The Long Road to a Phone Call

A year later, a stranger knocks on your door. He bears what he claims is a letter from your parents: they have successfully left the country and are alive! And they want to speak to you.

But there is a catch. To speak to them, you will have to travel hundreds of kilometres to the border to make an international phone call using a smuggled phone, illegally tapping into Chinese phone networks. You will traverse mountains on foot in order to circumvent restricted areas, under the cover of night. There is intense surveillance and at every moment, you run the risk of getting caught by the authorities.

Sometimes we walked all night to cross a mountain. We had to move at night, not during day. We were constantly pricked and scraped by branches. Choi Ji-woo had to travel hundreds of kilometres in order to make a call to her father

An outrageous predicament in our ultra-connected world? This is a modern day scenario that Choi Ji-woo actually faced. North Koreans like her face significant risks attempting to establish any connection outside what remains one of the most isolated countries in the world.

Pictured: Choi Ji-woo, a North Korean living in Seoul, South Korea