Hangul 주성하 Role Journalist Name Joo Seong-ha | McCune–Reischauer Chu Song-ha Revised Romanization Ju Seong-ha | |
Joo Seong-ha (Hangul: 주성하) is a journalist from North Korea who defected to South Korea in 2002. Currently he is working as a reporter in the international affairs department of the newspaper, the Dong-a Ilbo.
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Biography
Joo was born and grew up in a small, rural fishing village of eastern DPRK (He kept his exact date of birth and birthplace as a secret.). He graduated from Kim Il-sung University and worked as a professor. Prior to his escape, he was arrested and spent time in concentration camps 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 the Dong-a Ilbo 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.