Soo-ah — a former North Korea Workers’ Party propagandist who defected in 2015 — writes about the history of Mother’s Day in the DPRK, how it relates to International Women’s Day and what led the holiday to become more popular.