Comments on: Books about modern Pyongyang?

Question: Books about modern Pyongyang?

The corpse in the library — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 09:24:31 -0800

What are some good non-academic books about North Korea?

I've recently become interested in present-day North Korea, specifically the strangeness of Pyongyang. I enjoyed Delisle's "Pyongyang," the documentary "A State of Mind," Church's "A Corpse in the Koryo," and an episode of National Geographic Explorer where they went to North Korea with an eye surgeon.

What should I read or watch next? I'm looking for similar light, read-in-my-few-spare-moments books and DVDs, not political economy texts.

By: Lentrohamsanin

Lentrohamsanin — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 09:38:28 -0800

Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader by Bradley K. Martin is a big fat book, but not at all academic. It has lots of fascinating interviews with defectors from different walks of life. Most of the chapters stand on their own to a large extent, so you don't necessarily need to plow through it.

By: minimal

minimal — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 09:49:49 -0800

Maybe not exactly present-day North Korea, but A Year in Pyongyang is an interesting read about someone's experience living in Pyongyang in the mid 80s.

By: GarageWine

GarageWine — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 09:56:31 -0800

I started reading Aquariums of Pyonyang in a bookstore and couldn't put it down.

By: ibmcginty

ibmcginty — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 10:46:17 -0800

Second Aquariums of Pyongyang. A tragic, vivid, memorable book.

By: HotPatatta

HotPatatta — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 10:49:57 -0800

London's Financial Times has been printing some good articles on North Korea this week. It's Kim Il Sung's (aka The Fatherly Leader) birthday and they actually allowed Anna Fifield into the country to do some reporting, albeit with a "keeper" escorting her. You can read her dispatches here.

Check the "Further Reading" section of Wikipedia's North Korea entry for more suggestions.

By: deern the headlice

deern the headlice — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 11:03:53 -0800

Third Aquariums. Terrifying.

Guy Delisle's book is also good.

By: tentacle

tentacle — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 11:44:22 -0800

Rogue Regime, by Jasper Becker.

I don't have a high tolerance for academic tomes (I usually read fiction), but I had no problem reading this. There were a few eerie vignettes of Pyongyang, although the bulk of the book treats the rise to power and subsequent protection of that power by Kim Jong Il and his father Kim Il Sung.

By: smably

smably — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 12:12:24 -0800

I read and enjoyed Inside the Hermit Kingdom. (It might be a bit hard to find outside Canada.) Yi Sun-Kyung was one of the first westerners allowed to visit North Korea (this was in the early '90s, I think), and the experience was incredibly bizarre and surreal.

By: stratastar

stratastar — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 18:07:57 -0800

There's a new detective novel set in Korea written by an anonymous CIA guy: A Corpse in the Koryo.

By: mediareport

mediareport — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 22:17:32 -0800

Seconding Guy Delisle's Pyongyang; it's an excellent memoir of a few months in North Korea as an animator, with lots of little details about aspects of the society visible in the few places Westerners are allowed to be. It's "lite" reading but surprisingly emotional, and has been praised by folks on both the left and right.

By: Joseph Gurl

Joseph Gurl — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 21:33:21 -0800

The best one I know of is _North Korea_ by Bruce Cumings. I just read it, in fact (and have read his _Korea's Place in the Sun_ as well).

By: dzot

dzot — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 21:05:07 -0800

Bradt North Korea Travel Guide