Joo Seong-ha () is a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

from

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

who

defected In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state in exchange for allegiance to another, changing sides in a way which is considered illegitimate by the first state. More broadly, defection involves abandoning a person, ca ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

in 2002. Currently he is working as a reporter in the international affairs department of the newspaper, ''

the Dong-a Ilbo The ''Dong-A Ilbo'' (, literally ''East Asia Daily'') is a newspaper of record in Korea since 1920 with a daily circulation of more than 1.2 million and opinion leaders as its main readers. ''The Dong-A Ilbo'' is the parent company of Dong-A ...

''.

Biography

Joo was born and grew up in a small, rural fishing village of eastern DPRK in the 1970s. He has kept his exact date of birth and birthplace secret. He graduated from

Kim Il-sung University Kim Il-sung University, founded on 1 October 1946, is the first university built in North Korea. It is located on a campus in Pyongyang, the nation's capital. Along with the main academic buildings, the campus contains 10 separate offices, 50 l ...

, majoring in English. Prior to his escape, he was arrested and spent time in

concentration camps Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

before finally escaping from the North in 1998. After naturalization as a South Korean citizen in 2002, he began work in the international affairs department of

at the end of 2003. In March 2009, he was confirmed as a specialist reporter on North Korean affairs and has composed articles related to North Korea on top of regular international affairs coverage. Joo operates a reporter's blog called "서울에서 쓰는 평양이야기" ("Pyongyang Story Written in Seoul"), one of the most widely read online information channels about North Korea that has attracted 69 million page views as of October 3, 2015. Furthermore, despite North Korea's repeated murder threats for whom the country deems a traitor, Joo continues to broadcast every week information from the outside world across the border to North Koreans, via Radio Free Asia.

Published works

*《평양 자본주의 백과전서》(2018) *《세계의 명문 직업학교를 가다》 *《외국특파원들이 본 두 개의 코리아》 *《서울에서 쓰는 평양 이야기 : 김일성대학 나온 <동아일보> 기자 주성하》

References

External links

"서울에서 쓰는 평양이야기"/Nambukstory, reporter's blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joo, Seong-Ha Living people South Korean journalists South Korean people of North Korean origin North Korean defectors Kim Il Sung University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)