Latest in Madeleine Gavin

North Korea is an earthly paradise – at least, that's the fiction its people are fed from birth by their dictatorial government. The reality is far, far grimmer, almost unimaginably so.  Just how dreadful conditions are in the country becomes clear in the documentary Beyond Utopia, directed by…

North Korea. Your house is on fire. What do you try to rescue first? Your kids? Your pet? No, the first thing you reach for is the portrait of the Dear Leader, Kim Jong-un and his father and grandfather that is hanging on your wall, as mandated by the authoritarian government. Everything else can…

Human Rights Watch states the case very clearly: North Korea "remains one of the most repressive countries in the world." In a 2022 report, the nonprofit said, "The North Korean government does not respect the rights to freedom of thought, opinion, expression or information… Fear of collective…