Posted : 2021-05-04 13:35
Updated : 2021-05-04 17:16
By Park Han-sol
For North Korean-born Kang Ji-hyun, her chance sighting of a foreign tourist at Mount Paektu at the age of 15 forever changed her life.
What started out as a routine family trip to the mountain became her first time spotting an actual foreigner outside the television screens and textbooks. What caught her eyes wasn t his height or his unkempt beard ― but his ripped jeans.
He must be a beggar, she immediately thought to herself, asking her father why in the world a homeless person would be walking around Mount Paektu. Her father, after some thought, told her that the tourist s clothing must be a sign not of his status but rather his choice of style.