The Marmot’s Hole

I respect the testicular fortitude of the reporters working for this magazine, but as a publisher, I sure as hell couldn’t ask someone to do this:

The first magazine about North Korea reported by North Koreans from inside the country will start publishing a Japanese version this week to try to force change in one of the most isolated countries in the world.

Rimjin-gang, the name of a river that flows between North and South Korea, will feature reports on North Korea only using accounts from people based in the country, Jiro Ishimaru, a Japanese journalist who founded the magazine, said in an interview.

“There is a limit to how well we outsiders can report on North Korea,” Ishimaru said. “The number is still small, but now we have North Koreans willing to do the job for us.”
[...]
The magazine uses reports from refugees who agreed to go back to North Korea and report on conditions there, Ishimaru said. They were given cameras to record life in the country.

Material for the magazine is smuggled out of North Korea and delivered to editorial staff in Osaka, Ishimaru, who has covered the country for nearly two decades and is author of the “The North Koreans,” said.

The homepage of the Korean edition is here — it’s a tad pricey at 20,000 won an issue (10,000 won for subscribers), but probably worth it.

(HT to reader)