North Korean defector artist relishes freedom in time of tensions

Pyongyang and Seoul step up psychological warfare across divided border

20240614 N.K. Artist

Artist Oh Sung-cheol speaks at a press conference on June 13. "I'm grateful to live in a place where I can think and express myself freely," he said. (Source photos by Ahn Seong-bok)

STEVEN BOROWIEC, Nikkei staff writer

SEOUL -- These days, artist Oh Sung-cheol is thinking about what kind of message he wishes he could convey to people in North Korea, the country of his birth.

The rival Koreas have recently engaged in a tense propaganda back and forth across their heavily militarized border. The North has floated hundreds of balloons into South Korea loaded with animal excrement and garbage. The South answered back with loudspeakers blasting K-pop songs.

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