NKDB

Her Day in North Korea is the true story from beyond the DMZ. Driven by the slogan, “Let us turn the whole country into a socialist fairyland where the Songun culture is realized!” the regime has pushed to build a “Socialist Civilized State” since Kim Jong Un rose to power in 2012. This campaign of construction and urban painting has covered gray concrete cities in fairytale pastel tones. Yet, when you open the doors locked tight within this colorful display, you come face to face with a person named Myoung Joo. She is found among the objects her hands once touched, the songs she hummed to herself every day, and the neatly placed fragments of her life.

The Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB) was established in the late 1990s, during a turning point when the collapse of the socialist economy and the food crisis known as the “Arduous March” led to a surge in escapes. It was then that the hidden human rights violations inside North Korea finally began to be revealed to the outside world.

NKDB is an NGO with UN ECOSOC Consultative Status that has systematically documented human rights violations for decades. To date, NKDB has accumulated data on over 88,000 cases of human rights violations and records of 57,000 individuals. This exhibition weaves those countless testimonies into a single narrative, told through the name Myoung Joo.

Today, Myoung Joo’s home is locked tighter than ever before. Even those who have managed to leave that home are living their “today” in constant anxiety, unprotected and fearful of being arrested at any moment. In Her Day in North Korea, NKDB shares the voices that continue to call out from both inside and outside the borders of North Korea.

Her Day in North Korea is the true story from beyond the DMZ. Driven by the slogan, “Let us turn the whole country into a socialist fairyland where the Songun culture is realized!” the regime has pushed to build a “Socialist Civilized State” since Kim Jong Un rose to power in 2012. This campaign of construction and urban painting has covered gray concrete cities in fairytale pastel tones. Yet, when you open the doors locked tight within this colorful display, you come face to face with a person named Myoung Joo. She is found among the objects her hands once touched, the songs she hummed to herself every day, and the neatly placed fragments of her life.

The Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB) was established in the late 1990s, during a turning point when the collapse of the socialist economy and the food crisis known as the “Arduous March” led to a surge in escapes. It was then that the hidden human rights violations inside North Korea finally began to be revealed to the outside world.

NKDB is an NGO with UN ECOSOC Consultative Status that has systematically documented human rights violations for decades. To date, NKDB has accumulated data on over 88,000 cases of human rights violations and records of 57,000 individuals. This exhibition weaves those countless testimonies into a single narrative, told through the name Myoung Joo.

Today, Myoung Joo’s home is locked tighter than ever before. Even those who have managed to leave that home are living their “today” in constant anxiety, unprotected and fearful of being arrested at any moment. In Her Day in North Korea, NKDB shares the voices that continue to call out from both inside and outside the borders of North Korea.