My life changed in July of 2001. My best friend and founder of Crossing Borders Mike Kim returned from a short-term mission trip to China and opened my eyes to the plight of the North Korean refugee. I have been devouring the sad and peculiar news coming out of the Hermit Kingdom since that day and have not stopped.
With a background in journalism, I have shaped the public-facing communications of Crossing Borders from the very beginning. We have tried a little bit of everything over the past two decades. But in this quest to communicate the full story of the heartbreak and sadness that I felt as I dived deep into this work, I realized that we were missing an important aspect of North Korea.
Last year, I spoke to my good friend Sug Shin about Crossing Borders and our communications. I told him that while I am generally content with what we put out, I wished there was a lighter, more approachable way to communicate my stance as a Korean-American man whose heart breaks for the North Korean people but who also keeps current with the ridiculous news coming out of North Korea.
I don’t think I am alone in saying that I think it’s preposterous that North Korea once claimed that Kim Jong-Il shot 11 holes in one on his first round of golf or that no one in North Korea is legally allowed to have the same haircut as their dear leader, Kim Jong-Un. We as Crossing Borders staff have kept these absurdities to ourselves simply because we didn’t want to, by publicizing this content, detract from the sufferings of the North Korean people.
As I expressed this to Sug, he had a simple solution: put it in a podcast. Our team brainstormed, explored, researched and produced our new podcast which we call “The Demystified Zone” aka “The DMZ.” Through it, we will cover the light and the dark but from the perspective of two normal people, not analysts or academics.
For example, this year North Korea put out a Hollywood-style video, which depicts Kim Jong-un launching one of his latest ICBMs. He struts around in a leather jacket and designer sunglasses while commanding a military team. The edits are akin to a ‘90s action movie and replete with slow motion shots for dramatic effect. I cannot begin to express to you how absurd this seemingly high-cost production is while its own citizens suffer from persistent food shortages and lack of adequate health care. In an episode titled “Rocket Man”, we spent time expressing our exasperation at this and even had a few laughs at the expense of the Great Leader himself.
Come join us on this journey. I think you’ll like what you hear.
