Curfewed Night

curfew over, the military and the state would go back to the playbox to find out what else might be in there, with the traditional women – after further obligatory banner-waving, picketing, pressure protests and interviews – returning home in haste, emptying the streets in seconds, all to get in to get the evening tea on. So that was the usual proc

My family and I had no idea what was happening in the outside world, but we were able to guess what shape other parts of the country were in from looking at the changes around us. At school, the classrooms weren’t even half-full. Our homeroom teacher was nowhere to be seen, and the number of teachers who did stick around dropped to just four or fiv

At worst, the renouncers-of-the-state would take her away as the latest person acting suspiciously in our area, which would be, more or less, true.

We were constantly monitored by the goons of the State Security of North Korea and the secret police. I guess we posed a double threat. We’d brought some dangerous items with us from Japan when we moved—things like bicycles and electrical appliances and half-decent clothes. What if the local villagers came to realize that their standard of living w