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Dear Reader: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Kim Jong Il
No country is as misunderstood as North Korea, and no modern tyrant has remained more mysterious than the Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il. Now, celebrity ghostwriter Michael Malice pulls back the curtain to expose the life story of the "Incarnation of Love and Morality." Taken directly from books spirited out of Pyongyang, DEAR READER is a carefully reconstructed first-person account of the man behind the mythology. From his miraculous rainbow-filled birth during the fiery conflict of World War II, Kim Jong Il watched as his beloved Korea finally earned its freedom from the cursed Japanese. Mere years later, the wicked US imperialists took their chance at conquering the liberated nation—with devastating results. But that's only the beginning of the Dear Leader’s story. In DEAR READER, Kim Jong Il explains: How he can shrink time Why he despises the Mona Lisa How he recreated the arts in Korea Why the Juche idea is the greatest concept ever discovered by man How he handled the crippling famine Why Kim Jong Un was chosen as successor over his elder brothers. With nothing left uncovered, drawing straight from dozens of books, hundreds of articles and thousands of years of Korean history, DEAR READER is both the definitive account of Kim Jong Il's life and the complete stranger-than-fiction history of the world's most unique country.
420 pages, Paperback
First published January 25, 2014
358 people are currently reading
3569 people want to read
About the author
Michael Malice
15 books2,911 followersMichael Malice is the author of
The White Pill,
The New Right,
The Anarchist Handbook,
and
Dear Reader: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Kim Jong Il.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 149 reviews
March 4, 2014
I don't think I can emphasize the unique nature of this book enough. There has been a spate of North Korean literature published in the English language in recent years, especially in the wake of the exodus from North Korea by refugees seeking to prevent their own deaths at the hands of a regime whose odiousness is world renowned. We've had an 800 page-long exegesis of the North Korean state by a western journalist, as well as a first-hand account by a Korean exile whose family was imprisoned in Yodok concentration camp. We've had graphic novels about the surreal nature of life in North Korea, and even a memoir by the only person known to have escaped from a total-control zone inside of a North Korean prison camp-or "enlightenment center," as the ostensible author of this book describes it.
What we haven't had is a comprehensive look at the history of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from the perspective of the man who ruled it for nearly three decades. As unconventional as the author's literary approach might seem, it really is effective at conveying not only the immensity of the crimes committed under the auspices of Juche ideology but also the rationale behind the Kim Dynasty's atrocities. Which is fortunate, since the west knows next to nothing about the inner circle of the North Korean regime.
One of the methods Michael Malice uses to decrypt the ostensibly opaque reasoning behind the DPRK's actions on the world stage is taking the statements made by that country's leaders at face value. Instead of merely shaking his head and throwing up his hands at the absurdity of these seemingly implausible assertions, he assumes that Kim Jong-il and his subordinates are rational actors. Bombarding a neighboring country with artillery shells and killing hundreds of its sailors, when that country is protected by the largest military force on the planet, might seem like the height of insanity to a western observer. However, when you consider that this sort of belligerence has only been rewarded by the international community in the past, you realize that these decisions are completely logical.
The same applies to the mythos surrounding Kim il-Sung and his son, which is so absurd to us that it elicits only laughter and scorn. The idea that someone in elementary school would be able to repair a disabled bus, or that Kim Jong-il was born at the foot of Mt. Paektu-rather than in the former Soviet Union-might seem laughable to those of us with access to unfettered information, but for those in North Korea-people who have been denied access to even the most rudimentary contemporary history-these are merely part of a dense fabric of national beliefs that have been inculcated from childhood. Much like the national mythology of other nations, it's recognized as not being literally true, but serves to reinforce the dogma which keeps the Kim dynasty firmly ensconced in power.
The most remarkable part of this book is its ability to take domestic North Korean propaganda and transform it into a narrative that is not only readable, but highly entertaining. As someone who has actually read memoirs written by Communist dictators, I recognize what an accomplishment that is. Even so, there is a lot of material to work with, e.g. Kim Jong-il's belief that the servicemen on the captured naval spy ship USS Pueblo demanded to have homosexual relations with one another as they were being detained by North Korean authorities.
In many respects, the situation in North Korea is a tragic farce, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that there are many moments-especially in the last third of the book, where Kim Jong-il's response to "The Arduous March" is justified in brutally meticulous detail-which are bone-chilling. North Korea is a very dark place, and illuminating its darkest corners requires some degree of courage, which is why we should all be grateful that this book is available for those of us in the free world to read.
What we haven't had is a comprehensive look at the history of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from the perspective of the man who ruled it for nearly three decades. As unconventional as the author's literary approach might seem, it really is effective at conveying not only the immensity of the crimes committed under the auspices of Juche ideology but also the rationale behind the Kim Dynasty's atrocities. Which is fortunate, since the west knows next to nothing about the inner circle of the North Korean regime.
One of the methods Michael Malice uses to decrypt the ostensibly opaque reasoning behind the DPRK's actions on the world stage is taking the statements made by that country's leaders at face value. Instead of merely shaking his head and throwing up his hands at the absurdity of these seemingly implausible assertions, he assumes that Kim Jong-il and his subordinates are rational actors. Bombarding a neighboring country with artillery shells and killing hundreds of its sailors, when that country is protected by the largest military force on the planet, might seem like the height of insanity to a western observer. However, when you consider that this sort of belligerence has only been rewarded by the international community in the past, you realize that these decisions are completely logical.
The same applies to the mythos surrounding Kim il-Sung and his son, which is so absurd to us that it elicits only laughter and scorn. The idea that someone in elementary school would be able to repair a disabled bus, or that Kim Jong-il was born at the foot of Mt. Paektu-rather than in the former Soviet Union-might seem laughable to those of us with access to unfettered information, but for those in North Korea-people who have been denied access to even the most rudimentary contemporary history-these are merely part of a dense fabric of national beliefs that have been inculcated from childhood. Much like the national mythology of other nations, it's recognized as not being literally true, but serves to reinforce the dogma which keeps the Kim dynasty firmly ensconced in power.
The most remarkable part of this book is its ability to take domestic North Korean propaganda and transform it into a narrative that is not only readable, but highly entertaining. As someone who has actually read memoirs written by Communist dictators, I recognize what an accomplishment that is. Even so, there is a lot of material to work with, e.g. Kim Jong-il's belief that the servicemen on the captured naval spy ship USS Pueblo demanded to have homosexual relations with one another as they were being detained by North Korean authorities.
In many respects, the situation in North Korea is a tragic farce, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that there are many moments-especially in the last third of the book, where Kim Jong-il's response to "The Arduous March" is justified in brutally meticulous detail-which are bone-chilling. North Korea is a very dark place, and illuminating its darkest corners requires some degree of courage, which is why we should all be grateful that this book is available for those of us in the free world to read.
January 15, 2015
Dark and deceptively funny. What starts of as an unofficial account of Kim Jong Il's life in recently liberated North Korea quickly devolves into a deeper look into the psyche of the man who controlled one of the most secretive nations in the world. At times amusing but mostly sinister, his blatant, unabashed and single minded view of what Korea wants and needs, leaves the reader feeling more uncomfortable than anything else. It was the ending (the last 4-5 pages) that really drive the point home. All said and done, it was a captivating read and gave me a long, hard look into North Korea. I did not like what I saw.
August 25, 2021
Imagine 1984 and Hitler having a child, who then proceeds to create an elaborate personality cult and to conduct a cultural revolution of his own in the manner of a petty bureaucrat, and who is also an all-seeing wizard, knower of all things, pooper of rainbows, performer of many miracles, and a soul-less tyrant strangling an entire nation.
The way the book is written is almost ingenious, probably because it succeeds at being entertaining and funny about such a harrowing topic. Also, it kind of has a vibe of Hugh Howey's Silo trilogy.
All in all - holy crap, what a horror show is inflicted on North Koreans by this family of absolute psychopaths. This is not the first book about NK I have read, and yet it's hard to comprehend something like this is happening right now.
The very last page of the book, in the words of Kim Jong Il himself (as dictated to Michael Malice, ofc):
The way the book is written is almost ingenious, probably because it succeeds at being entertaining and funny about such a harrowing topic. Also, it kind of has a vibe of Hugh Howey's Silo trilogy.
All in all - holy crap, what a horror show is inflicted on North Koreans by this family of absolute psychopaths. This is not the first book about NK I have read, and yet it's hard to comprehend something like this is happening right now.
The very last page of the book, in the words of Kim Jong Il himself (as dictated to Michael Malice, ofc):
Dear reader, while students in your schools wring their hands, wondering how the Nazi camps could have been allowed to happen, children in our enlightenment centers are being clubbed to death in front of their peers for stealing grains of corn. While ladies in your stores complain about the fit of their clothes, women in our enlightenment centers are having their legs amputated for submitting to rape—and then using tires to push themselves to report to work. While men in your offices stress over their workload, men in our enlightenment centers are sent to mines that they will knowingly die in, literally never seeing sunlight again. There's nothing you can do about it, and there’s nothing that your leaders—or any world leaders—will do about it.
Let me be perfectly clear: North Korea is no joke, and I am no buffoon. While you've been reading this book, laughing and rolling your eyes, twenty-four million people have been living their lives with every moment of their day accounted for and accountable to the government for every action they take. They will never be granted any sort of “human rights”—and they know it. They know that no one is coming to their aid. They understand that the only people with the power to help them are the very ones guaranteed to never do so.
Such is the greatness of the Juche idea.
Our philosophy is a source of pride, not shame. We advocate it constantly and explicitly. In fact, nothing fills me with as much glee as recalling what I’ve done with the DPRK and its people. So take a second and glance at this book’s cover once again. Look at my beaming face, the same face that everyone in my country sees on their wall every single day.
I smile whenever I think of North Korea.
Do you?
May 18, 2014
This book is very funny for the first 400 pages or so. It took me a while to figure out exactly what I was reading. This is a dramatization of the literature and propaganda from the DPRK. I rather enjoyed the book, but in the last few pages The author takes a different turn and essentially addresses the reader directly in an accusatory way.
I think I understand the DPRK a little bit better after having read the book and I'm glad I read it.
I think I understand the DPRK a little bit better after having read the book and I'm glad I read it.
August 22, 2017
Funny and brutal in equal measure.
February 5, 2019
Call me naive, but I came into this innocent of the author or any context for this and took it at face value as some manner of legit translation of North Korean propaganda. It does capture that tone, with hundreds of pages of treacly, stilted prose thick with "then they all clapped" moments. It eventually becomes apparent textually and if one, say, reads the author's Wikipedia page, that this is heavily gimmicked (seemingly soup-to-nuts), at which point one might have the urge to bail, but for the legendary fourth wall smashing conclusion (DAE think North Korea might be baddies?).
Highly recommended for those that haven't read the Wikipedia page on North Korea but would like the same amount of info relayed in ten times the amount of agonizing prose.
Highly recommended for those that haven't read the Wikipedia page on North Korea but would like the same amount of info relayed in ten times the amount of agonizing prose.
June 13, 2019
Not my type of book. I was thinking it was going to be a biography about Kim and NK. The book is a parody of how Kim would describe his life. Michael Malice, who is a smart guy, doesn’t talk about North Korean history or biographical information at all. The whole book is a parody autobiography written from KJI’s perspective.
August 13, 2015
BotNS 2015 Summer Bingo - A Biography of Someone You Dislike
I don't even know what to say about this book other than it took forever for me to complete it and that I am glad that I live in the USA!
I don't even know what to say about this book other than it took forever for me to complete it and that I am glad that I live in the USA!
April 3, 2018
Šią knygą nutariau perskaityti, nes mane sudomino podcastas su jos autoriumi: visos iki tol skaitytos knygos apie šią šalį buvo rašytos arba keliautojų, arba pabėgėlių, tad ir jų piešiamas paveikslas gana aiškus. Ši knyga kitokia. Per tam tikrą satyrą ir sarkazmą autorius pasakoja Korėjos istoriją, lyg ji būtų pateikiama Kim Jong Il'o lūpomis: nors ją skaitant stebiesi tomis nesąmoningomis istorijomis, kuriomis yra maitinami Šiaurės Korėjos žmonės, bet nejučia pradedi kažkiek tą ideologiją suprasti.
Korėja yra geriausia šalis pasaulyje, o visi, kurie nesutinka su šia aksioma yra liaudies priešai. Kadangi Korėja yra pati geriausia šalis, tai ir jos rašytojai yra patys protingiausi – Šiaurės Korėjos žmonėms nereikia užsienio rašytojų knygų, jas reikia drausti. Korėjos menas yra pats geriausias menas pasaulyje, nes jis aiškus, be dviprasmybių: net paprastas valstietis be didelio išsilavinimo gali tokį meną suprasti. Tai žymiai geriau nei „Mona Liza“ – Da Vinči net nesugeba vienareikšmiškai besišypsančios moters paveikslo nupiešti!
Korėja viską gali pasiekti pati ir jokios pagalbos jai nereikia. Ji visada renkasi savo kelią (aišku, patį geriausią) – net visokie stalinai bei mao galų gale pradeda daryti klaidas, o Šiaurės Korėjos ideologija toliau veda žmones į laimę. Didžiavimasis savo tauta ir pasiaukojimas jai yra didžiausios vertybės – ir net jeigu reikės viską pasiekti per kraujo ir prakaito upes viską galima pasidaryti patiems, o ne išmokti ar nupirkti iš kitų. Juche kertinė idėja yra pasitikėjimas tik savo jėgomis. Not invented here politikos kraštutinė versija.
Gana įdomus ir santykis su Pietų Korėja – šiauriečių akimis, jie yra broliai (nors jie ir tolsta, tad gal jau tik pusbroliai), kurie kartu kenčia nuo amerikonų priespaudos. Jeigu tik amerikonai pasitrauktų, Korėjos iš karto galėtų susivienyti. Susivienyjimui trukdo tik Amerika, nes nori išlaikyti savo karines bazes.
Be JAV labiausiai nekenčiama Japonija, nors tie irgi dabar kenčia nuo amerikonų priespaudos. Jei tik atsiprašytų už buvusias klaidas ir paremtų materialiai gal būtų galima jiems ir atleisti. Rusai ir kinai – draugai, bet neramu, kad jie taip krypsta į vakarų pusę vis labiau artėdami į kapitalizmą.
Stipriausia knygos dalis yra paskutiniai jos puslapiai – užliūliuotas satyros, kartais šypteldamas verti tuos kelis šimtus puslapių ir beveik užsimiršti, jog tai ne šiaip kokia fikcinė komedija. Dvidešimt kažkeliems milijonams žmonių tai yra kraupi realybė ir į ją autorius labai įtaigiai skaitytoją sugrąžina. Labai rekomenduoju šią knygą visiems, kam bent kiek domisi Šiaurės Korėja. Padės ją geriau suprasti.
http://petras.kudaras.lt/archyvas/201...
Korėja yra geriausia šalis pasaulyje, o visi, kurie nesutinka su šia aksioma yra liaudies priešai. Kadangi Korėja yra pati geriausia šalis, tai ir jos rašytojai yra patys protingiausi – Šiaurės Korėjos žmonėms nereikia užsienio rašytojų knygų, jas reikia drausti. Korėjos menas yra pats geriausias menas pasaulyje, nes jis aiškus, be dviprasmybių: net paprastas valstietis be didelio išsilavinimo gali tokį meną suprasti. Tai žymiai geriau nei „Mona Liza“ – Da Vinči net nesugeba vienareikšmiškai besišypsančios moters paveikslo nupiešti!
Korėja viską gali pasiekti pati ir jokios pagalbos jai nereikia. Ji visada renkasi savo kelią (aišku, patį geriausią) – net visokie stalinai bei mao galų gale pradeda daryti klaidas, o Šiaurės Korėjos ideologija toliau veda žmones į laimę. Didžiavimasis savo tauta ir pasiaukojimas jai yra didžiausios vertybės – ir net jeigu reikės viską pasiekti per kraujo ir prakaito upes viską galima pasidaryti patiems, o ne išmokti ar nupirkti iš kitų. Juche kertinė idėja yra pasitikėjimas tik savo jėgomis. Not invented here politikos kraštutinė versija.
Gana įdomus ir santykis su Pietų Korėja – šiauriečių akimis, jie yra broliai (nors jie ir tolsta, tad gal jau tik pusbroliai), kurie kartu kenčia nuo amerikonų priespaudos. Jeigu tik amerikonai pasitrauktų, Korėjos iš karto galėtų susivienyti. Susivienyjimui trukdo tik Amerika, nes nori išlaikyti savo karines bazes.
Be JAV labiausiai nekenčiama Japonija, nors tie irgi dabar kenčia nuo amerikonų priespaudos. Jei tik atsiprašytų už buvusias klaidas ir paremtų materialiai gal būtų galima jiems ir atleisti. Rusai ir kinai – draugai, bet neramu, kad jie taip krypsta į vakarų pusę vis labiau artėdami į kapitalizmą.
Stipriausia knygos dalis yra paskutiniai jos puslapiai – užliūliuotas satyros, kartais šypteldamas verti tuos kelis šimtus puslapių ir beveik užsimiršti, jog tai ne šiaip kokia fikcinė komedija. Dvidešimt kažkeliems milijonams žmonių tai yra kraupi realybė ir į ją autorius labai įtaigiai skaitytoją sugrąžina. Labai rekomenduoju šią knygą visiems, kam bent kiek domisi Šiaurės Korėja. Padės ją geriau suprasti.
http://petras.kudaras.lt/archyvas/201...
September 29, 2020
This is an interesting concept, an unauthorized, ghostwritten autobiography of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il. In some senses, it is really well executed. Maybe, too well executed.
This book is somewhat disturbing because the author delivers such a heavy dose of Kim Jong Il propaganda completely deadpan. It is only in the last third of the book that a trace of irony creeps in, as Kim’s pronouncements become even more over the top. As a result, a reader who isn’t frequently fact-checking the claims could be misled, since there is some truth mixed in with the lies. It is one thing when the claim is that rainbows and unicorns attended his birth, but another when it involves responsibility for mass murder, like blowing up Korean Air flight 858 or starving millions of Koreans.
For any readers who find the heavy dose of egotistic, sociopathic Kim Jong Il too much to take in the early going: I think it is a viable strategy to start at page 297, when Kim Il Sung dies and Kim Jong Il takes power, and read only the last 110 pages. Up until that point, Kim Jong Il has relatively little power, so it is mainly just bragging. After that point, it is disturbing, murderous history: "No wonder so much had gone wrong when everything I’d done had been right."
This book is somewhat disturbing because the author delivers such a heavy dose of Kim Jong Il propaganda completely deadpan. It is only in the last third of the book that a trace of irony creeps in, as Kim’s pronouncements become even more over the top. As a result, a reader who isn’t frequently fact-checking the claims could be misled, since there is some truth mixed in with the lies. It is one thing when the claim is that rainbows and unicorns attended his birth, but another when it involves responsibility for mass murder, like blowing up Korean Air flight 858 or starving millions of Koreans.
For any readers who find the heavy dose of egotistic, sociopathic Kim Jong Il too much to take in the early going: I think it is a viable strategy to start at page 297, when Kim Il Sung dies and Kim Jong Il takes power, and read only the last 110 pages. Up until that point, Kim Jong Il has relatively little power, so it is mainly just bragging. After that point, it is disturbing, murderous history: "No wonder so much had gone wrong when everything I’d done had been right."
June 7, 2016
This was an excellent introduction to the mystery that is North Korea. I'll be seeking out additional books to try to wrap my brain around it more.
I recommend you buy the paper version of the book. The Kindle version has serious formatting issues.
I recommend you buy the paper version of the book. The Kindle version has serious formatting issues.
June 24, 2018
Written by favorite anarcho-capitalist.
Reads as pretty legit 1st person Korean propaganda.
Sarcastic, serious, and insightful.
From the book:
*I remember the day that I was born perfectly.
* The General took me in his strong arms, holding me close to his heart and gazing into my lovable face.
“We shall bring him up to be an heir to the revolution,” he told Mother. “I want to see my son carry forward Mt. Paektu’s red flag.”
Mother couldn’t agree more, and raise me accordingly. The battlefield that was Mt. Paektru had no blankets with which to wrap up a newborn. Instead, it was camaraderie.
* American Atrocities:
scooping out eyeballs
cutting off lips, ears, notes, tongues, breasts and/ or faces.
Sawing off faces.
Skinning bodies.
Sawing bodies to pieces.
Suffocating by poisonous gas.
Burning/ boiling/ and burying alive.
Disemboweling the pregnant.
Trampling infants.
Crushing with tanks.
* As 1951 drew to a close, the US imperialists increasingly realized that north Korea had grown beyond their grasp forever and accordingly implemented a change of plans. “The goal in Korea is to produce the maximum casualties.” The Jap Bastards delivered their biological weapons research to the Americans. Korea was no longer a battleground – she was now a testing ground, a chance for the US imperialists to perform military experiments on actual human beings.
*Flunkeyism is the tendency of a developing nation to worship more powerful countries. Flunkeyists deprecate their own nation and its achievements in the process of venerating other cultures. I was aware of the phenomenon but wasn’t too concerned about it in the Korean context. Surely, I thought, a nation with one blood and five thousand years of history had plenty to be proud of.
* The Marshal had grown so beloved by the Korean people that many referred to him as the Great Leader, a title that had been used for Stalin himself. If anything, the title was an understatement. The United States had the Great Lakes and China had a Great Wall, but only Korea had greatness incarnated in a living being.
* If you say something is impossible, then you aren’t speaking the Korean language!
* I didn’t see any reason why mankind couldn’t have originated in Korea, and did more research holding that as my hypothesis. I then spoke to several prominent archaeologists, giving them explicit instructions as to where to look for remains that predated those that had been uncovered in North Hamgyong. In 1966, my prediction came true. Relics that were a million years old were excavated inside the Komunmoru Cave in Pyongyang – exactly where I said they’d be found.
* I wasn’t interested in fixing mistakes and cleaning up messes – janitors are incompatible with socialism.
* A party’s ideological unity and unity of will can only be strengthened when it is based on a single thought. If there are two (or more!) ideologies in the Party, the Party will disintegrate and become meaningless. The time had come for honest agreement, from everyone in the entire country.
* Multiparty systems are often described as “democracy,” when in actuality they are mere camouflage to conceal capitalism’s anti-democratic, anti-people nature. America, for example, spends an entire year holding primaries with the explicit goal of limiting who the people can vote into the presidency, while upholding this process as a function of “freedom” and “democracy.”
In truth, multiple parties are a mere reflection of the antagonisms intrinsic to capitalist society, such as those between exploiter and exploited and even within the ruling class itself. History clearly shows that if the activities of anti-socialist parties are tolerated, then class enemies and reactionaries eventually come to drive the working-class party out of power.
* Johnson still chose for many people on the other side of the world to die just so that he could keep his job. In other words, he was a typical American president.
* We started with the books.
European books belonged in Europe, not in Korea. Any text written by a foreign author was therefore slated for burning. The masses made a very public show of destroying these relics from the past. They couldn’t be more delighted to remove all foreign, contaminating ideas out of their homes. A few volumes were kept in the libraries, available upon request, which grew fewer and fewer. Thanks to the educational work of the Party, people literally knew better than to ask for such dangerous things.
* Any Koreans who had to venture abroad always had family left behind, to ensure their safe and loyal return. Once they came back, they spent months laboring on farms to eliminate any corrupting ideals and to always remember the value of Juche.
*’Making the world safe for democracy’ is simply a kinder, gentler version of forcing the world to obey America.
* One day in late December 1989, I was watching the news reports with the Great Leader. Ceausescu and his wife had been overthrown and been put on ‘trial.’ The couple were then put up against a wall and executed, their bodies left on display, slumped on the ground, for the whole world to see. President Kim Il Sung and I just stared at one another. The images and what they implied for Korea, and for both of us personally, spoke for themselves.
“This is Europe,” I said, with more than a little hesitation, “They’re not the same as us.”
The Great Leader shook his head. “I’ve always said that the people are my god. But gods are fickle, and they are violent, and they are dangerous.”
* If we let them into these sites, then they’ll find other sites to suspect, and then others, and others. They won’t be satisfied until they’re plotted every inch of Korean soil. Where will these intrusions end? Korea can’t pull off her underwear for her enemy!
That’s when I knew the US imperialists didn’t actually want the DPRK to agree with these latest demands. What they wanted was a pretext to condemn and attack us.
* On June 13, 1994, I announced Korea’s immediate withdrawal from the IAEA. What we needed was a miracle to deescalate the tensions. What we got was Jimmy Carter.
* Our food-processing factories might not have been able to deliver actual food. So I ordered them to produce ‘substitute foods’: corn byproducts were mixed with husks, grass, and seafood and then formed into noodles or meal bars. Though they had virtually no nutritional value and could barely be digested, I knew they could at least be used to allay one’s hunger. As did drinking water. As did sucking on one’s fingers.
* Many children became orphaned during the Arduous March, or were simply abandoned by families who could no longer take care of them. At first the sight of these starving homeless tykes discouraged and depressed the masses. But then the people grew accustomed to them, and finally viewed them only as a nuisance. Per my instructions, the authorities eventually rounded them up and took care of them.
* Holding back my intrinsic sense of modesty, I increasingly had the newspapers report on my extraordinary feats. Over and over, the message was identical: “The Great Leader is precisely the Dear Leader and the Dear Leader is just the Great Leader. He is the same in terms of idea, personality, virtue, and so on.” The effect was to stop the masses from seeing Kim Jong Ill as a new leader. Rather, they were to feel that President Kim Il Sung had risen from the grave and been born again in me.
* That’s when I stood up and clenched my fist. “What good is the this world without Korea? Without the DPRK, there can be no Earth. If north Korea is going to disappear, I will smash the Earth to pieces!”
The Great Leader looked at me and smiled. “Those are words suitable for a Supreme Commander,” he said. “That is the answer.”
* As I looked back upon my life, I allowed myself to feel a most unsocialist emotion: pride
* Get it together, I told myself. You’re a director. Direct this conversation to a successful conclusion! I walked up to Hye Rim and was about to tap her on the shoulder when I had another embarrassing realization. I didn’t know whether to call her by her professional name (which would imply that I’d never met her) or by her married name (which would tell her that I knew about her personal life). Not knowing what to do, I caught her attention by waving. “Hello! I’m King Jong Il.”
* When we punish wrongdoers, we don’t simply punish the individual. We do not believe in individualism. We agree with those US politicians who say that the family is the basic unit of society. But unlike the hypocritical Americans, we apply this idea thoroughly, sincerely, and consistently. Our punishment comes via the family purge. When someone is identified as a hostile element, it is three generations of his family that are punished. This is why the Korean people say, ‘Misspeak once, kill thrice.’
* There is no shortage of possibilities for them to give back to the nation that they’ve betrayed. We provide them with food, a handful of corn a day, and with shelter, an undeserved kindness that must be also repaid in labor. Except for the national holidays, they work for at least twelve hours every day until they work of their debt to society. Should one commit suicide, then their family members must fulfill their work quota. Again, the family is the basic unit of society.
* Dear reader, while students in your schools wring their hands, wondering how the Nazi camps could have been allowed to happen, children in our enlightenment centers are being clubbed to death in front of their peers for stealing grains of corn. While ladies in your stores complain about the fit of their clothes, women in our enlightenment centers are having their legs amputated for submitting to rape, and then using tires to push themselves to report to work. While men in your offices stress over their workload, men in our enlightenment centers are sent to mines that they will knowingly die in, literally never seeing sunlight again. There’s nothing you can do about it, and there’s nothing that your leaders, or any world leaders will do about it.
Let me be perfectly clear: North Korea is no joke, and I am no buffoon. While you’ve been reading this book, laughing and rolling your eyes, 24 million people have been living their lives with every moment of their day accounted for and accountable to the government for every action they take. They will never be granted any sort of human rights, and they know it. They know that no one is coming to their aid. They understand that the only people with the power to help them are the very ones guaranteed to never do so.
Reads as pretty legit 1st person Korean propaganda.
Sarcastic, serious, and insightful.
From the book:
*I remember the day that I was born perfectly.
* The General took me in his strong arms, holding me close to his heart and gazing into my lovable face.
“We shall bring him up to be an heir to the revolution,” he told Mother. “I want to see my son carry forward Mt. Paektu’s red flag.”
Mother couldn’t agree more, and raise me accordingly. The battlefield that was Mt. Paektru had no blankets with which to wrap up a newborn. Instead, it was camaraderie.
* American Atrocities:
scooping out eyeballs
cutting off lips, ears, notes, tongues, breasts and/ or faces.
Sawing off faces.
Skinning bodies.
Sawing bodies to pieces.
Suffocating by poisonous gas.
Burning/ boiling/ and burying alive.
Disemboweling the pregnant.
Trampling infants.
Crushing with tanks.
* As 1951 drew to a close, the US imperialists increasingly realized that north Korea had grown beyond their grasp forever and accordingly implemented a change of plans. “The goal in Korea is to produce the maximum casualties.” The Jap Bastards delivered their biological weapons research to the Americans. Korea was no longer a battleground – she was now a testing ground, a chance for the US imperialists to perform military experiments on actual human beings.
*Flunkeyism is the tendency of a developing nation to worship more powerful countries. Flunkeyists deprecate their own nation and its achievements in the process of venerating other cultures. I was aware of the phenomenon but wasn’t too concerned about it in the Korean context. Surely, I thought, a nation with one blood and five thousand years of history had plenty to be proud of.
* The Marshal had grown so beloved by the Korean people that many referred to him as the Great Leader, a title that had been used for Stalin himself. If anything, the title was an understatement. The United States had the Great Lakes and China had a Great Wall, but only Korea had greatness incarnated in a living being.
* If you say something is impossible, then you aren’t speaking the Korean language!
* I didn’t see any reason why mankind couldn’t have originated in Korea, and did more research holding that as my hypothesis. I then spoke to several prominent archaeologists, giving them explicit instructions as to where to look for remains that predated those that had been uncovered in North Hamgyong. In 1966, my prediction came true. Relics that were a million years old were excavated inside the Komunmoru Cave in Pyongyang – exactly where I said they’d be found.
* I wasn’t interested in fixing mistakes and cleaning up messes – janitors are incompatible with socialism.
* A party’s ideological unity and unity of will can only be strengthened when it is based on a single thought. If there are two (or more!) ideologies in the Party, the Party will disintegrate and become meaningless. The time had come for honest agreement, from everyone in the entire country.
* Multiparty systems are often described as “democracy,” when in actuality they are mere camouflage to conceal capitalism’s anti-democratic, anti-people nature. America, for example, spends an entire year holding primaries with the explicit goal of limiting who the people can vote into the presidency, while upholding this process as a function of “freedom” and “democracy.”
In truth, multiple parties are a mere reflection of the antagonisms intrinsic to capitalist society, such as those between exploiter and exploited and even within the ruling class itself. History clearly shows that if the activities of anti-socialist parties are tolerated, then class enemies and reactionaries eventually come to drive the working-class party out of power.
* Johnson still chose for many people on the other side of the world to die just so that he could keep his job. In other words, he was a typical American president.
* We started with the books.
European books belonged in Europe, not in Korea. Any text written by a foreign author was therefore slated for burning. The masses made a very public show of destroying these relics from the past. They couldn’t be more delighted to remove all foreign, contaminating ideas out of their homes. A few volumes were kept in the libraries, available upon request, which grew fewer and fewer. Thanks to the educational work of the Party, people literally knew better than to ask for such dangerous things.
* Any Koreans who had to venture abroad always had family left behind, to ensure their safe and loyal return. Once they came back, they spent months laboring on farms to eliminate any corrupting ideals and to always remember the value of Juche.
*’Making the world safe for democracy’ is simply a kinder, gentler version of forcing the world to obey America.
* One day in late December 1989, I was watching the news reports with the Great Leader. Ceausescu and his wife had been overthrown and been put on ‘trial.’ The couple were then put up against a wall and executed, their bodies left on display, slumped on the ground, for the whole world to see. President Kim Il Sung and I just stared at one another. The images and what they implied for Korea, and for both of us personally, spoke for themselves.
“This is Europe,” I said, with more than a little hesitation, “They’re not the same as us.”
The Great Leader shook his head. “I’ve always said that the people are my god. But gods are fickle, and they are violent, and they are dangerous.”
* If we let them into these sites, then they’ll find other sites to suspect, and then others, and others. They won’t be satisfied until they’re plotted every inch of Korean soil. Where will these intrusions end? Korea can’t pull off her underwear for her enemy!
That’s when I knew the US imperialists didn’t actually want the DPRK to agree with these latest demands. What they wanted was a pretext to condemn and attack us.
* On June 13, 1994, I announced Korea’s immediate withdrawal from the IAEA. What we needed was a miracle to deescalate the tensions. What we got was Jimmy Carter.
* Our food-processing factories might not have been able to deliver actual food. So I ordered them to produce ‘substitute foods’: corn byproducts were mixed with husks, grass, and seafood and then formed into noodles or meal bars. Though they had virtually no nutritional value and could barely be digested, I knew they could at least be used to allay one’s hunger. As did drinking water. As did sucking on one’s fingers.
* Many children became orphaned during the Arduous March, or were simply abandoned by families who could no longer take care of them. At first the sight of these starving homeless tykes discouraged and depressed the masses. But then the people grew accustomed to them, and finally viewed them only as a nuisance. Per my instructions, the authorities eventually rounded them up and took care of them.
* Holding back my intrinsic sense of modesty, I increasingly had the newspapers report on my extraordinary feats. Over and over, the message was identical: “The Great Leader is precisely the Dear Leader and the Dear Leader is just the Great Leader. He is the same in terms of idea, personality, virtue, and so on.” The effect was to stop the masses from seeing Kim Jong Ill as a new leader. Rather, they were to feel that President Kim Il Sung had risen from the grave and been born again in me.
* That’s when I stood up and clenched my fist. “What good is the this world without Korea? Without the DPRK, there can be no Earth. If north Korea is going to disappear, I will smash the Earth to pieces!”
The Great Leader looked at me and smiled. “Those are words suitable for a Supreme Commander,” he said. “That is the answer.”
* As I looked back upon my life, I allowed myself to feel a most unsocialist emotion: pride
* Get it together, I told myself. You’re a director. Direct this conversation to a successful conclusion! I walked up to Hye Rim and was about to tap her on the shoulder when I had another embarrassing realization. I didn’t know whether to call her by her professional name (which would imply that I’d never met her) or by her married name (which would tell her that I knew about her personal life). Not knowing what to do, I caught her attention by waving. “Hello! I’m King Jong Il.”
* When we punish wrongdoers, we don’t simply punish the individual. We do not believe in individualism. We agree with those US politicians who say that the family is the basic unit of society. But unlike the hypocritical Americans, we apply this idea thoroughly, sincerely, and consistently. Our punishment comes via the family purge. When someone is identified as a hostile element, it is three generations of his family that are punished. This is why the Korean people say, ‘Misspeak once, kill thrice.’
* There is no shortage of possibilities for them to give back to the nation that they’ve betrayed. We provide them with food, a handful of corn a day, and with shelter, an undeserved kindness that must be also repaid in labor. Except for the national holidays, they work for at least twelve hours every day until they work of their debt to society. Should one commit suicide, then their family members must fulfill their work quota. Again, the family is the basic unit of society.
* Dear reader, while students in your schools wring their hands, wondering how the Nazi camps could have been allowed to happen, children in our enlightenment centers are being clubbed to death in front of their peers for stealing grains of corn. While ladies in your stores complain about the fit of their clothes, women in our enlightenment centers are having their legs amputated for submitting to rape, and then using tires to push themselves to report to work. While men in your offices stress over their workload, men in our enlightenment centers are sent to mines that they will knowingly die in, literally never seeing sunlight again. There’s nothing you can do about it, and there’s nothing that your leaders, or any world leaders will do about it.
Let me be perfectly clear: North Korea is no joke, and I am no buffoon. While you’ve been reading this book, laughing and rolling your eyes, 24 million people have been living their lives with every moment of their day accounted for and accountable to the government for every action they take. They will never be granted any sort of human rights, and they know it. They know that no one is coming to their aid. They understand that the only people with the power to help them are the very ones guaranteed to never do so.
June 11, 2025
"Dear Reader" is one of those rare books that manages to walk the fine line of being deadly serious and morbidly funny at the same time. He offers a surprisingly coherent and plausible portrait of what might have been going on inside the head of North Korea's former leader Kim Jong Il. It's a disturbing place to be but also really fascinating.
What makes the book so remarkable is how well it keeps its tone. Malice doesn't break character, stays fully committed to the voice of the regime and lets the absurdity reveal itself. The satire hits hardest when nothing is really exaggerated.
I appreciated how Malice never feels the need to over-explain or soften anything. This book is not just a parody or a collection of bizarre facts, it's a psychological interpretation of totalitarian mythmaking. I can't think of another book quite like it.
What makes the book so remarkable is how well it keeps its tone. Malice doesn't break character, stays fully committed to the voice of the regime and lets the absurdity reveal itself. The satire hits hardest when nothing is really exaggerated.
I appreciated how Malice never feels the need to over-explain or soften anything. This book is not just a parody or a collection of bizarre facts, it's a psychological interpretation of totalitarian mythmaking. I can't think of another book quite like it.
January 27, 2024
This was not what I was expecting at all. Granted, my only impression/expectation was from the cover of this book (I received it as a gift) - so I was fully expecting a lighthearted satire. Instead, this book is a history of Korea for the past 150 years or so, from the imagined perspective of a North Korea leader. As a history/political book, it took me a while to get through (it's a little over 400 pages), although the author did a decent job of making it more like a narrative than a textbook. Political science is not my strong suit, so some of the material went over my head - but it's good to have a challenging read every so often.
The author also had at least a couple dozen grammatical issues (missing articles, incorrect punctuation, skipped or repeated words, etc.), so he either wrote it in a hurry or couldn't afford a good editor. There aren't any references or any sort of bibliography at the back, so while the author claims they read dozens of accounts and did lots of research for this story, I can't be entirely confident in the history he laid out. I suppose it's a good introduction to Korean history in the last century or so; it will be very interesting to read a book from a North Korean defector in contrast ("While Time Remains" by Yeonmi Park is in my TBR pile this year). I probably won't read this again because it's such a political/historical book. But it does make me wonder why more hasn't been done to help rescue the North Koreans enslaved in their "enlightenment" camps.
SUMMARY
KOREA IS LOST - In this chapter, Kim Jong Il recounts his birth on Mt. Paektu, a famous landmark in North Korea, where the revolutionary's secret base camp was built. There was no north or south divided Korea at the time; in fact, Korea had been a unified nation for over 5,000 years under a feudal government. Japan and China were rivals, stronger countries that oppressed Korea, and in 1905, a "treaty" was signed between Korea and Japan. Korea was now under Japan's rule as a "colony." In 1917, Jong Il's grandfather helped organize an uprising against Japan's imperialism, but without success. Eventually Jong Il's father, Kim Il Sung, rose to power among the revolutionaries in Korea, and in 1932 he organized a guerilla army to drive out the Japanese. Fighting ensued; Japanese tried to stifle Korea, outlawing the language. Japanese soldiers were allowed and even encouraged to rape Koreans, taking sex slaves and labeling them "comfort girls." The Japanese performed "experiments" on their prisoners, the same way Hitler and his Nazis did on the Jews they captured. Over 8 million young Koreans were taken and put to work in camps where they would die. But in 1945, the Korean People's Revolutionary Army was able to drive out the remaining Japanese forces and reclaimed their land.
KOREA IS WON - American assaults on Korea began in 1866; in 1882 the US tried to establish "diplomatic relations." In 1898, the US had the Spanish-American war, which led to the US gaining control/access to the Philippines. America and Japan made an agreement (Taft-Katsura) to stay out of each other's way - and this is what eventually led to the divided North & South Korea. Fast-forward to 1945, and the US occupied all of southern Korea in a standoff against Japan, hoping the Japanese would back off in the north. (The US wanted a foothold in Korea, according to the fictional Jong Il author, because tactically it meant they could have easy access to all of the "Far East" and America is nothing more than a power-hungry, capitalistic, imperialist nation bent on eventual world domination.) The Soviet Union had some soldiers in North Korea & assisted in removing the Japanese threat; as both the Soviet & NK had similar Marxist-Leninist views, they were friendly. General Kim Il Sung soon redistributed the land in the north, taking over production facilities for government control, and taking land from all landlords & giving it to the "peasants" instead. A puppet president was set up in South Korea; elections were secretly held in an effort to still have a unified Korea, but then President Truman officially recognized South Korea as the "Republic of Korea" right before the elections, effectively creating the two separate nations in 1948.
KOREA IS ONE - In 1950, Americans attacked North Korea (he refers to it as the DPRK - Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and committed terrible murders of the civilians they captured. China then stepped in, not wanting the US to win any ground. Then in 1952 the US allied with the Japanese & engaged in germ warfare (insects & disease). North Koreans built bomb shelters and underground tunnel systems to help keep safe. Americans then destroyed the north's power grids and bombed their dams in order to destroy their agriculture, but still the North Koreans did not surrender - even with their entire country a wreck. In 1953 the DMZ is established (demilitarized zone) between the north & south, creating a physical boundary. Meanwhile, Kim Il Sung engaged in "field guidance," meaning he went in person around the country to give guidance, on the ground. Jong Il claims that while he was growing up, he did what he could in school to help guide his fellow students towards his father's Juche philosophy (their spin on communism), denouncing the arts of other countries (the Mona Lisa is too vague - true art and its message should be readily understood/apparent to everyone who looks at it, with no room for interpretation). He helped find spies, including poets/singers that were attempting to spread counterrevolutionary ideas.
FIGHTING FLUNKEYISM - Kim Il Sung was now the Prime Minister, and he put plans into action to rebuild North Korea. Jong Il keeps up his studies, helping route out more traitors all the while. ("Flunkeyism" is when smaller nations appeal to larger nations for protection/access to trade, even if it means giving up or compromising the native nation's ideals.) Storekeepers and landlords are seen as inherently selfish and evil, because it forces people to compete for things. Jong Il starts the practice of weekly "criticisms" and self-reporting so the people could admit their "sins" against their fellow countrymen. He also encouraged all expressions of art to reflect their communist/Juche ideals, to point to the Great Leader and his greatness, in order to change the people's culture (or in Jong's view, keep it pure). Factions in the party arose, of those who wanted to follow other socialist nation's ways (or even other democracies), and these traitors were publicly executed in 1956. By 1958, the two Kim leaders decided that all foreign influence needed to be minimized, in order to keep the people culturally and ideologically pure, and the "songbun" classification was born. All citizens were labeled "core," "wavering," or "hostile," and a decree kept the "hostile" citizens from living in certain areas as a result. The worst suspected offenders were sent to "enlightenment centers," where they could "work off" their supposed "disloyalty." Some died, some were eventually released.
DEFEATING DOGMATISM - Collectivism was on the rise as the government focused on industrialization and automation. Jong Il defines "dogmatism" as believing in something simply because it was the correct course of action at some point in history, or because a highly regarded text/philosophy considered it correct; an inflexible way of thinking. In 1960, protestors converged on South Korea's Blue House (their version of the White House). Marxism was falling out of favor in the rest of the world.
FACING FACTIONALISM - In 1964, Jong is officially asked to join the Party (government). He soon routed out more dissent among the higher-ups - people who had ideas different from their Great Leader, not as flunkeyists or dogmatists, but simply those who thought differently. This was a threat to the Party's ideological unity, so those people were eliminated. The Party had to support a "monolithic ideological system" through propaganda in their arts & culture.
THE PUEBLO INCIDENT - The US started interfering in nations all over, any time they hinted at socialist uprisings in the 1960s. Cuba's Castro asked the Soviet for protection/assistance. The current leader in South Korea came into power through a military coup; the US president was stirring up conflict in Vietnam in order to retain his presidency in 1968; and a US ship entered Korean waters in 1968, so North Korea captured the "Pueblo" in response. To get their soldiers back, the US just had to apologize for spying - the US finally agreed, but publically denounced their written apology as soon as it was signed.
PLANTING SEEDS - Jong focuses on eliminating foreign influence in literature and the arts, aligning all music and publications with the "Juche" ideal. This would help further unite the people.
TAKING A BOW - Jong decides to erect a statue 6 stories tall of the Great Leader. In 1973, they manage to convince the UN to bow out of their efforts to help Korea reunify (Korean unity is a Korean problem to solve, not any other nation).
COMMANDMENTS - Internationally, 1974 was a year of economic depression; the US goes to war again as a solution. Jong secures his position as the Great Leader's successor.
AXES OF EVIL - In 1976 the US decide to chop down a tree on North Korea's side because it interfered with the US soldiers' surveillance from South Korea. A couple US soldiers are killed at the time. Jong doesn't retaliate, refusing to be drawn into a conflict or war because of the petty act. Instead, North Korea is painted as a threat, and the US ships over more nuclear weapons to South Korea and a 150-mile concrete wall is built between the north & south. North Korean information is disseminated to the world, in an effort to change outsiders' views.
CONSTRUCTION TIME - IN 1979, the South Korean people have an uprising against the US regime & the South Korean president is assasinated by the South Korean CIA. A South Korean military coup takes place in 1980, and the US retaliate with a slaughter. Construction in the North continues, with Jong overseeing everything.
THE RED BALLOON - Jong comes up with the idea to build a monument to the Juche Idea, a tower 170 meters tall. In 1982 they reveal a Korean version of an Arch of Triumph. Jong explains Juche in more detail: that man is master of everything and decides everything. Man only exists in context of the social collective, not as an independent agent. Those who do not put their society first are no longer human & lose all their rights to be treated humanely. Juche is nation-first while respecting other nations, with an emphasis on independence so as to not need to rely on any external parties (and thus their influence).
FLIGHTS OF FANCY - More reunification efforts in 1980; in 1984, North Korea sent South Korea relief aid after an unprecedented flooding. Jong asked if South Korea could share the 1988 Olympics with North Korea, but it fell through. In 1987, a Korean Air flight left Baghdad, heading for Seoul, when a bomb went off, leading DPRK to be labeled a "state sponsor of terrorism." The North Koreans were accused of placing a Korean terrorist on that flight - but Jong says it wasn't them. He claims it was another attempt of the US to paint the DPRK in a bad light, because he wouldn't need to train a Korean person to pretend to be Japanese. He's been kidnapping and training Japanese women for that purpose for years.
THE THAW - North Korea held the communist version of the Olympics in 1989. The Soviet Union collapses. In 1991, North Korea joins the UN as a separate entity from South Korea. This is also when their economy takes a hit, as their recent "friends" demanded currency instead of goods. In 1992, the US demands that North Korea comply with inspections to prove they don't have nuclear weapons. Instead, in 1993 North Korea officially made moves to obtain nuclear power, since they are a sovereign nation that deserves to be able to defend itself.
THE GREAT LOSS - President Kim Il Sung dies in 1994; Jong declares there will never be another president, and only takes the role of Chairman. The people are already suffering with food shortages due to poor relations with other countries.
THE RED DEATH - Poor weather and flooding intensify the famine in North Korea; industrial accidents lead to orphans lining the streets, and many people start eating grass and weeds in their desperation.
ME AND A GUN - Jong decides his regime will be a "military first" one, as the gun is the constant companion of the revolutionary. To remain free from outside influence, North Korea had to be strong enough and build up their military, knowing many of the people would starve as a result of this focus. Medical supplies were in short supply as well, so the people turned to traditional remedies. Jong finally let the Red Cross know just how dire their situation was and received aid - but many in the West doubted Jong was using this aid appropriately. He is elected to the DPRK in 1998 and launches a satellite that same year, in a show of strength, in order to be considered a "rival" and not the weaker "enemy," and that North Korea was there to stay.
DELIVERING DIPLOMACY - Jong decides to threaten the US for its accusations that North Korea was armed with nuclear weapons and ready to engage; the US sends money and supplies in apology in 1999, and they receive guided tours through North Korea. The South Korean president is invited north for a diplomatic visit & to start talks of reunification again, and Jong realizes their languages have shifted to become dialects distinct from one another. One hundred northern families are exchanged for 63 southern prisoners. Madeline Albright comes to visit.
KOREA IS TWO - The Bush administration in the US went looking for war. After the bombing of September 11, 2001, North Korea becomes a target of suspicion. Jong turns to Japan, to make amends and form a beneficial relationship, but it isn't easy - the Japanese don't apologize for past wrongdoings like other countries. Jong returns Japanese prisoners, but Japan goes back on their deal and provides no food or funds. In 2006, North Korea has a successful underground nuclear test. Jong suffers a stroke.
MY THREE SONS - Jong had an affair with a pretty young actress & had his first son, Jong Nam. However, the actress was divorced and didn't have enough social standing for Jong to marry her. She gets depressed & is eventually exiled. Jong lets his dad know about Jong Nam eventually, but Jong has to get married to someone else as a result. Jong has 2 more children with another lady, as there is no love between him and his legal wife. Nam is sent to study abroad, and he comes back with ideas that are not in line with Juche, so Jong decides Kim Jong Un will be his successor. To this day, hundreds of thousands of "enemies of the state" still live in the "enlightenment centers" in guarded villages to the north.
The author also had at least a couple dozen grammatical issues (missing articles, incorrect punctuation, skipped or repeated words, etc.), so he either wrote it in a hurry or couldn't afford a good editor. There aren't any references or any sort of bibliography at the back, so while the author claims they read dozens of accounts and did lots of research for this story, I can't be entirely confident in the history he laid out. I suppose it's a good introduction to Korean history in the last century or so; it will be very interesting to read a book from a North Korean defector in contrast ("While Time Remains" by Yeonmi Park is in my TBR pile this year). I probably won't read this again because it's such a political/historical book. But it does make me wonder why more hasn't been done to help rescue the North Koreans enslaved in their "enlightenment" camps.
SUMMARY
KOREA IS LOST - In this chapter, Kim Jong Il recounts his birth on Mt. Paektu, a famous landmark in North Korea, where the revolutionary's secret base camp was built. There was no north or south divided Korea at the time; in fact, Korea had been a unified nation for over 5,000 years under a feudal government. Japan and China were rivals, stronger countries that oppressed Korea, and in 1905, a "treaty" was signed between Korea and Japan. Korea was now under Japan's rule as a "colony." In 1917, Jong Il's grandfather helped organize an uprising against Japan's imperialism, but without success. Eventually Jong Il's father, Kim Il Sung, rose to power among the revolutionaries in Korea, and in 1932 he organized a guerilla army to drive out the Japanese. Fighting ensued; Japanese tried to stifle Korea, outlawing the language. Japanese soldiers were allowed and even encouraged to rape Koreans, taking sex slaves and labeling them "comfort girls." The Japanese performed "experiments" on their prisoners, the same way Hitler and his Nazis did on the Jews they captured. Over 8 million young Koreans were taken and put to work in camps where they would die. But in 1945, the Korean People's Revolutionary Army was able to drive out the remaining Japanese forces and reclaimed their land.
KOREA IS WON - American assaults on Korea began in 1866; in 1882 the US tried to establish "diplomatic relations." In 1898, the US had the Spanish-American war, which led to the US gaining control/access to the Philippines. America and Japan made an agreement (Taft-Katsura) to stay out of each other's way - and this is what eventually led to the divided North & South Korea. Fast-forward to 1945, and the US occupied all of southern Korea in a standoff against Japan, hoping the Japanese would back off in the north. (The US wanted a foothold in Korea, according to the fictional Jong Il author, because tactically it meant they could have easy access to all of the "Far East" and America is nothing more than a power-hungry, capitalistic, imperialist nation bent on eventual world domination.) The Soviet Union had some soldiers in North Korea & assisted in removing the Japanese threat; as both the Soviet & NK had similar Marxist-Leninist views, they were friendly. General Kim Il Sung soon redistributed the land in the north, taking over production facilities for government control, and taking land from all landlords & giving it to the "peasants" instead. A puppet president was set up in South Korea; elections were secretly held in an effort to still have a unified Korea, but then President Truman officially recognized South Korea as the "Republic of Korea" right before the elections, effectively creating the two separate nations in 1948.
KOREA IS ONE - In 1950, Americans attacked North Korea (he refers to it as the DPRK - Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and committed terrible murders of the civilians they captured. China then stepped in, not wanting the US to win any ground. Then in 1952 the US allied with the Japanese & engaged in germ warfare (insects & disease). North Koreans built bomb shelters and underground tunnel systems to help keep safe. Americans then destroyed the north's power grids and bombed their dams in order to destroy their agriculture, but still the North Koreans did not surrender - even with their entire country a wreck. In 1953 the DMZ is established (demilitarized zone) between the north & south, creating a physical boundary. Meanwhile, Kim Il Sung engaged in "field guidance," meaning he went in person around the country to give guidance, on the ground. Jong Il claims that while he was growing up, he did what he could in school to help guide his fellow students towards his father's Juche philosophy (their spin on communism), denouncing the arts of other countries (the Mona Lisa is too vague - true art and its message should be readily understood/apparent to everyone who looks at it, with no room for interpretation). He helped find spies, including poets/singers that were attempting to spread counterrevolutionary ideas.
FIGHTING FLUNKEYISM - Kim Il Sung was now the Prime Minister, and he put plans into action to rebuild North Korea. Jong Il keeps up his studies, helping route out more traitors all the while. ("Flunkeyism" is when smaller nations appeal to larger nations for protection/access to trade, even if it means giving up or compromising the native nation's ideals.) Storekeepers and landlords are seen as inherently selfish and evil, because it forces people to compete for things. Jong Il starts the practice of weekly "criticisms" and self-reporting so the people could admit their "sins" against their fellow countrymen. He also encouraged all expressions of art to reflect their communist/Juche ideals, to point to the Great Leader and his greatness, in order to change the people's culture (or in Jong's view, keep it pure). Factions in the party arose, of those who wanted to follow other socialist nation's ways (or even other democracies), and these traitors were publicly executed in 1956. By 1958, the two Kim leaders decided that all foreign influence needed to be minimized, in order to keep the people culturally and ideologically pure, and the "songbun" classification was born. All citizens were labeled "core," "wavering," or "hostile," and a decree kept the "hostile" citizens from living in certain areas as a result. The worst suspected offenders were sent to "enlightenment centers," where they could "work off" their supposed "disloyalty." Some died, some were eventually released.
DEFEATING DOGMATISM - Collectivism was on the rise as the government focused on industrialization and automation. Jong Il defines "dogmatism" as believing in something simply because it was the correct course of action at some point in history, or because a highly regarded text/philosophy considered it correct; an inflexible way of thinking. In 1960, protestors converged on South Korea's Blue House (their version of the White House). Marxism was falling out of favor in the rest of the world.
FACING FACTIONALISM - In 1964, Jong is officially asked to join the Party (government). He soon routed out more dissent among the higher-ups - people who had ideas different from their Great Leader, not as flunkeyists or dogmatists, but simply those who thought differently. This was a threat to the Party's ideological unity, so those people were eliminated. The Party had to support a "monolithic ideological system" through propaganda in their arts & culture.
THE PUEBLO INCIDENT - The US started interfering in nations all over, any time they hinted at socialist uprisings in the 1960s. Cuba's Castro asked the Soviet for protection/assistance. The current leader in South Korea came into power through a military coup; the US president was stirring up conflict in Vietnam in order to retain his presidency in 1968; and a US ship entered Korean waters in 1968, so North Korea captured the "Pueblo" in response. To get their soldiers back, the US just had to apologize for spying - the US finally agreed, but publically denounced their written apology as soon as it was signed.
PLANTING SEEDS - Jong focuses on eliminating foreign influence in literature and the arts, aligning all music and publications with the "Juche" ideal. This would help further unite the people.
TAKING A BOW - Jong decides to erect a statue 6 stories tall of the Great Leader. In 1973, they manage to convince the UN to bow out of their efforts to help Korea reunify (Korean unity is a Korean problem to solve, not any other nation).
COMMANDMENTS - Internationally, 1974 was a year of economic depression; the US goes to war again as a solution. Jong secures his position as the Great Leader's successor.
AXES OF EVIL - In 1976 the US decide to chop down a tree on North Korea's side because it interfered with the US soldiers' surveillance from South Korea. A couple US soldiers are killed at the time. Jong doesn't retaliate, refusing to be drawn into a conflict or war because of the petty act. Instead, North Korea is painted as a threat, and the US ships over more nuclear weapons to South Korea and a 150-mile concrete wall is built between the north & south. North Korean information is disseminated to the world, in an effort to change outsiders' views.
CONSTRUCTION TIME - IN 1979, the South Korean people have an uprising against the US regime & the South Korean president is assasinated by the South Korean CIA. A South Korean military coup takes place in 1980, and the US retaliate with a slaughter. Construction in the North continues, with Jong overseeing everything.
THE RED BALLOON - Jong comes up with the idea to build a monument to the Juche Idea, a tower 170 meters tall. In 1982 they reveal a Korean version of an Arch of Triumph. Jong explains Juche in more detail: that man is master of everything and decides everything. Man only exists in context of the social collective, not as an independent agent. Those who do not put their society first are no longer human & lose all their rights to be treated humanely. Juche is nation-first while respecting other nations, with an emphasis on independence so as to not need to rely on any external parties (and thus their influence).
FLIGHTS OF FANCY - More reunification efforts in 1980; in 1984, North Korea sent South Korea relief aid after an unprecedented flooding. Jong asked if South Korea could share the 1988 Olympics with North Korea, but it fell through. In 1987, a Korean Air flight left Baghdad, heading for Seoul, when a bomb went off, leading DPRK to be labeled a "state sponsor of terrorism." The North Koreans were accused of placing a Korean terrorist on that flight - but Jong says it wasn't them. He claims it was another attempt of the US to paint the DPRK in a bad light, because he wouldn't need to train a Korean person to pretend to be Japanese. He's been kidnapping and training Japanese women for that purpose for years.
THE THAW - North Korea held the communist version of the Olympics in 1989. The Soviet Union collapses. In 1991, North Korea joins the UN as a separate entity from South Korea. This is also when their economy takes a hit, as their recent "friends" demanded currency instead of goods. In 1992, the US demands that North Korea comply with inspections to prove they don't have nuclear weapons. Instead, in 1993 North Korea officially made moves to obtain nuclear power, since they are a sovereign nation that deserves to be able to defend itself.
THE GREAT LOSS - President Kim Il Sung dies in 1994; Jong declares there will never be another president, and only takes the role of Chairman. The people are already suffering with food shortages due to poor relations with other countries.
THE RED DEATH - Poor weather and flooding intensify the famine in North Korea; industrial accidents lead to orphans lining the streets, and many people start eating grass and weeds in their desperation.
ME AND A GUN - Jong decides his regime will be a "military first" one, as the gun is the constant companion of the revolutionary. To remain free from outside influence, North Korea had to be strong enough and build up their military, knowing many of the people would starve as a result of this focus. Medical supplies were in short supply as well, so the people turned to traditional remedies. Jong finally let the Red Cross know just how dire their situation was and received aid - but many in the West doubted Jong was using this aid appropriately. He is elected to the DPRK in 1998 and launches a satellite that same year, in a show of strength, in order to be considered a "rival" and not the weaker "enemy," and that North Korea was there to stay.
DELIVERING DIPLOMACY - Jong decides to threaten the US for its accusations that North Korea was armed with nuclear weapons and ready to engage; the US sends money and supplies in apology in 1999, and they receive guided tours through North Korea. The South Korean president is invited north for a diplomatic visit & to start talks of reunification again, and Jong realizes their languages have shifted to become dialects distinct from one another. One hundred northern families are exchanged for 63 southern prisoners. Madeline Albright comes to visit.
KOREA IS TWO - The Bush administration in the US went looking for war. After the bombing of September 11, 2001, North Korea becomes a target of suspicion. Jong turns to Japan, to make amends and form a beneficial relationship, but it isn't easy - the Japanese don't apologize for past wrongdoings like other countries. Jong returns Japanese prisoners, but Japan goes back on their deal and provides no food or funds. In 2006, North Korea has a successful underground nuclear test. Jong suffers a stroke.
MY THREE SONS - Jong had an affair with a pretty young actress & had his first son, Jong Nam. However, the actress was divorced and didn't have enough social standing for Jong to marry her. She gets depressed & is eventually exiled. Jong lets his dad know about Jong Nam eventually, but Jong has to get married to someone else as a result. Jong has 2 more children with another lady, as there is no love between him and his legal wife. Nam is sent to study abroad, and he comes back with ideas that are not in line with Juche, so Jong decides Kim Jong Un will be his successor. To this day, hundreds of thousands of "enemies of the state" still live in the "enlightenment centers" in guarded villages to the north.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 18, 2022
'Dear Reader' is one of those books that you have to be completely switched on for while you read. You are actively having to remind yourself that what you are being told is not the truth, but also not completely a lie. The book is written using North Korean propaganda as a source and goes through a lot of the country's history, but from what Malice believes would be Kim Jong Il's version of the story. I really enjoyed listening to the book and then googling the historical events, people or political ideas mentioned and reading about the Western (usually American) version of what happened.
The narrator of the audiobook, Marcus Freeman, has a strong, powerful voice that really suits Kim Jong Il's personality. This added to the realism of the novel and there were quite a few times that I caught myself really falling for the story and almost believing that Kim Jong Il actually wrote it. It is clear that Malice did a lot of research on North Korea and the way he compiles it into this unique format is rather impressive.
Ending on such a dark, haunting note about how the North Korean people live with no real human rights and how no country on Earth will actually do anything to help them really left a strong impression on me. Malice compares the horrors of concentration camps with the horrors that are going on right now in North Korea, and forces us to confront the reality of the situation at hand. We condemn the past but turn a blind eye to events happening today - because what can we really do?
The narrator of the audiobook, Marcus Freeman, has a strong, powerful voice that really suits Kim Jong Il's personality. This added to the realism of the novel and there were quite a few times that I caught myself really falling for the story and almost believing that Kim Jong Il actually wrote it. It is clear that Malice did a lot of research on North Korea and the way he compiles it into this unique format is rather impressive.
Ending on such a dark, haunting note about how the North Korean people live with no real human rights and how no country on Earth will actually do anything to help them really left a strong impression on me. Malice compares the horrors of concentration camps with the horrors that are going on right now in North Korea, and forces us to confront the reality of the situation at hand. We condemn the past but turn a blind eye to events happening today - because what can we really do?
April 26, 2018
Dear Reader,
Comedy gets us through tough times. It’s what we turn to in order to cope. This is a reason why it’s used in the mundane subject of politics. There’s nothing funny about north Korea or its millions of slaves under the Kim Jong Un regime. To make us grasp the concept of a modern day holocaust Malice employs irony and comedy. This serves as an aid to douse nasty medicine in tasty sugar before administering. Thanks to this mixture of comedy and tragedy his readers gain a fruitful understanding of this country’s history and how it came to be one of the largest and most ignored humanitarian crises of our lifetime. To every laugh there’s a tinge of heartbreak.
Malice read numerous books on the subject of north Korea and its leaders from both the Western canon and north Korea’s own propaganda. He mixes historical fact with propaganda from both camps to express Kim Jong Il’s life.
This is a book I highly recommend to anyone especially those who have laughed at north Korea in the past.
I’ll leave you with the first sentence of this great book:
“I remember the day that I was born perfectly.”*
*Notice how Malice doesn’t add a comma after the word “born?” It’s intentional and is foreshadowing for the intense hubris to come later from the novel. Hope you enjoy it.
Comedy gets us through tough times. It’s what we turn to in order to cope. This is a reason why it’s used in the mundane subject of politics. There’s nothing funny about north Korea or its millions of slaves under the Kim Jong Un regime. To make us grasp the concept of a modern day holocaust Malice employs irony and comedy. This serves as an aid to douse nasty medicine in tasty sugar before administering. Thanks to this mixture of comedy and tragedy his readers gain a fruitful understanding of this country’s history and how it came to be one of the largest and most ignored humanitarian crises of our lifetime. To every laugh there’s a tinge of heartbreak.
Malice read numerous books on the subject of north Korea and its leaders from both the Western canon and north Korea’s own propaganda. He mixes historical fact with propaganda from both camps to express Kim Jong Il’s life.
This is a book I highly recommend to anyone especially those who have laughed at north Korea in the past.
I’ll leave you with the first sentence of this great book:
“I remember the day that I was born perfectly.”*
*Notice how Malice doesn’t add a comma after the word “born?” It’s intentional and is foreshadowing for the intense hubris to come later from the novel. Hope you enjoy it.
October 14, 2017
I'm still in shock and awe. The world view expressed unfortunately has a unity and logic. Centuries of violent exploitation of Korea are very much to blame for what we have to deal with now. But the utter depravity, cruelty and craziness leaves one sick in the stomach.
The final chapter describing how current perceived traitors are dealt with continues to haunt me. Three generations of dissenting families forced to live like animals with no hygiene, and food. "enemies of the leader are not human beings".
So much hypocrisy, but this is a very, very important book if you want to understand our world, and what humans are capable of.
My only caveat is I wish the author had provided a bibliography of his source material.
The final chapter describing how current perceived traitors are dealt with continues to haunt me. Three generations of dissenting families forced to live like animals with no hygiene, and food. "enemies of the leader are not human beings".
So much hypocrisy, but this is a very, very important book if you want to understand our world, and what humans are capable of.
My only caveat is I wish the author had provided a bibliography of his source material.
January 24, 2018
This book started out good, but became boring halfway through when the novelty wore off. While Michael Malice chose an interesting way to write about North Korea, it made it difficult to differentiate between fact and fiction. Obviously, he had to use some literary licence, but how much?
I was going to give this book only 1 star but the last chapter was pretty good, so it earned an extra star.
I was going to give this book only 1 star but the last chapter was pretty good, so it earned an extra star.
July 17, 2017
Excellent read. It gives you a brilliant insight in the mind of a dictator. For a few moments I even started feeling sympathetic towards the man, and then I realized this was about Kim Jong-Il, and then it dawned on me this was exactly what North Koreans hear and read, every single second of their lives!
June 21, 2018
A fascinating journey through the history of North Korea, as told by everyone's favorite political tyrant Kim Jong-Il. I spent a lot of time in high school being obsessed by the doings of North Korea, always obnoxiously lecturing to my friends about the latest news I'd read, or my latest predictions on when Kim Jong-Il was going to hit us with a nuke, thinking I was somehow the most cultured and most aware, of all my friends, of what was going on in the world. It was refreshing to read this book, because for the first time in my life, I can look at everything that has happened there and is still happening, from the lens of their own leaders, their own ideology. Some feelings I had as I read this book:
1) Obviously, he hates the imperialist scum United States. This is obvious from start to finish. What is interesting is that we're not the perfect loving invincible good guys that I always imagined growing up, nor do I feel we're completely justified in our supposed destiny of policing the world and forcing democracy on those countries we see fit. In fact, many things we've done are outright laughable. The notorious incident surrounding "Operation Paul Bunyan" had me giggling uncontrollably, and also disturbed me as an American.
2) What is truth? I felt sympathy for Kim Jong-Il. Is that weird? How can I feel sympathy when it's highly likely he's just making everything up? But I don't know if he's making things up. I've been watching and reading American news my whole life. I've been taught to believe certain things, that the Kims are insane (which is probably somewhat justifiable), and that they are responsible for a host of international incidents including terrorist attacks and cyber attacks. His description of the events surrounding Korean Air Flight 858 had me wondering... is it possible that he really didn't have anything to do with it? Could he really be this fairly down-to-earth guy who really desires nothing more than world peace and reunification of the Korean peninsula? Does our government lie to us just as much as he lies to his own people? Who knows. What is evident, after you read this book, is that the Kims are obviously highly intelligent. It's mentioned on the back of the book and at least a couple times throughout, but this regime has managed to stay in power for a really long time, outliving other nefarious tyrants like Stalin, Mao, Castro, etc., and something like 10 or 11 U.S. presidents. That's a very long time. No matter how much you mock their political system, apparently it's effective.
3) This line, as spoken by one of his party comrades, praising Kim Jong-Il: "He always smiles brightly and his smile is very attractive, giving people the impulse to open their heavy heart and throw themselves into his bosom. People feel his smile is a 'smile of love'. Only warmhearted people could smile that way." Holy crap. Talk about an amazing smile.
4) LONG LIVE JUCHE! But seriously, apparently not. What happened to Juche? It's apparently known that Kim Jong-Il loved foreign things (James Bond, Rambo, Friday the 13th, Elvis, among other things and people). I thought that that basically violated the principles of Juche. He never talked about it. And it bothered me. If he truly believed in Korea-first, then what's he doing dabbling in all this western garbage? HUH?!?!
1) Obviously, he hates the imperialist scum United States. This is obvious from start to finish. What is interesting is that we're not the perfect loving invincible good guys that I always imagined growing up, nor do I feel we're completely justified in our supposed destiny of policing the world and forcing democracy on those countries we see fit. In fact, many things we've done are outright laughable. The notorious incident surrounding "Operation Paul Bunyan" had me giggling uncontrollably, and also disturbed me as an American.
2) What is truth? I felt sympathy for Kim Jong-Il. Is that weird? How can I feel sympathy when it's highly likely he's just making everything up? But I don't know if he's making things up. I've been watching and reading American news my whole life. I've been taught to believe certain things, that the Kims are insane (which is probably somewhat justifiable), and that they are responsible for a host of international incidents including terrorist attacks and cyber attacks. His description of the events surrounding Korean Air Flight 858 had me wondering... is it possible that he really didn't have anything to do with it? Could he really be this fairly down-to-earth guy who really desires nothing more than world peace and reunification of the Korean peninsula? Does our government lie to us just as much as he lies to his own people? Who knows. What is evident, after you read this book, is that the Kims are obviously highly intelligent. It's mentioned on the back of the book and at least a couple times throughout, but this regime has managed to stay in power for a really long time, outliving other nefarious tyrants like Stalin, Mao, Castro, etc., and something like 10 or 11 U.S. presidents. That's a very long time. No matter how much you mock their political system, apparently it's effective.
3) This line, as spoken by one of his party comrades, praising Kim Jong-Il: "He always smiles brightly and his smile is very attractive, giving people the impulse to open their heavy heart and throw themselves into his bosom. People feel his smile is a 'smile of love'. Only warmhearted people could smile that way." Holy crap. Talk about an amazing smile.
4) LONG LIVE JUCHE! But seriously, apparently not. What happened to Juche? It's apparently known that Kim Jong-Il loved foreign things (James Bond, Rambo, Friday the 13th, Elvis, among other things and people). I thought that that basically violated the principles of Juche. He never talked about it. And it bothered me. If he truly believed in Korea-first, then what's he doing dabbling in all this western garbage? HUH?!?!
June 18, 2023
Like "The New Right," "Dear Reader" needs an editor (the first half becomes repetitive with the same formula: Jong Il is always doing some banal project and commenting how "original" and "novel" it is); although intentional, the writing is also insufferably bad at many points, but I still value Michael Malice's perspective and dark humor. EX: the positive spin on everything: "Loafers were purged. It was a time of celebration."
For me, "Dear Reader" proves most valuable in replicating propaganda. Sure, many of "Kim Jong Il's" comments are obviously aimed for dramatic irony with the reader in mind - statements like, "we have no concentration camps, only villages surrounded with barbed wire and armed guards - but many statements I had no knowledge of, like the assassination of Park Chung Hee by the then current SK CIA director. "Dear Reader" provides the obvious unreliable narrator, which dials up the incredulity, but even if I came in doubting "Kim Jong-Il's" broadsides against SK, they made realize me I knew almost nothing about NK/SK history. Wikipedia's statement on the Kim Il Sung page says: "by the late 1950s and during the 1960s and 1970s, North Korea enjoyed a higher standard of living than the South, which was suffering from political chaos and economic crises."Granted, this statement leaves out how that standard of living was established (political purges and the like) or subsidized goods from the USSR, but still, it flies against the narrative of "SK =good, NK = immediate and permanent hellhole."
The TLDR - Dear Reader forces one to think, and to assess simple narratives.
Malice might have been especially suited to write the book, not just b/c of his background with totalitarianism, but b/c of Kim Jong Ils's narcissism. Whether Malice has NPD or not - well, that's in poor taste to speculate about; I don't know the man - but he has made performative narcissism something of a brand; the Harvey Pekar biography is called "Ego and Hubris," after all. At the very least, he's familiar enough with narcissists to write one.
This makes the writing effective, if droll at times (the aforementioned repetitive stories). It also makes it chilling. Cult of personality. Leader convinced of his brilliance and everyone around him either too afraid or too kool-aided to contradict him.
Ultimately, I think the book is useful in luring people in with a goofy NK to laugh about (like watching reality TV and sizing up the degenerates worse off than yourself), and then showing how it might be absurd, but it's not funny. And it's not a joke.
For me, "Dear Reader" proves most valuable in replicating propaganda. Sure, many of "Kim Jong Il's" comments are obviously aimed for dramatic irony with the reader in mind - statements like, "we have no concentration camps, only villages surrounded with barbed wire and armed guards - but many statements I had no knowledge of, like the assassination of Park Chung Hee by the then current SK CIA director. "Dear Reader" provides the obvious unreliable narrator, which dials up the incredulity, but even if I came in doubting "Kim Jong-Il's" broadsides against SK, they made realize me I knew almost nothing about NK/SK history. Wikipedia's statement on the Kim Il Sung page says: "by the late 1950s and during the 1960s and 1970s, North Korea enjoyed a higher standard of living than the South, which was suffering from political chaos and economic crises."Granted, this statement leaves out how that standard of living was established (political purges and the like) or subsidized goods from the USSR, but still, it flies against the narrative of "SK =good, NK = immediate and permanent hellhole."
The TLDR - Dear Reader forces one to think, and to assess simple narratives.
Malice might have been especially suited to write the book, not just b/c of his background with totalitarianism, but b/c of Kim Jong Ils's narcissism. Whether Malice has NPD or not - well, that's in poor taste to speculate about; I don't know the man - but he has made performative narcissism something of a brand; the Harvey Pekar biography is called "Ego and Hubris," after all. At the very least, he's familiar enough with narcissists to write one.
This makes the writing effective, if droll at times (the aforementioned repetitive stories). It also makes it chilling. Cult of personality. Leader convinced of his brilliance and everyone around him either too afraid or too kool-aided to contradict him.
Ultimately, I think the book is useful in luring people in with a goofy NK to laugh about (like watching reality TV and sizing up the degenerates worse off than yourself), and then showing how it might be absurd, but it's not funny. And it's not a joke.
January 10, 2018
It took me way too long to get through this, but I also think it's quite fitting that this should be my first book of 2018, a year in which I'm sure North Korea will continue to dominate the news.
In Dear Reader, Michael Malice assumes the pen of NK's most notable of Dear Leaders, Kim Jong Ill, as he walks us through a comprehensive history of North Korea and the establishment of the Juche ideology that NK has become so renowned for. We are treated throughout to a taste of the Cult of Personality that NK's citizens are subjected to, through Malice's cheeky and pompous interpretation of how Kim Jong Ill might have written his autobiography. There are laugh out loud moments as Kim boasts about his ability to remember every word from every book he's ever read, how as a child he could repair any machine placed before him, how he single-handedly revitalized the North Korean arts. But the book is eloquently accompanied by heart-breaking tales and moments of staggering honesty about the situation in this hermit country: families forever torn apart due to a regressive political ideology, citizens chewing bark and eating grass to survive as the government refuses to negotiate internationally for food aid, and even the heart-breaks in Kim's own life, such as the loss of his mother (always referred to as the Anti-Japanese Heroine of the North) at a young age, or his inability to pursue the love of his life and the mother of his first born, Kim Jong Nam.
Malice uses the final page of this book to break the 4th wall, and issues a plea to readers to consider the plight of the North Koreans who suffer in the country's "secret" government sponsored re-education camps. To not think of North Korea as a joke, despite the book's humorous tone. I don't know how anyone could get through this book and still laugh at the cartoon interpretation of the situation in North Korea. For anyone looking for an accessible and fairly in-depth account of Korean history over the last 60 years, I would strongly recommend "Dear Reader."
Unfortunately, I can't give the book 5 stars as it is in desperate need of another copy edit or two. This was clearly a cheap and rush production (although kudos to the cover designer, I've received comments from fellow bus patrons nearly every time I read this book) and the editing severely suffered for it. However, it didn't diminish the content at all. Loved it.
In Dear Reader, Michael Malice assumes the pen of NK's most notable of Dear Leaders, Kim Jong Ill, as he walks us through a comprehensive history of North Korea and the establishment of the Juche ideology that NK has become so renowned for. We are treated throughout to a taste of the Cult of Personality that NK's citizens are subjected to, through Malice's cheeky and pompous interpretation of how Kim Jong Ill might have written his autobiography. There are laugh out loud moments as Kim boasts about his ability to remember every word from every book he's ever read, how as a child he could repair any machine placed before him, how he single-handedly revitalized the North Korean arts. But the book is eloquently accompanied by heart-breaking tales and moments of staggering honesty about the situation in this hermit country: families forever torn apart due to a regressive political ideology, citizens chewing bark and eating grass to survive as the government refuses to negotiate internationally for food aid, and even the heart-breaks in Kim's own life, such as the loss of his mother (always referred to as the Anti-Japanese Heroine of the North) at a young age, or his inability to pursue the love of his life and the mother of his first born, Kim Jong Nam.
Malice uses the final page of this book to break the 4th wall, and issues a plea to readers to consider the plight of the North Koreans who suffer in the country's "secret" government sponsored re-education camps. To not think of North Korea as a joke, despite the book's humorous tone. I don't know how anyone could get through this book and still laugh at the cartoon interpretation of the situation in North Korea. For anyone looking for an accessible and fairly in-depth account of Korean history over the last 60 years, I would strongly recommend "Dear Reader."
Unfortunately, I can't give the book 5 stars as it is in desperate need of another copy edit or two. This was clearly a cheap and rush production (although kudos to the cover designer, I've received comments from fellow bus patrons nearly every time I read this book) and the editing severely suffered for it. However, it didn't diminish the content at all. Loved it.
July 21, 2021
This was not an easy read. I really had to plow through it. I expected this to be more humorous than it was. I imagined it would be a tongue-in-cheek characterization of Kim Jong Il. This book is an account of Kim Jong Il written from a first-person perspective, and the narrative voice is appropriately obnoxious. I liked how the author threw in blatantly false statements and contradictions or recounted awkward scenarios that show how outrageous this dictator was. I had expected more of this humor. The book is not very funny. It seems like it is just the story of Kim Jong Il's life, but the reader will not know what parts are true and which are fictional. It seemed pretty grounded in history, but I would need to compare it to a 100% true version to truly know what elements in the book actually occurred as described. Frankly, I believed most of what I read as if it really were Kim Jong Il's inner thoughts. The author actually makes the dictator somewhat sympathetic, which is a terrific feat. The account culminates with a pretty strong final diatribe against the American presidents. It felt like the rest of the book was just an elaborate introduction for this final opprobrium that points out the hypocrisy of inaction against the evils perpetuated by North Korea in a very powerful way. To that effect, the book is too long, and it reads like a complex tome, but that seems like how the dear leader would have written an autobiography if he had done so. There were quite a few typos present throughout the book, and I was annoyed with the lack of serial commas (another fitting choice for a villain in my opinion), but ultimately, by biggest disappointment is that it was not as humorous as I expected. It truly was a convincing "autobiography" of Kim Jong Il that leaves you pondering how much the author studied him and how much he fabricated.
February 24, 2021
A genuinely unique type of book.
Michael Malice does a great job of verbally puppeting Kim Jong Il, Michael's voice only feels like it comes through in some of the more absurd moments (though the book is a enormous litany of absurdities). The oddness of it all, the horror and the horrific comedy. Such overwhelming darkness, impossibly extensive, barely comprehensible, without the comedic approach it would essentially be a snuff book.
Kim Jong Il comes across as an insane son and heir to an empire, surrounded by people who are afraid of him, yet he is desperately egoistic and domineering. He is constantly in awe of his own "greatness" as it is revealed to him over time. Never a thought that he is simply surrounded by fearful supplicants, and that he is not a genius who has revolutionised opera (among everything else).
It's a story of a modern day god-emperor, the same story that has endlessly occurred throughout history.
We are almost all fools. The horrors of the holocaust were an expression of human nature, a nature steeped in horror, this same horrific nature plays out every day, to various extents *everywhere*.
North Korea is hell on earth, it is one of many. If only we could appreciate what we have in a society without official beheadings, hangings, starvings, the feeding of live human beings to animals.
To me this book is yet another warning, a warning of where a society can go.
Michael Malice does a great job of verbally puppeting Kim Jong Il, Michael's voice only feels like it comes through in some of the more absurd moments (though the book is a enormous litany of absurdities). The oddness of it all, the horror and the horrific comedy. Such overwhelming darkness, impossibly extensive, barely comprehensible, without the comedic approach it would essentially be a snuff book.
Kim Jong Il comes across as an insane son and heir to an empire, surrounded by people who are afraid of him, yet he is desperately egoistic and domineering. He is constantly in awe of his own "greatness" as it is revealed to him over time. Never a thought that he is simply surrounded by fearful supplicants, and that he is not a genius who has revolutionised opera (among everything else).
It's a story of a modern day god-emperor, the same story that has endlessly occurred throughout history.
We are almost all fools. The horrors of the holocaust were an expression of human nature, a nature steeped in horror, this same horrific nature plays out every day, to various extents *everywhere*.
North Korea is hell on earth, it is one of many. If only we could appreciate what we have in a society without official beheadings, hangings, starvings, the feeding of live human beings to animals.
To me this book is yet another warning, a warning of where a society can go.
September 19, 2021
This was so cleverly written. Made me think all sorts of thoughts. I wanted to understand more historical context and I love a bit of satire in the way it was written as an autobiography. I learned a lot. I enjoyed it at an audiobook, narrated by Marcus Freeman who was easy to listen to. I’d recommend it to anyone wanting understand some of the subtle and overt nuances associated with Kim Jong Il’s life and dynasty. I think it would make for an interesting book club discussion.
The Story
Malice shapes the story well with endless exploration about subject matter that only reinforces itself with its own existence.
I didn’t always keep the family straight but I appreciated it anyway.
Topics that stood out to me:
-Mona Lisa germ warfare.
-The house divided against itself.
-Thoughts on collectivism.
-Love for books.
-What it means to be Korean. 4 shared languages, geographical, economical, and other principles.
-Thoughts on Leninismn.
-Making the world same from a democratic people.
-Greatness incarnated in a man.
-Music as Korea’s gift to the world.
-The Korean film industry.
-U.S. imperialist on film.
-One of the first places mankind originated.
-Thoughts on reunification.
-His prestige abroad.
-War provocation and the chopping of the poplar tree.
-Marshal law.
-Caring about the spectacle but not the people.
The Writing
Malice wrote like a James Michener book. There was this historical context told alongside dialogue that kept the interest going. The word unprecedented was overused. And same as the story, I didn’t alway keep the timelines and family straight would have liked a bit of differentiation amongst father and son, but again I appreciated it anyway.
I liked the recap at the end.
Overall, it made me think a lot and I added a lot of North Korean films to my movie watch list.
Blog post
The Story
Malice shapes the story well with endless exploration about subject matter that only reinforces itself with its own existence.
I didn’t always keep the family straight but I appreciated it anyway.
Topics that stood out to me:
-Mona Lisa germ warfare.
-The house divided against itself.
-Thoughts on collectivism.
-Love for books.
-What it means to be Korean. 4 shared languages, geographical, economical, and other principles.
-Thoughts on Leninismn.
-Making the world same from a democratic people.
-Greatness incarnated in a man.
-Music as Korea’s gift to the world.
-The Korean film industry.
-U.S. imperialist on film.
-One of the first places mankind originated.
-Thoughts on reunification.
-His prestige abroad.
-War provocation and the chopping of the poplar tree.
-Marshal law.
-Caring about the spectacle but not the people.
The Writing
Malice wrote like a James Michener book. There was this historical context told alongside dialogue that kept the interest going. The word unprecedented was overused. And same as the story, I didn’t alway keep the timelines and family straight would have liked a bit of differentiation amongst father and son, but again I appreciated it anyway.
I liked the recap at the end.
Overall, it made me think a lot and I added a lot of North Korean films to my movie watch list.
Blog post
May 21, 2023
This had to have been a very difficult book to write. I think for a humorous guy like Michael Malice, the temptation to make the satire obvious in search of chuckles would be very alluring, but wisely he mostly avoids the easy laughs and seeks to provide understanding for the reader of what the mentality of the North Korean leader must likely have been. Malice is at his best when allowing the American reader to see the U.S. through Kim's own eyes. He fairly portrays some of the imperialistic bent of American foreign policy, while never letting North Korea off the hook for its own horrific history. The satire is at times so subtle that I really can't say after reading it if Kim's achievements in the arts are being ridiculed or if he truly had some accomplishments in film, architecture, or other fields. Though there is a hint of humor all through the book, at the same time there is a dark pity for those who have lived through the horror of that police state. The close of the book holds out little hope for change, and I would love for that to be proven wrong. The book gives a good history of the Korean peninsula and makes one wish for more knowledge of what has gone on in that mostly curtained nation.
November 23, 2025
First and foremost this is a tragic book. However, captured my interest in so many ways. It was a great way to review the history of how a country like North Korea came to be. It showed how the propaganda we laugh at as outsiders actually had an internal logic that fits within the mythology of this long struggling country. My mind shifted back and forth between extreme criticism of every word and an understanding of how it would be nice to believe the propaganda if I was a North Korean.
Some of the most interesting parts of the book were when the propaganda criticized aspects of US foreign policy that I agree are imperialistic. Because it played on some of my preconceived ideas, my critical thinking was much less active.
My only critique is that I wish the author included a few chapters about how his research worked, perhaps between each section. That was probably a stylistic choice to maintain the propagandist autobiographical tone, it left the reader with a sense of not knowing what to believe the entire time.
Practically speaking though, it would have helped to make a little more sense out of what was real and what wasn’t real in the book from a purely educational point of view. I doubt I’m going to want to read a more traditional book about North Korea anytime soon.
Some of the most interesting parts of the book were when the propaganda criticized aspects of US foreign policy that I agree are imperialistic. Because it played on some of my preconceived ideas, my critical thinking was much less active.
My only critique is that I wish the author included a few chapters about how his research worked, perhaps between each section. That was probably a stylistic choice to maintain the propagandist autobiographical tone, it left the reader with a sense of not knowing what to believe the entire time.
Practically speaking though, it would have helped to make a little more sense out of what was real and what wasn’t real in the book from a purely educational point of view. I doubt I’m going to want to read a more traditional book about North Korea anytime soon.
December 19, 2017
The book is written as if it was Kim Jong Il's autobiography, narrating his life from his childhood in "the peaks of Mt Paektu" to that as leader of North Korea, engaged in a nuclear standoff and struggling to determine his successor. Given this premise, many of his accounts are fabrications (he was actually born in the USSR, for example), and I suggest looking up corresponding Wikipedia articles to major events so you can see the juxtaposition of the two perspectives.
It's a very entertaining read. Though not particularly useful for learning actual facts about North Korea, it does a great job immersing you in the world of the Hermit Kingdom, giving insight as to the nature of its propaganda and the population's reverence of its leaders. The book is laced with dark overtones, hinting at the insidious nature of the Juche idea and the lengths to which the regime is willing to go to defend it.
This book works particularly well in audio format - you don't need to concentrate on specific passages, so you can just let the story unfold as you do whatever else it is you're doing.
It's a very entertaining read. Though not particularly useful for learning actual facts about North Korea, it does a great job immersing you in the world of the Hermit Kingdom, giving insight as to the nature of its propaganda and the population's reverence of its leaders. The book is laced with dark overtones, hinting at the insidious nature of the Juche idea and the lengths to which the regime is willing to go to defend it.
This book works particularly well in audio format - you don't need to concentrate on specific passages, so you can just let the story unfold as you do whatever else it is you're doing.
December 10, 2018
Michael Malice did a masterful job with this book. I felt like “Dear Leader” Kim Jong Il was speaking directly to me, and Marcus Freeman’s narration was warm, friendly, yet somehow terrifying. I had a hard time deciding whether this was the funniest book I’ve read, or the scariest book I’ve read. If you have studied up on the DPRKs history, you can kind of tell where the dear leader’s embellishments are, and if you haven’t, it will be somewhat difficult to tell at some points, what are facts, and what are lies, which sort of highlights the pervasiveness of their propaganda and the nefariousness of juche. Honestly, I think any person living in a free society with any common sense, will be able to tell the difference in many parts. Overall, I enjoyed this book very, very much, though as many have pointed out in other reviews, the last few pages are really a punch in the gut after what the rest of the book has been, and it makes sure you do not forget exactly what the Kim dynasty is all about.
July 30, 2019
I set out reading this as a way to better understand what is going on in the DPRK. The mater-of-fact approach used throughout the book from the perspective of Kim Jong Il is often used to punctuate the thought process behind the Juche idea. Michael Malice's insight and framing through the eyes of the "dear leader" exposes what the thought process of North Korean leaders though their own words written and translated for visitors.The ideology created by the Kim family is so sinister it is currently enslaving over 20 million humans. The last chapter leaves with such a cold account of "re-education camps" that it is impossible to think of the people under the regime as willing participants in their own destruction. The portrayal and dismissal of the DPRK as a merely a rogue state by the media at large undermines the seriousness of the widespread death, intergenerational punishment, and mass enforcement of psychological torture. This book dispels the flippant nature of dismissal to make you peer into a modern day holocaust.
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