‘Tech’ me to North Korea


Michelle Yip

Choson Exchange workshop leaders, who hail from various countries, in front of Ryugyong Hotel in North Korea. – November 30, 2018.

BIDDING farewell at the Pyongyang airport was the hardest thing I did in 2018. I felt sad parting ways with our fabulous local translators (one has a PhD from Cambridge, one is a medical doctor and researcher in stem cells, and another is a researcher in biotech), the fired-up 80 workshop participants, amazing workshop leaders and facilitators, and not forgetting the special permission granted to visit places out of tourists’ reach.

When I signed up for the Choson Exchange programme, founded by my dear friend Geoffrey See in 2007, I did not expect to experience emotional intensity during my visit to North Korea. Having heard too many versions of narratives regarding this country that the world knows so little about due to its controlled information outflow, I was curious and wanted to explore the truth behind such narratives, and also to share my experience and help the Koreans make a difference in their own country.


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