“Why would foreign beggars come here?” was Kang Ji-hyan's reaction when she first saw someone wearing ripped jeans.
She was 15 years old at the time and was with her father near Paradise Lake on Mount Baekdu in North Korea.
They saw a group of tourists, some wearing ripped jeans.
Having been taught that jeans were a symbol of American imperialism and that people wearing ripped clothes must be poor, Kang was shocked by what she saw.
"There's no way a foreigner who can afford to travel is a beggar, maybe that's fashionable," her father said.
Thanks to that first encounter with ripped jeans, she understood what freedom means.
"It was a life-changing moment," Kang told the BBC's Korean service.
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"Yellow Wind"
The strict ban on foreign information and culture in North Korea is nothing new.
However, Kang was able to see a variety of clothes from an early age, because she grew up in a period when the repression was not as strong as in recent years.
In the mid-1990s, her mother bought clothes smuggled from China and Japan at the border and sold them at the market to make ends meet during North Korea's mass starvation, which was the result of the country's economic crisis and floods and droughts, and lasted from 1994 to 1998.
Kang could wear a hood and blouses made of fine lace.
"The authorities didn't control what we wore, but things started to change in the mid-2000s.
"We often started to hear the term 'yellow wind' and there was more control".
"Yellow wind" is a term used by North Korean officials to refer to a "vulgar and decadent trend", especially in the context of capitalist culture.
"There were inspectors who carried out inspections.
"When they saw someone wearing jeans, they would cut off the bottom of the pants with scissors, or they would take them away," Kang recalled.
After finishing school, Kang worked in accounting for a while and then became a librarian.
But what she really wanted to do was fashion.
She eventually headed to China, where ripped pants and sleeveless dresses were commonplace.
"In the beginning, I just wanted to try something different, I didn't plan to run away from the country.
"But after a while, I started to realize that if I want to make my dream come true, I have to go to South Korea."
In 2009, when she was 20 years old, Kang left North Korea for good.
"I wanted to find freedom and joy in clothes."
Detention for wearing a bell ringer
"My body was in North Korea, but my heart and mind were somewhere else."
Kwon Bom describes how the dramas she watched on DVD as a teenager made her wonder what life was like outside of North Korea.
"My grandfather was a prisoner of war in South Korea.
"That's why my father could never get a good job in North Korea."
Fortunately, her mother managed to make a good living with the help of relatives in China.
The family was able to buy a DVD player, the only one in their village.
"Neighbors started bringing South Korean dramas for us to watch together.
"We would draw thick curtains and immerse ourselves in series like these Stairway to Heaven, Winter sonata...
"I imagined myself wearing the wardrobe worn by the main characters in those series".
A group of inspectors stopped her on the street and asked her why she was wearing such clothes.
She spent three days in detention.
Kwon was finally released after her parents paid the fine.
However, Kwon was questioned several times later because of the clothes she wore.
She ran away when she was 17 years old.
First, it crossed the Tumen River to China, and after a long and difficult journey, it reached Southeast Asia, where it entered South Korea in 2012.
"I'm finally in a place where I can express my passion".
Prejudices about defectors
After graduating in fashion design from Hanyang University in the capital Seoul, she worked for some time in the fashion industry, and today Kang Ji-hyan has her own brand 'ISTORI' in South Korea.
She collaborates with designers who have a similar life story and gives part of the profits of her brand to help people who defect from North Korea.
"North Koreans are often portrayed as heartless communists or identified with the North Korean regime," it says on its website.
"That's why many defectors are reluctant to reveal their identity and have a lot of trouble adjusting to South Korean society."
Kang wants to send a message through fashion that people like her are no different from ordinary South Koreans.
"I realized that through my work I am joining some movements, such as human rights".
Kwon Bom currently works as a head designer for a clothing brand.
In addition, she launched her own brand 'GB (Giieokbi-eup)', which promotes elements of hanbok, Korea's traditional costume, on a modern everyday wardrobe.
Enhanced control
Jeans have not been allowed in North Korea since the 1990s, but due to the increased crackdown on foreign culture in recent years, the ban has been tightened.
In 2020, the regime passed the "Law on the Rejection of Reactionary Ideology and Culture", which sentences to death anyone who distributes culture or products of foreign origin.
Earlier this year, it was reported that a teenager who watched and distributed South Korean dramas sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.
And a 22-year-old North Korean man was publicly executed for watching and sharing South Korean movies and music, according to the 2024 Human Rights Report in North Korea, released in June by South Korea's Unification Ministry.
Kwon says her mother, who is still in North Korea, is now much more careful when talking on the phone because she is afraid of being eavesdropped and getting into trouble.
Experts believe that the regime of Kim Jong Un is trying to block the influence of Western and South Korean culture in North Korean society.
"The regime is under enormous external pressure due to its support for Russia, and the domestic economy is stagnating, so the regime is in a critical situation," said Jeon Young-Sun, a researcher at the Institute of Humanities at Konkuk University in Seoul.
"The influence of a foreign culture could pose a threat to the ideology that demands absolute loyalty of North Koreans to the Kim dynasty.
"So, I don't think things will improve for a while."
Kang and Kwon have new dreams.
"I hope one day my mom can wear the clothes I design and show them to her neighbors," Kang says.
Kwon wants to create a new trend in the world that would contain elements of traditional Korean costumes.
"I wonder if my voice would be heard more if I became influential?".
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