Portrait of North Korean defector Lee Seongmin for the Wall Street Journal, USA | Tim Franco
On assignment for the Wall Street Journal, Tim Franco photographed Lee Seongmin, a 37-year-old human rights advocate and North Korean defector. Lee was one of the first individuals outside of Ukraine to examine the diaries and documents of North Korean soldiers killed in Russia during the ongoing war. His analysis has been instrumental in helping Ukrainian forces understand the motivations behind the young fighters sent to Russia by Kim Jong-Un’s regime. As journalist Dasl Yoon mentions in the article, Lee Seongmin has been nicknamed “Hero of Ukraine”.