THE EVENTS THAT MADE OUR YEAR

Front-line experience shows a different side of the DPRK

Editor's note: As a new year gets underway, China Daily reporters look back at some of the people and events that impressed and motivated them in 2018.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea can seem a mysterious place for people who only get a glimpse of it from occasional news stories. I was among their number until I met a group of veteran businessmen who specialize in trade with the country, which borders China and imports all kinds of supplies from its larger neighbor. Now, the country is less abstract to me.