Interviews with Kim Seung-chul

My name is Kim Seung-Chul.

I was born May 3, 1961, in North Korea in an area called Hamhung. It was an area where many refugees were located during the Korean war. I was educated in North Korea all the way through college.

Because I studied civil engineering, I worked in the field for about a year and a half. After that, I went to Russia to work in logging. At the time, that was the only way to make money in North Korea. It was October 1991 when I went to Russia. That was the first year after the collapse of the Soviet Union so Russia was very poor, but not as poor as North Korea.

I was working in an area of central Russia in Siberia. There was a cross continental train going through that area. The rail was about 200 – 300 km long. There were about 70 to 80 Russians living in the area where I was working. Our construction office was built in the forest and we weren’t allowed to go out for six months.

So, it was actually after six months in June 1992 that I had a chance to walk out to the station area. There I saw a store where they were selling sugar, oil, eggs, and meat and I was shocked. Before entering Russia, I was told that it was a country that had entirely collapsed and was much poorer than North Korea. This area where I was working was in the deepest part of the mountains. I was surprised to learn that even in this remote place, they were selling basic necessities for the people. I started to see the realities of communism and decided to escape.

In January 1993, I left for Vladivostok. After that, I crossed over to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and stayed for about a year. In May 1994, I crossed the border to South Korea. That same year, on July 8, the former North Korean leader Kim Il Sung passed away. I was being investigated for having defected. Because of this, my life officially began in South Korea in 1995.

I joined the [Institute of North Korean Studies] and spent over 10 years there. Many people in South Korea thought that after Kim Il Sung’s death, North Korea would collapse, but my view was quite different. I wrote articles about it and voiced my opinion. It was through that opportunity that I was able to join the [Institute of North Korean Studies]. On Christmas Eve 2007, I started North Korea Reform Radio.

[Kim Il Sung (1912 – 1994) was the founder and leader of the North Korean state from 1948 until his death in 1994.]

Kim Seung-chul is the founder of North Korea Reform Radio and a passionate advocate for freedom of information. Kim grew up in North Korea where all media is completely controlled by the regime. Desperate for alternative sources of information, he would listen to illegal foreign radio broadcasts targeted at North Koreans. As a result of his exposure to independent media, Kim started questioning his country’s totalitarian system.

Trained as a civil engineer, Kim was selected to work on an international construction project in Siberia. He was amazed at how people in Russia’s most isolated region still had access to basic necessities that were unavailable to many in North Korea. Kim decided to escape and start a new life in South Korea. Once there, he launched shortwave radio programming that targets North Korea’s elite who Kim believes will lead the country’s liberalization. Remembering his own experiences with foreign radio, Kim made it his mission to deliver alternative sources of information to his people and inspire change. As such, North Korea Reform Radio delivers news and programming on leadership, reform, and liberalization that offers elites different perspectives on North Korean society and political philosophy.