In this chapter, I move on to a theorization of the motivations behind activism, drawing on the narratives of women activists examined in Chapter 4. As discussed there, numerous studies have explored the driving forces behind various social movements and cases of political activism. Nonetheless, there is a dearth of theorization founded on their empirical data. This is particularly the case for extant studies on North Korean women defectors’ experiences, which are largely drawn from their oral testimonies, and is due to a lack of research on women’s activism. Given this lack, social theories to encapsulate their activism based on empirical data is vital, especially to guide future research as an explanatory tool. Chibucos et al (2004, p 1) explain theorizing as ‘the process of systematically developing and organizing ideas to explain phenomena’ by connecting the concrete findings from empirical data with abstract concepts. Building on this, the theory that I develop in this chapter is an attempt to construct a conceptual framework that may be applicable to similar types of studies in the future, while forming the basis of further debate and development. However, it is not an attempt to make an overarching claim about political activism and its motivations.

The narratives of women activists presented in this book have highlighted the important roles of critical awakening, a sense of responsibility, guilt and moral conscience, reciprocity and caring for others, as well as an altruistic vision for others, all as driving forces for their activism. These findings highlight two major interrelated characteristics: relational and future-oriented dimensions. Founded on these, I present a new theoretical concept that I call ‘Altruistic Political Imagination’ (API), which seeks to describe North Korean women’s human rights activism more aptly than existing concepts around imagination and altruism. This framework is an ongoing development built on my previous work on North Korean human rights activism (Lim, 2021).

Borrowing from Goodson (2010), Collins and Stockton (2018, p 3) present theories as stories, which ‘attempt to explain phenomena logically and meaningfully, often following narrative structures’. Consistent with this, I interweave different components emerging from the data into a narrative form to create a coherent story.