The Marmot’s Hole

Yonhap reports a 41-year old female North Korean defector identified as Ms. A has sparked controversy in South Korea by posing for nude photos uploaded onto the Internet.

The site, reportedly run by North Korean defector Mr. B, discusses North Korean human rights issues, including the ongoing famine. It has also uploaded nude photos of Ms. A, which subscribers can view for a registration fee of 25 U.S. dollars.

With the exception of the nude photos, however, visitors could use the rest of the site for free. Free content included content of broadcast programs Ms. A had appeared on, pictures of starving North Korean children and descriptions of North Korea’s human rights situation, and images of North Korea’s “Pleasure Squad” performing arts troupe.

In a post on the website of an association of North Korean defectors, site administrator Mr. B said there were several websites informing people of the human rights situation of North Korean refugees, but these sites drew only very few visitors. In order to correct that, Mr. B came up with his nude photo plan in order to drew society’s attention through, as he put it, a “cultural incident.”

He said, “Animal lovers engage in nude demonstrations to rescue animals from extinction, so doing a nude demonstration to save one’s own people who are dying is a holy act.”

Ms. A, however, said she posed for the photos because she was in financial trouble after several business attempts failed and she fell victim to scam artists. She said Mr. B told her she could earn money by posing nude, and she believed she could use the money to pay back debts.

Ms. A, who reportedly played the mother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in a play in North Korea, said the original concept for the photo series was “Kim Jong-il’s Mother Undressed.” Only later was the plan connected to the North Korean human rights issue.

She said people around her told her this wasn’t the way to go, and broadcast companies began asking for her to appear on their shows. She decided to abandon the nude photo project and told Mr. B, but he went ahead and opened the website anyway.

Mr. B, however, said he’d put three years of his life behind the project and had been reduced to living in the basement of a gosiwon in order to complete it. Why should his position on the project be ignored, he asked. He also noted Ms. A has a 20 percent stake in the website, something included in a notarized document between the two.

In particular, when new members register, the payment goes to a church.

That’s right, a church.

Said Mr. B, “Since this wasn’t a means to make money, I left the payment account with a church, with 70 percent of the subscription fees going to funds to rescue North Korean refugees and engage in missionary work.” The remaining 30 percent gets split between him and the model.

Ms. A, however, said the payment system was adopted because Mr. B borrowed money from the church, claiming he was going to use it to engage in North Korean human rights activities.

She also said Mr. B said he would hold a press conference in Japan to announce the opening of the website, but she was very frightened when she through of the photos being released. She said she couldn’t press charges because she was afraid of Mr. B, and she asked the public for help.

Mr. B, however, said his project was to inform people of the terrible human rights situation faced by North Koreans and North Korean refugees. He said, “I pray that Ms. A returns to her original intention and fulfills her mission.”

Marmot’s Note: The site now appears to be down. Judging from the photos at Yonhap, it appears the website was in English.

I’d also be failing in my duties if I didn’t point out that Ms. A isn’t the first North Korean defector to take her kit off for public consumption.  24-year-old defector Lee Hye-ri, who really was a former member of the “Pleasure Squad,” is now modeling in Japan, where she has done two semi-nude spreads, the latest being for a weekly magazine of the Asahi Shimbun. Lee has an interesting story—she was a member of the Pleasure Squad until 1999, when her parents and her younger brother defected to South Korea.  She was then kicked off the squad and exiled to the mountains, but she managed to escape across the Yalu River and rejoin her family in the South.