Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
Following Kim Jong-il's death, we look back at the legacy of his tyrannical rule over North Korea
I don't know the answer to any question about North Korea that begins with the word "why"
Shin In Geun is probably the only person to have been born in, and escape from, a North Korean camp for political prisoners. His account of the cruelty and viciousness of life inside Camp 14 is harrowing almost beyond belief
"An object of parody in American culture. He wore elevator shoes, oversize sunglasses and a bouffant hairdo—a Hollywood stereotype of the wacky post-cold war dictator." But he out-bluffed two US presidents at nuclear poker
Will Kim Jong Un usher in reform? Unlikely. Economic, political upheaval would end regime. Change still inevitable: "No country with a hyper-centralized, Stalinist economy has remained efficient for longer than two or three decades"
Conversation with N Korea analyst Mark Fitzpatrick. "I used to think that North Korea might be willing to barter away its nuclear weapons program for economic assistance and a better relationship with the United States." Not anymore
Clear, brisk interview with foreign-policy expert, on Kim Jong-il's succession strategy. Which consists of putting country in hands of an untested 26-year-old, his alcoholic aunt, and her husband, the army boss
Foreign policy and Asia expert dissects scenarios of the communist nation's collapse. Says the country is now at phase three of a seven stage collapse, and even teetered on phase four in the nineties
American of Korean descent visits South Korea, engages with activists fighting for human rights in North Korea. Her trip leads to deeper understanding of complexities, historical background, and reality of political situation
On the trail of a basketball-loving North Korean boy who attended Swiss school ten years ago, and who has since emerged, back home, as Kim Jong-il's son and heir
"This is what Korea has come to: Half brothers, living in their respective half countries, who have inherited a situation that neither one wants and that weakens them both, and binds them by keeping them apart"
Scholarly backgrounder on North Korean currency reform. Government wants to turn back clock, reverse partial monetisation of national economy in 2002-03, which eroded state control
On health care in North Korea. Horrible throughout. Starts with general malnutrition, gets worse from there. Section details operations without anaesthetic (PDF)
AP photographer gets glimpse of a closed society; 37 of his photographs shown here. Opens with a beautifully composed shot of grim-looking Pyongyang buildings. Multi-lane highway outside the capital is empty of vehicles
It's a secret. Or it would be, if the government hadn't kindly published two sets of census data, one national and one local. The national one shows about 700,000 people who aren't captured locally. About right for an army
For many North Korean defectors the path to freedom runs to Thailand, 3,000 miles from the hermit kingdom. Chinese checkpoints, spies, and informants lie in wait along the way. Aiding defectors, an underground Christian network
For nostalgic Kremlinologists. Tea-leaf reading on positioning of Kim Jong-il's son, Kim Jong Un, as heir presumptive. Information, such as it is, must be deduced from ordering of names, cropping of photos etc
Refugees in China describe poverty, misery of life in North Korea, made much worse by devaluation last year which wiped out private savings, felt by many as biggest disaster since famine of 1990s
Report sheds light on extensive system of forced labour camps where an estimated 200,000 people are locked up. Former prisoners and guards tell stories of starvation, torture, executions
