When Kang, dressed in a North Korean military
uniform, showed how to put on North Korean-
style makeup on her YouTube channel, her
subscribers wrote, “You are so pretty even
without makeup” and “You’re such a beauty.”
“I like communicating with people by posting
responses to the messages that they put on my
channel,” said Kang, wearing two rings on each
of her hands. “I want to let the people know
about North Korean culture and show more
about how I am living in South Korea.”
The YouTubers, however, also have anti-fans
who often vent their anger at them when North
Korea does something provocative like conduct
a weapons test.
Kang said she feels a “little sad” when she reads
malicious messages from people such as “Go
back to your country” and “Why does a Red
live here?”
Jang said some messages have been left for him
wishing for him to be assassinated with a poisoned
needle or banished to a North Korean coal mine.
While there have been some TV programs in the
South featuring North Korean refugees, some
experts say they don’t fully carry the escapees’
voices because they were directed, filmed and
edited by South Koreans.
“On YouTube, defectors can speak whatever they
want without being filtered and edited. ... Given
that, I would say their programs provide content
that the TV shows can’t provide,” said Lee Kwang