--- title: The Real Solution to North Korea Is Its People description: What I’ve learned from North Korean refugees is that North Korea is changing in ways that many in the outside world do not know. canonical: https://time.com/5310834/solution-north-korea-people-defectors/ author: Hannah Song article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-13T15:03:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T09:30:48.460Z article:section: Ideas og:title: A Real Solution to North Korea Must Include Its People og:description: Thanks to their bravery, the isolated country is changing at a grassroots level og:url: https://time.com/5310834/solution-north-korea-people-defectors/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c5a3115a1cadd7a/69893121096a94737d6a27dc/gettyimages-959986122.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5604 og:image:height: 3152 og:image:alt: North Korean Defectors In South Rally Against North Korea And Return of Recent Defectors og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Real Solution to North Korea Must Include Its People twitter:description: Thanks to their bravery, the isolated country is changing at a grassroots level twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c5a3115a1cadd7a/69893121096a94737d6a27dc/gettyimages-959986122.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Forget Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. Here’s Why the People of North Korea Are the Real Solution > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=11e0011a-04a0-4788-bc1c-34b957008709&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: A Look at the History of the U.S. and North Korea's Tense Relations [Watch (HLS stream): A Look at the History of the U.S. and North Korea's Tense Relations](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/TqVlLm9h.m3u8) (2:54)  _Published 2018-06-07. A Look at the History of the U.S. and North Korea's Tense Relations_ by [Hannah Song](https://time.com/author/hannah-song/) ## Hannah Song Jun 13, 2018 3:03 PM UTC A Look at the History of the U.S. and North Korea's Tense Relations by [Hannah Song](https://time.com/author/hannah-song/) ## Hannah Song Jun 13, 2018 3:03 PM UTC Over the last 13 years, I have met [hundreds of North Korean refugees](http://time.com/4068794/north-korea-escape/), and spoken with some who had left their homeland just days prior. In the early years, nearly every refugee left because of hunger and a fear of starving to death. But recent trends have shown a steady shift in reasons for defection. More people are risking their lives to escape out of hunger not for food, but for freedom, as information from beyond North Korea’s borders has found its way into the country and [people have begun to realize how ](http://time.com/4748983/north-korea/)[constrained and deprived they have been](http://time.com/4748983/north-korea/). **Read more:** [**The Trump-Kim summit is a tragedy for the North Korean people**](http://time.com/5287046/kim-trump-peace-talks-tragedy-north-korea/) What I’ve learned from [North Korean refugees](http://time.com/4340884/north-korea-refugees/) is that North Korea is changing in ways that many in the outside world do not know. What started as survival entrepreneurialism during the devastating famine of the 1990s has grown into a full-blown capitalist economy, complete with _de facto_ privatized production, competing bus and taxi companies, and individual investment. A generation of young North Koreans have unprecedented access to foreign information and media. They [secretly trade USB sticks loaded with ](https://flashdrivesforfreedom.org/)[South Korean films and TV programs](https://flashdrivesforfreedom.org/) that stir their curiosity and challenge the regime’s propaganda, eroding North Korea’s information blockade. North Korean refugees consistently tell us “there is nothing that money can’t do in North Korea.” They are referring to a culture of corruption that is so pervasive and assumed that it undermines the legitimacy of the system and the government’s authority. This has reinforced the belief among citizens that you have to break the rules not only to survive but to thrive—emboldening small forms of everyday disobedience. These changes are irreversible and are being driven by the North Korean people at a grassroots level, creating pressure from the bottom up. The North Korean government has shown itself to be sensitive to these internal pressures and has demonstrated that it can react in both resistant or adaptive ways, but increased pressure from the bottom up will continue to force the government to find ways to respond, adapt or face the potential of more forceful change. **Read more:** [**11 photographers who traveled to North Korea reflect on the pictures that moved them most**](https://ti.me/2pd3dyP?utm%5Fsource=twitter.com&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fcampaign=social-button-sharing) These internal changes are also shifting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s policy calculus, and may be behind his [new engagement with the outside world](http://time.com/north-korea-opinion/). As a market economy and mindset grows in North Korea, and people are increasingly aware of their backwardness compared to the rest of the world, the pressure on Kim Jong Un to allow real economic development is growing. He also faces a fundamentally different calculus from his father due to his young age. He knows he has to have a long-term strategy to maintain enough support from both elite and ordinary North Koreans, likely for another four or five decades. The world deals with North Korea as a security problem rather than a country that creates security problems. This approach fundamentally does not address the underlying cause but merely the symptoms. When we focus narrowly on nukes and missiles, we are also playing into the strengths of the North Korean government that has shown itself to be confident and capable when playing the game of international security, as we saw in the recent summit. **Read more:** [**What it’s like to escape from North Korea**](http://ti.me/1jkgkKn?utm%5Fsource=twitter.com&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fcampaign=social-button-sharing) We must stop dealing with North Korea as just Kim Jong Un and nuclear weapons and instead see it as a country of 25 million people; not brainwashed automatons but resilient, entrepreneurial and increasingly empowered people who have overcome incredible challenges and are also driving important changes within the country. We need to be on the side of the North Korean people. And in our engagement with North Korea we should not only manage security problems but also push the country in the direction of further change and opening, empowering the North Korean people to have growing influence in Pyongyang’s policy decisions. This is the only way to lock Kim Jong Un into a sustainable pathway of economic growth and positive engagement with the international community. ## Transcript North Korea and the US have a long history of animosity. Should the North Korean regime conduct another nuclear or ballistic missile test, this resolution commits the Security Council to take even further action. This past year has seen America pushing for stronger economic sanctions against North Korea. As the regime carried out missile nuclear tests. And the death of American student, Otto Warmbier, who was held in North Korea for more than a year has angered the US public. The two countries are technically still at war since only an armistice, rather than a peace treaty, ended the Korean War in 1953. So how did North Korea and the US end up such bitter enemies? It all started at the end of world War II when the Korean peninsula was split along the 38 paradox. At the time, Soviet and Russia controlled the Northern half and US had influence over the South. The Soviet Union's leader. Joseph Stalin, implanted the Korean Guerrilla fight Kim Jogn- il whose grandfather the Kim Jong- un As leader of the North, on June the 25th 1950, the North Korean People's Army invaded the South. It prompted the US to come to their rescue and push the North Koreans back far into their own territory. On October 20th rock soldiers and American GIs seize the North Korean capital of pyongyang. This caused neighbouring China to enter the frame in support of its communist ally [ SOUND ] [ SOUND ] [ SOUND ] After three years of ferocious fighting, a truce was called close to the original 38th parallel. Today the demilitarized zone or DMZ that divides the two states is the most heavily fortified place on Earth. [ MUSIC ] Occasionally conflict has been close to breaking out again In 1976, North Korean troops hacked to death two American soldiers in the DMZ. In response, the US ordered its armed forces ready to deploy within six hours, known as DEFCON 3. Today, the two nations do not have diplomatic relations, but former US Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton have both visited Pyongyang to retrieve Americans detained by the regime. Still, enmity runs deep. Especially over North Korea's nuclear program. Threats to turn American cities into seas of fire are common. And the North considers the US military drills with the South as a rehearsal for an invasion. More recently, Trump has hit back, threatening fire and fury in North Korea and calling Kim Little Rocket Man. They will be met with fire and fury, like the world has never seen. Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. The Trump Kim Summit is a propagana coup for Kim. It will mark the first time in their histories that the sitting leaders of these two countries have met, ostensibly as equals. [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5310834/solution-north-korea-people-defectors/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5310834/solution-north-korea-people-defectors/"},"headline":"Forget Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. 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