“I am a citizen of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” North Korean defector Kwon Chol Nam’s banner reads as he protests the South Korean government. “I want to go home.”

The 44-year-old says he crossed the border in the South dreaming of a bright future, but now he cannot find a job and, due to his passport being confiscated, cannot leave the country.

For months, Kwon held a banner every day from 8 am to noon in front of the U.S. embassy in Seoul, the presidential office, the courts, and the National Assembly, but he was forced to stop his