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This article deals with the impact produced on the North Korean domestic situation by the 1989 Pyongyang trip of Yim Su-gyong, a young student activist from South Korea. Going there in defiance of South Korea’s official policy, she was enthusiastically welcomed by the North Korean authorities, who strove to present her as an embodiment of the alleged revolutionary spirit of South Korean youngsters. However, in the long run Yim’s trip produced totally different results. The North Korean audience, fascinated with Yim Su-gyong and quite attentive to her behavior, was able to read hints which indicated that the official picture of South Korean life as presented by the North Korean media was wrong. Contrary to the authorities’ initial expectations, the trip made the North Koreans more skeptical of the officially approved worldview.
