Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Captain Corea]

Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader : North Korea and the Kim Dynasty


How all has read this book?

If you have, read on. If you haven't (and you have an interest in those zaney book-han sarram) then you really should.

A good friend of mine gave this book to me a few months ago (yes, it might just actually take you that long to read it) and although it is a thick one, it's honestly one of the best reads out there on the DPRK.

Much more indepth than Micheal Breens regurgitated ,
this book goes full stream into the history and back stories of the Northern Hermits. Honestly, after reading Breens book I was resigned to the fact that there was probably not going to be any really good source out there for the average reader of N. Korea. This book though proved me wrong.

My hopes were also high for Comrades and Strangers but after a few hundered pages (ok, the whole book), it just never did get interesting.

The only other book i'd truely recomend is
.
It really is a great, gut-wrentching book.


Any thoughts on these or even some others?


*sorry, one disclaimer; I think almost everyone and their dog has read Breens book "The Koreans". It's kinda been done to death on this board. i was hoping that there might be something new out there, specifically in regards to the DPRK.

[bignate]

I loved Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader, a really intelligent book on the North, however when I used it as a reference, many regarded it with disdain, since *shock* it actually had something positive to say about the North and the recent softening towards a market economy.

I really enjoyed Aquariums as well. It makes one realize how horrible the conditions under a totalitarian system can be. Another prison memoir that I have come across is one written by Lee Soon-ok, entitled Eyes of the Tailless Animals: Prison Memoirs of a North Korean Woman. Another engrossing look at the gulag system in the DPRK - it tells of a woman who was accussed of misapropriation of government supplies.

Another book that shows a contrasting image of the North is Bruce Cumings' North Korea: Another Country- though once again criticized for his view on the DPRK, Cumings examines the issues outside of the context of the 'Axis of Evil' debate in order to describe the situation in a more openminded and ultimately useful way.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[bignate]

[jajdude]

I think bignate is on the ball here (haven't known him to be off the ball yet )

I know zippo, but surely it will take a "wise" approach, as mentioned, to talk to a place like NK.
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I wanted to pick up "Comrades and Strangers" as it appeared very interesting. But I balked at the 27 bucks. Perhaps not as great as it looked, according to OP.

[The Man known as The Man]

I thought you meant Benedict.