A Year in Pyongyang

by Andrew Holloway

An account of the year the author spent in Pyongyang working as a language reviser for the North Korean government.

Genres: History, Memoir

135 pages

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[AskHistorians]

A firsthand account of life as an expat in North Korea's capital, written by a Brit who was employed for a year as an editor for the government's English-language propaganda and marketing. A strange work, sometimes more valuable for historiographical than historical reasons in its degree of insight into how little Westerners knew of North Korea even while living there, but Holloway still made a number of observations that, with the benefit of later works, we now know to be correct. Lankov's years in North Korea immediately predate Holloway's; both the similarities and differences are instructive.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting look at life as a foreigner working in Pyongyang in the late 1980s. I would definitely say that its value lies within the glimpse it offers of this time in North Korea, before the famines of the 1990s and the revelation of the country's gulags shortly thereafter. The comparative functionality of the country in the late 80s coupled with the author's leftist perspective makes for an interesting read and a unique take on the country.

I did take off some stars from my rating because interesting as the book was, I couldn't forgive the messy, rambling style of writing or the way the author lumped all Koreans together. There were many, MANY passages where the author ascribes to all Koreans the traits of the very few he was able to meet during his stay in the country. This was kind of gross and dehumanizing, making these sections read like a nature guide. The author was also super whiny sometimes and although he acknowledged his privilege as a foreigner, he more frequently ignored it to whine about how long it took to get an imported Japanese beer rather than the normal beer that's good enough for everyone else in the country. ALSO, almost every single woman mentioned in the book is described by her looks which is sexist and gross. However, I'm used to reading gross sexist accounts of time spent in Korea by foreigners and this is nowhere near as disgusting as the worst of the worst, Guy Delisle's Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This took me a long time to read. It drags on at times, but is still an interesting look inside North Korea in the late 1980s.

[Gregory Gay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Andrew Holloway's travelogue of his year in the capitol of North Korea certainly gives some good food for thought. It's rare for a westerner to be allowed even slightly into the heart of the secretive, repressive cult of North Korea, and it is fascinating to read about what Holloway saw there.

Also interesting is the fact that the author has a fairly leftist point of view. In some ways, he leaves enamored with certain aspects of Kim Il Sung's regime that most authors would ignore, downplay, or otherwise put down. I disagree with a few of the aspects that Holloway considered either positive or negligible, but it is still fun to read different viewpoints on the country.

Ultimately, however, I would probably only recommend this book to those extremely interested in (and at least a little bit well read on) North Korea. It was written in the late 1980's, and much has changed for the worse. Amusingly (at least in retrospect), Holloway dismisses Kim Jong Il and predicts that the regime would collapse under him. He also notes with hope the increasing liberalization of the country. The regime has, of course, not collapsed, and many are now making the same prediction about upcoming heir Kim Jong-un. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

Also unfortunate is that Holloway didn't get to do or see much in the country. As he notes several times, the work was mind-numbing, and Pyongyang was boring. Thus, we see a lot of common ground tread and retreaded over and over.

Basically, the book is interesting, but mostly as a historical artifact. It is free, so give it a look if you need another book on North Korea, but don't make it the first that you read.

[Amb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wry, illuminating account of an outsider's view of the hermit kingdom.

Sparked a fascination with the country when I first read it three years ago, for which I'm profoundly grateful. Would thoroughly recommend- little else I've come across brings across the sheer dysfunctionality of the North Korean State. Very much a product of its times (pre-1990), but an account anybody is sure to find substantial interest in. Holloway was limited, as a British propaganda translator, to a very small view of North Korean society- but what small glimpses the man was permitted are depicted with a haunting effectiveness.

The account is, of course, somewhat dated- being set during the twilight years of the Kim Il-Sung regime, pre-famine. As a historical account of a long-since-passed period in Korean history, however? Absolutely wonderful.

Simply can't recommend enough. Reams of literature exist detailing the horrors of the regime- Holloway's account, however limited, focuses upon the sheer *strangeness* of the system and life therein. In that sense, from a British/Western perspective, the book's absolutely peerless.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book, a bit dated since much has changed in North Korea since 1988 when it was written. In the introduction it is mentioned that the author died in 1995, I can only wonder if any ideas/feeling of endearment the author expressed in the book changed after the collapse of the Soviet Union and lack of any reforms in North Korea.