Ralph Hassig and Kongdan Oh’s new release, “The Hidden People of North Korea,” is an addition to a body of literature on North Korea which is growing annually as the conditions in the country garner increasing international attention. The history of the North has been known for many years via well-researched work such as Don Oberdorfer’s “The Two Koreas,” but nowadays it is possible to find more and more writing by defectors available in English, not to mention books by western writers with first-hand experience of life inside North Korea. The world is coming to understand more and more about the workings of the Kim Jong Il dictatorship. Some of the best books can be found below;
[imText1]North of the DMZ: Essays on Daily Life in North Korea, Andrei Lankov
Professor Lankov, currently with a South Korean university, is renowned for the depth of his research and his profound understanding of the North (and South) Korean people. Born and raised in Brezhnev’s Soviet Union, he spent time studying at Kim Il Sung University in the 1980s. As a result, he gets under the skin of North Korea in a way that many authors do not, indeed cannot. This book covers the way North Korean life works, the way people survive, and the myriad intricacies of existence in the country. An excellent read.
[imText2]Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader, Bradley K Martin
Heavy enough to kill from quite a distance, this is almost 900 pages of excellent, well-researched insight into the nature of the North Korean regime, the way it indoctrinates from birth, the way it controls, monitors and crushes dissent. It is written in an accessible style and, as long as you have the time and the will to let it inform your understanding, it can form a key plank in anyone’s knowledge of North Korea.
[imText3]Comrades and Strangers, Michael Harrold
Every foreigner with an interest in the North Korean enigma has, at one point or another, thought to themselves, “What would it be like to live in Pyongyang?”
Well, until the money ran out in 2001, a small group of foreigners from around the world did exactly that as part of the editing team at the Foreign Languages Publishing House, the organization responsible for crafting the words of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, in addition to the mind-numbing Pyongyang Times, into coherent prose for the consumption of the international community. For no fewer than seven years, Michael Harrold was one of the chosen few.
His tales of what was and was not possible in North Korea are riveting, and one can easily empathize with the hardships he faced; huge cockroaches in the bathroom being a relatively minor example. Without a doubt, one of the most interesting books on North Korea one could hope to find.
[imText4]The Aquariums of Pyongyang, Kang Chol Hwan and Pierre Rigoulot
This is the quintessential defector testimony, the one that most people who have heard of defector testimony at all have all heard of and read. The tale of Kang Chol Hwan’s descent from affluent son of a returnee from the Chongryon’s “Homecoming Project” to ten years in one of North Korea’s hellish prison camps is enough to turn anyone with a heart against the North Korean regime. A must-read, but then you probably knew that already. Perhaps worth re-reading before watching the movie, which is slated for release in 2010.
[imText5]This is Paradise, Kang Hyok and Philippe Grangereau
Raised later than Kang Chol Hwan and in considerably less desirable circumstances under the leadership of Kim Jong Il, Kang Hyok lived through the famine in the northern provinces of North Korea, where it hit hardest and took the most lives. The veracity of this account is occasionally questioned, and that is fine; some parts are difficult to believe. But if there is one thing we all know about North Korea it is that anything is possible, and this account certainly contains more truth than lies. As an addition to the canon launched by The Aquariums of Pyongyang, it is well worth reading.
[imText6]Long Road Home, Kim Yong
This is the tale of a boy abandoned at an orphanage; the last resort of a mother who wanted her son to escape his undesirable class background. Success followed, as Kim became a member of the elite, but what goes up, must come down. An excellent read.
[imText7]Escaping North Korea: Defiance and Hope in the World’s Most Repressive Country, Mike Kim
A brave man who lived in the Chinese borderlands for four years, Mike Kim tells the frequently harrowing tales of refugees coming across the border from North Korea, and details his efforts to aid them. A deeply touching and instructive book for those who wonder about the Chinese policy of repatriating defectors to face prison camps or worse back in North Korea.
