The experience of leaving North Korea and navigating life as an undocumented person in China presents significant challenges for those seeking refuge in South Korea. This paper presents findings from an eight-month longitudinal ethnographic study with five newly arrived North Korean defector women in their first year in South Korea. We closely examine how digital technologies are intertwined with their everyday adaptation: how newcomers engage with digital systems, what frictions emerge, and how past experiences of living invisibly shape these interactions. This study contributes to the HCI community by (1) offering an empirically grounded, underrepresented account of early-stage digital resettlement among North Korean defectors; (2) conceptualizing first-time digital identity as a site of acute vulnerability shaped by past experiences and long histories of marginalization; and (3) proposing temporal, context-sensitive, self-reliance–oriented approaches to digital adaptation that supports vulnerable newcomers’ sociotechnical transition into a new society.

North Korean defector mothers raising children in South Korea face challenges in balancing disclosure of their past with protecting their children from discrimination and stigma. Drawing on interviews with 22 North Korean defector mothers, we examine how children’s exposure to polarized media on North Korea acts as an unexpected, external force that shapes prejudice toward mothers’ backgrounds. This sociotechnical influence, combined with a lack of meaningful storytelling resources, complicates mothers’ disclosure decisions and constrains narrative agency over their own identities. We contribute to HCI by (1) advancing an empirically grounded understanding of how digital technologies mediate stigmatized identity disclosure in families, reshaping mother-child dynamics and mothers’ identity negotiations; (2) proposing design directions for storytelling technologies that support narrative agency, silence, and emotionally safe, anonymous sharing of disclosure strategies among mothers with stigmatized histories; (3) foregrounding the lived experiences and familial dynamics of a highly underrepresented population navigating digitally saturated ecosystems.

As Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) researchers increasingly conduct studies involving populations with stigmatised identities, more researchers must focus on creating conversational spaces where participants feel comfortable discussing their experiences. This study unpacks how and why HCI researchers engage in self-disclosure to facilitate such spaces. We share eight autoethnographic personal stories of key moments when we disclosed or concealed personal information in our HCI studies with diverse participant groups (people with dementia, victims of online romance scams, children with autism, and North Korean defectors). Through analysing these stories, we found that these decisions were shaped by various goals: creating a welcoming environment, demonstrating credibility, establishing common ground, reducing stigma, and directing the interview’s focus. The acts of disclosure or concealment affected the interactions with participants, the collected data, and the well-being of the researcher and participant. We argue that greater awareness, reflection, guidance, and sharing are needed regarding self-disclosure in HCI research and offer a reflexive guide to help researchers prepare for and reflect on their self-disclosure practices. By making these practices visible and open to discussion, we aim to make researcher-participant interactions in sensitive settings more ethical, effective, and transparent. • HCI researchers dynamically disclose/conceal personal information with stigmatised groups. • Researchers differ in the who/what/when/why(not)/how of their self-disclosure. • HCI lacks awareness, guidelines, and transparency for researcher self-disclosure. • Reflexivity around self-disclosure is needed for ethical and effective research.

In a world where digital technology is omnipresent, North Korea stands as an outlier, with most citizens uninformed about its existence. This study explores the experiences of North Korean defectors as they transition to a highly digitally connected society—South Korea. Through 21 semi-structured interviews, we initially investigate the critical needs and challenges they encounter during their transitions. Then, we examine the role of digital technology as they adapt to the highly connected digital environment of South Korea. Our findings highlight that social media serves as a double-edged sword, providing the freedom to construct a desired identity while accentuating the gap between their real and ideal selves. This empirical research offers insights into how an underrepresented population navigates the digital landscape during life transitions, shedding light on the drawbacks and ways to better address their needs.