Swedish Publication and Article on Blankspot
June 2026
My book came out in Swedish on June 5th, 2026.
The name of the publisher is Bakhåll, based in Lund, Sweden.
A book launch is scheduled to take place at the Korean Cultural Center in Stockholm on November 18th, 2026.
On the occasion of the Swedish publication, journalist Emma Gate published our story at Blankspot, an award-winning organisation, specialized in long form journalism and run by one of Sweden’s most prominent reporter Martin Schibbye.
This article profiles the unlikely collaboration between Ji Hyun Park_박지현 Park, a North Korean defector, and Seh-lynn Chai, a South Korean diplomat’s daughter, who together authored a book titled "DEN SVÅRA VÄGEN UT." The narrative explores how the two women overcame a lifetime of institutionalized prejudice and mutual distrust—rooted in decades of Korean propaganda—to document Park’s harrowing experiences of famine, human trafficking, and imprisonment.
By weaving together their individual backgrounds, the text highlights the humanitarian crisis in North Korea while exposing the deep psychological divide that persists between the two nations even in the diaspora.
Ultimately, the source serves as a poignant study on bridging ideological borders through shared vulnerability and the power of storytelling to foster empathy where there was once only conditioned hatred.
