by Jang Jin-sung (Random House)
The brutal horrors of the North Korean regime were exposed recently when the UN carried out a special investigation into the country’s gulags.
Gruelling, graphic and unbelievable testimony from defectors and survivors led to comparisons to the Nazis’ deathly concentration camps.
But it is not only in the camps that the people of this secretive nation suffer: for those who are not among the political elite, daily life is a nightmare.
Known as Dear Leader (among other god-like titles) to his people, Kim ruled with absolute power and kept his nation under a mantle of terror.
A praise poem Jin-sung wrote caught the eye of Dear Leader and he became one of the country’s political elite.
Working in the propaganda department, Jin-sung had access to everything from the North’s number one enemy: the South.
His job was to immerse himself in the South’s ways, from language and literature to spies and espionage.
One of the non-negotiable (not much is negotiable) terms of his employment is that absolutely nothing from the South must ever leave the agitprop offices.
But Jin-sung has started seeing the desperation of his starving, broken-down compatriots.
He smuggles a magazine out of the office to share with a trusted friend, who leaves it in a public place.
The authorities will know it came from Jin-sung and the punishment will be terrible.
He and his friend have only one chance – to flee the country.
This is their story.
It describes the slow awakening to the terrible things going on in North Korea; the brainwashing; the brutality; the greed and madness that starved millions of people.
With every step of their desperate journey, the true terrors of the North become even clearer to them and Jin-sung grows more determined to tell the world what horrors his people are suffering.
It is an eye-opening story, astounding that these abuses continue in this day and age.
But perhaps what’s worse is that, even with the death of Dear Leader, there is no sign of the Kims easing their terrorising grip on the people.
It is a book everyone who values freedom should read and learn from, especially that every liberty must be guarded fiercely.