Even under heavy surveillance, defectors have taken to the skies to escape North Korea. In 1953, Lt. No Kum-sok flew a Soviet MiG-15 jet to Gimpo Air Base in South Korea, a story later chronicled ...

Yeon Mi Park escaped North Korea when she was 13 years old. And escape only brought more challenges. North Korean defectors risk being killed, imprisoned, and trafficked after they escape.

In an interview last week, President Trump called Kim Jong Un a "smart guy" and said he would reach out to the North Korean ...

The chances of escaping North Korea are incredibly slim. Defectors often face dangerous journeys through heavily guarded lands, avoiding officials and relying on smugglers to reach China.

At a time when the notoriously secretive state may be open to dialogue and senior officials are willing to talk about big issues such as nuclear weapons, could there be a permanent shift for North ...

A North Korean defector successfully reached South Korea by crossing the Yellow Sea. According to L'Independent the individual landed on Gyodong Island, located just under five kilometers off the ...

The highest-ranking defector to escape North Korea in years, Ri Il Kyu has met Kim Jong Un seven times. Setting out his aims for next year, Kim Jong Un also hardened his stance on unification with ...

North Korea says it tested a cruise missile system, its third known weapons display this year, and vowed “the toughest” ...

This story appears in the June 2018 issue of National Geographic magazine. There are 25 million people in North Korea, but the only visible portraits are of its leaders. Regular people are rarely ...