“For me, this is freedom”

e gave him some he would shout, ‘More, more.’ You can never forget seeing somebody die from hunger.”

Later on the family had a TV, which the police came to check on. There was one channel, which spouted government propaganda. School was strict. “One of my friends was walking like Charlie Chaplin and some of us burst out laughing,” Park said. “The teachers shouted at us. They were worried for our safety if we were caught.”

Every home had framed photographs of Kim and later his son, Kim Jong-il, father of the present ruler, Kim Jong-un. Was it all for show? “Not at all. We loved them,” she said. “We called them the father, and the Workers’ Party was the mother. We didn’t have any information from outside. We didn’t have anything to compare our lives to. The only movies we had were Second World War films from the Soviet Union and Romania. They were seen as acceptable because they were made in other communist countries.” […]

Last week she walked the streets of Bury, placing Conservative Party newsletters through letterboxes for Greater Manchester’s mayoral candidate, Laura Evans. The headline reads: “Labour council spends £700 a day on elections consultant.” The pamphlet looks suspiciously like a newspaper. “In North Korea, you would be arrested and taken away for this,” she said, dressed in a black flat cap, her glossy black hair poking out the sides. She is grinning as she walks down the street.

What does she love most about the UK? “Being able to smile,” she said. “For me, this is freedom.”