Jieun Baek

Bio

Currently a Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School of Government where she graduated 2014. Graduated from Harvard College 2009 as a Government concentrator, where interest in North Korea sparked. Love PolicyMic. Always open to a good conversation!
During my recent trip to North Korea, one particularly memorable moment took place at the DMZ from the DPRK's side, where I saw both the North Korean and South Korean flags straddling the 38th parallel. I carefully struck up a conversation with a…
During my trip to Istanbul the other weekend, I walked into a spirited pride parade on the famous Istiklal street, and reveled in the diverse participants of this parade. I saw tourists cheering on, people jumping onto street lamps and construction…
My world-traveller former roommate from Vienna (Latasha Wilson) who is currently a Fulbright Scholar in Turkey met me in Istanbul this past weekend, which turned out to be truly unforgettable. This city, where history meets modernity, was…
North Korea remains an opaque country shrouded in speculation and rumor and its recent saber rattling has the international community on edge. There have been a slew of incidents over the past couple months. In February, North Korea detonated a…
North Korea’s nuclear test last week indicates that Kim Jong-Un is following his father’s preferred path of ‘diplomacy’: launch nukes when the U.S. is focused elsewhere, elicit international condemnation, and then use those public shames as grounds…
On November 19, 2012, my North Korea Study Group at Harvard Kennedy School hosted Mr. Shin Dong Hyuk to be a guest speaker for over 225 students, professors, and community members. For over an hour, Mr. Shin shared stories and lessons from being…
On October 5, 2012, the North Korea Study Group at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government hosted Ms. Kim Young Soon, a former celebrated dancer in North Korea. In the 2008 book entitled, "I was Sung Hye-rim's Friend," she described her ordeal at…
Last month, Google hosted a conference in Westlake Village, California on the topic of how technology could be used to disrupt illicit networks globally, including trafficking of humans, arms, organs, etc. This conference was co-sponsored by Council…
One of the ten North Korean defectors whom I invited to the recent Google Illicit Networks Conference was especially captivating. “Paul,” who is just two months younger than I am, had a completely different upbringing than me, having been born and…
Editor's Note: Jieun Baek spoke with a North Korean defector, with the pseudonym Nehemiah Park. Park defected from North Korea to China in 1997, and he's currently 30 years old. J:  What made you want to defect? J: In what ways do you think North…
On April 13 at 7:36 a.m., the North Korean government proudly launched a missile in celebration of the 100th birthday of the nation's founder. Insisting that the missile was a weather-related satellite intended to be sent into the atmosphere, the…
Through a collaborative interview with Nehemiah Park (pseudonym), a North Korean who defected in 1997, I recently had the opportunity to interview Timothy Lee (pseudonym), a 16-year-old North Korean boy from the North Hamgeong province Hyesan city…
People are literally dying to access information in North Korea today. More recently, North Koreans have been turning to cell phones to illegally access information by calling relatives outside the country. Illicit cell phone usage, especially…