This corpus-based study scrutinizes South Korean media’s portrayal of North Korean defectors (NKDs), especially women. Analyzing data from five leading newspapers (Chosun Ilbo, DongA Ilbo, JoongAng Ilbo, Hankyoreh, and Kyunghyang Sinmun) and Women News, this article explores power and gender dynamics in media language shaping NKD identities. Using corpus tools, statistical analysis of keywords, and collocations, the study integrates critical discourse analysis of narratives obtained through concordance search. Key findings reveal the significant underrepresentation and misrepresentation of NKD women, often stereotyping them only as victims of violence. The research advocates for a broader gender perspective in media coverage and diverse portrayals of NKD women and men as integral members of the community, emphasizing the need for gender-sensitive and inclusive language in South Korean media.

This study examines how the post-Cold War geopolitical context penetrated through the struggles and empowerment of North Korean female defector entrepreneurs in South Korea. Reconceptualizing the notion of intersectionality, the study focuses on a grey area of informality and the resilience of these women. Based on in-depth interviews and participant observations, the findings indicate that these women leveraged geopolitical limits to develop their entrepreneurial assets. Informality developed through their involvement in Jangmadang and cross-border mobilities via informal brokerage. Through human-trafficked marriages, they stayed in China, learning the Chinese language and working in South Korean companies. The disadvantages of the job market and gender roles motivated them to start their businesses. The research emphasizes the complex ways in which agency, mobility, and geopolitics intersect.

Why do so many North Korean women resort to leaving their children born in China and resettle alone in South Korea? What survival strategies have they employed? And what conditions contribute to them becoming transnational mothers? To answer, this article explores the status of North Korean border-crossers in China, the influence of the one-child policy and industrialization on North Koreans’ gendered migration, and China’s hukou household registration system. Drawing on ethnographic research, the article argues that the mothers’ migration and kinship are grounded in a search for security, repositioning themselves for greater control of their lives and futures. Practices of transnational mothering emerge as North Korean women resettle in South Korea and become long-distance mothers to their children who remain with their Chinese fathers.

This article examines the spatial and temporal changes of North Korean (NK) migration by analyzing the interactive process between NKs’ efforts to cross borders amidst changing geopolitical and economic circumstances and the activities at the domestic, local, state, and international levels to manage displacement from a gender perspective. In doing so, I argue that the border between North Korea and China became violent and that NK migrations became spatially gendered and class-stratified. The proportion of NK women entering South Korea remains high, primarily due to the secondary migration of those who have long resided in China in de facto marriage relationships with Chinese men. In contrast, among recent direct defectors, NK men constitute a significant proportion and they often play an active role in family migration.

This article serves as an introduction to this special issue, which focuses on the current situation of North Korean (NK) migration and the safety and resilience of NK migrants from a gender perspective. This introduction highlights the importance of this topic by examining debates about the influence of China as a transit space on gendered mobility and security, the geopolitical implications for the daily lives of NK migrants, and the agency of NK women. We anticipate that the provision of up-to-date data and the application of multidisciplinary analysis based on different research methodologies will deepen the understanding of the changing landscape of NK migration and the (in)securities experienced by these migrants, and contribute to the discovery of possible and critical ways to empower them.

Twenty-four years into democracy, South Africa remains a country searching for peace. High levels of interpersonal, gender-based, and political violence together with structural violence continue to plague the country. Schools are sites of regular violent conflict, mirroring problems in the wider community. Despite this, peace education has not received priority attention. This article discusses a context of endemic violence in South Africa and links this to its history. This prompts discussions of the need for peace education and the range of interventions that have occurred. Specific examples of peace education programs are offered to illustrate their content, philosophy, and pedagogy. A critique of such interventions is provided. Explorations of constraints and potential enablers of peace education in an expanded society-wide program conclude the article.

t is regularly claimed that Communism and Confucianism shape gender-related norms, practices, and institutions in Vietnam. Some scholars emphasize the ongoing relevance of Confucian traditions, while others hold that Communist rule led to more gender-equal norms, practices, and institutions. By contrast, I suggest that broader socioeconomic modernization processes should be considered. I use data from the World Values Survey to investigate the question of the relative influence of Communism, Confucianism, and modernization processes on gender attitudes. The results show that modernization is a crucial factor in understanding gender attitudes, but that Communism and Confucianism likewise have an influence.