From Seoul to Pyongyang: the secret remittance networks keeping North Korean families alive

Clandestine networks that were used to send remittance payments back to the families of North Korean defectors are under threat from a crackdown in the South. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

When Park Seung-hwan* has a moment to himself, he opens Google Earth and searches for his family home. The 30-year-old has been able to check that the roof was repaired and that crops are growing – tangible proof that the money he sent home had reached his family safely.

“Sending money was the simplest way for me to feel connected to my family,” Park says, adding that he worries that without it, his brother might be drafted and sent to fight in Russia because his family will not have enough to pay bribes so as to be exempt.