Journal of the Korean Geographical Society ISSN:1225-6633(Print) 대한지리학회지

This study explores the geography of the “Sending Rice Bottle to North Korea Campaign” conducted in Seongmodo, Ganghwa-gun, Incheon Metropolitan City, from April, 2016 to June, 2020, organized by a group of North Korean defectors. The Sending Rice Bottle Campaign involved complex interactions among heterogeneous actors, including the rice bottles, the natural flow of the sea , and human actors seeking to utilize these dynamics. To analyze this process, the study employed the concept of agency and black-box within the framework of actor-network theory, focusing on the relationships between human and non-human actors. The agency of the sea emerged during face-to-face encounters with humans opened up plausibility for the defectors to conduct the Campaign along the Yellow Sea. Drawing upon their experiential knowledge from North Korea, general geographical knowledge, folk knowledge, expert knowledge of specific residents, and scientific technology, the defectors generated the knowledge that “rice-filled plastic bottles can be delivered to North Korea using the flow of currents along the Yellow Sea.” This knowledge, constructed by the defectors, was recognized as a social fact, leading domestic and international civil organizations to engage in similar activities. Through tracing the process of knowledge formation in the Sending Rice Bottle Campaign, this study aims to question the authority of the knowledge constructed by North Korean defectors.