Defected North Korean artists unite to raise profile

In an effort to reach out to the highly commercialized South Korean art world, a group of North Korean artists who defected to South Korea launched an organization on June 26 aimed at promoting the communist state's little-known style of artistry.

"However good they were in the North, they can't do it alone in the South. They are alienated," said Kim Yong-nam, the president of the association, who was a composer in North Korea before he defected in 2002.

[Yonhap News]