Researchers studying North Korean defectors need to use a degree of creativity, particularly in asking questions, to get information from them, an academic and author told NK News.

Sandra Fahy of Sophia University in Tokyo has already finished one book, Marching through Suffering: Loss and Survival in North Korea, which will be out next spring. When asked about the limitations of defector research – such as the fact that many of them come from the same northern provinces of the country, bordering China – Fahy said this requires researchers to come up with new, creative questions the refugees haven’t heard before.