'Webtoon' details defectors' struggles

This picture taken on Aug 8 shows North Korean defector Choi Sung Guk, 36, sketching an image during the recording of a weekly YouTube video programme devoted to defector-related issues at a cafe in Seoul. When Mr Choi decided it was time to go publi
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

This picture taken on Aug 8 shows North Korean defector Choi Sung Guk, 36, sketching an image during the recording of a weekly YouTube video programme devoted to defector-related issues at a cafe in Seoul.

When Mr Choi decided it was time to go public with his experiences, he avoided the well-trodden "harrowing memoir" route in favour of a cartoon strip.

He now posts a weekly online comic strip, or "webtoon", on South Korea's largest Internet portal, Naver. The strip is called Rodong Simmun (Labour Interrogation) - a play on the name of the North Korean ruling party's official mouthpiece Rodong Sinmun (Labour Newspaper) - and details the struggles of North Korean defectors adapting to life in the capitalist South.

Mr Choi arrived in Seoul in 2010.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 18, 2016, with the headline 'Webtoon' details defectors' struggles. Subscribe