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All Monsters Must Die: An Excursion to North Korea
A finalist for the prestigious August Prize, All Monsters Must Die is the incredible true story of the 1978 kidnapping of South Korea’s most famous actress and film director by North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il, set against the authors’ own bizarre eight-day excursion in 2009 to the “hermit kingdom.”
In 1978, agents from North Korea kidnapped the greatest South Korean movie star, the actress Madame Choi, and her ex-husband, the famous film director Shun Sang-Ok. After having been kept in custody for five years, the two are offered a “contract” by Kim Jong-Il, the country’s dictator and a film fanatic. The conditions are that they re-marry and that they publicly declare that they have defected to North Korea of their own free will. The contract includes a gigantic film budget with everything they could possibly wish for. Of course it’s an offer they can’t turn down.
The story of Madame Choi and Shun Sang-Ok is interwoven with the authors’ bizarre excursion to the “hermit kingdom” in 2009. Intelligent and shocking, All Monsters Must Die offers a rare and fascinating window into the most isolated country in the world, and includes an updated chapter on the passing of Kim Jong-Il and the declaration of his son, Kim Jong-Un, as supreme leader.
In 1978, agents from North Korea kidnapped the greatest South Korean movie star, the actress Madame Choi, and her ex-husband, the famous film director Shun Sang-Ok. After having been kept in custody for five years, the two are offered a “contract” by Kim Jong-Il, the country’s dictator and a film fanatic. The conditions are that they re-marry and that they publicly declare that they have defected to North Korea of their own free will. The contract includes a gigantic film budget with everything they could possibly wish for. Of course it’s an offer they can’t turn down.
The story of Madame Choi and Shun Sang-Ok is interwoven with the authors’ bizarre excursion to the “hermit kingdom” in 2009. Intelligent and shocking, All Monsters Must Die offers a rare and fascinating window into the most isolated country in the world, and includes an updated chapter on the passing of Kim Jong-Il and the declaration of his son, Kim Jong-Un, as supreme leader.
288 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
February 5, 2017
Basically a "best of" of almost every popular non-fiction book about North Korea.
Very few new, personal observations. Instead a lot of quotes and retellings of other books, movies, articles and interviews.
A very long section on the kidnapped movie directors from South Korea and movie obsession of Kim Jong Il. Too long for my liking.
Also, in the beginning of the book they called North Korea a necrocracy without referring to Christopher Hitchens who coined the term when speaking of North Korea.
Very few new, personal observations. Instead a lot of quotes and retellings of other books, movies, articles and interviews.
A very long section on the kidnapped movie directors from South Korea and movie obsession of Kim Jong Il. Too long for my liking.
Also, in the beginning of the book they called North Korea a necrocracy without referring to Christopher Hitchens who coined the term when speaking of North Korea.
April 8, 2024
yet another book suffering from "the title promises something that you dont actually get"
i'd say about 70% of this book was a retelling of facts found in other books on north korea, as opposed to detailing their experience in north korea, and if you happen to already have read those books this will be very disappointing because it doesn't really have anything to tell you, since the actual trip to north korea is not given a lot of space
i'd say about 70% of this book was a retelling of facts found in other books on north korea, as opposed to detailing their experience in north korea, and if you happen to already have read those books this will be very disappointing because it doesn't really have anything to tell you, since the actual trip to north korea is not given a lot of space
July 29, 2019
En tänkvärd bok om filmens, medians, konstens och propagandans roll i ett samhälle. Hur verkligheten speglas i filmen och hur filmen idealiserar verkligheten. Samt delvis en betraktelse över hur Sveriges (och svenskars) relation till Nordkorea sett ut. Bra skrivet utifrån ett konstperspektiv. 4,5⭐️
January 16, 2025
A book with an eye-catching title but underwhelming story.
2 adjectives that I would use to describe this book are "Horrible" and "Dizzying"
Short summary of this book:
Despite the title, this story follows multiple storylines and little space is given to the "excursion" part. The excursion talks about the different settings in North Korea and the face of North Korea that is shown to tourists. Over the span of 8 days, we embarked on a journey to different parts of North Korea including places such as the DMZ (border of NK and SK), museums, monuments and different historical places such as Kim Il Sung's birthplace. The side stories consist of a medley of different stories about different figures in North Korea, with the famous actor and actress Choi Eun-hee and Shin Sang-ok's story sticking out the most.
Though this book offers little information to be learnt, something that I had learnt from this book were North Korea's records of kidnapping people, with Choi and Shin being major figures that were kidnapped. The claims don't end there though, many Japanese people have also been kidnapped, with only a handful being identified by the government and hundreds more that are thought to have been taken. Though instead of admitting fault, North Korea had decided to decline many of these cases even with consolidating proof from Japan, Russia and China.
Likes/Dislikes and what I would have changed:
Likes- While this book did disappoint me, one particular area that I was fond of while reading was the way information was laid out about North Korea, exposing all their different schemes such as kidnappings and weapon addiction.
Dislikes- Oh I have so much to say, but for your sake, I'll keep it shorter. While the information was laid out nicely (referring to my likes), there was not too much information provided. While yes, this is new to me, if I had not read this book, I would have easily spent less than 10 seconds to search up information here. This leads up to my second point- this book tries to fit too much into a single book. This is less of a novel and more of a medley of different stories from different books, which makes reading this book quite confusing, as mid chapter you would go from reading about the excursion, to reading about someone's story about getting kidnapped and put into a concentration camp to reading about someone's life living in top tier housing provided by North Korea after getting kidnapped by agents.
Now for what I would have changed. If I were to put myself in the writer's shoes, the first major issue I would change is to remove the medley of stories, and focus heavily on the excursion and a bit on Choi and Shin's story. Or alternatively, I would change the title of this story to something along the lines of "The heavily restricted life of North Korea" and focus the story on Choi and Shin's story which I found more interesting than the excursion.
What could the information in this book mean for us? I think the information in this book is trying to bring to light North Korea's heavy censorship, which might actually be a upcoming issue for us too, US trying to ban TikTok for its relations to China for example, which in turn the US hopes for citizens to move onto American platforms such as Meta, but in a surprising turn, people actually started moving to Red Note, another Chinese social media app. Another topic could be propaganda. North Korea regularly feeds its citizens propaganda representing America as a monster, which isn't far off from how America is trying to subtly represent China as anti-American.
Who might be interested in this book? Well, if you're into North Korea, travelling and stories, this might be for you. But if not, I recommend not bothering as there are better books on North Korea such as "Escape from camp 14".
A quote from this book: "Even a powerful illusion has its limits".
2 adjectives that I would use to describe this book are "Horrible" and "Dizzying"
Short summary of this book:
Despite the title, this story follows multiple storylines and little space is given to the "excursion" part. The excursion talks about the different settings in North Korea and the face of North Korea that is shown to tourists. Over the span of 8 days, we embarked on a journey to different parts of North Korea including places such as the DMZ (border of NK and SK), museums, monuments and different historical places such as Kim Il Sung's birthplace. The side stories consist of a medley of different stories about different figures in North Korea, with the famous actor and actress Choi Eun-hee and Shin Sang-ok's story sticking out the most.
Though this book offers little information to be learnt, something that I had learnt from this book were North Korea's records of kidnapping people, with Choi and Shin being major figures that were kidnapped. The claims don't end there though, many Japanese people have also been kidnapped, with only a handful being identified by the government and hundreds more that are thought to have been taken. Though instead of admitting fault, North Korea had decided to decline many of these cases even with consolidating proof from Japan, Russia and China.
Likes/Dislikes and what I would have changed:
Likes- While this book did disappoint me, one particular area that I was fond of while reading was the way information was laid out about North Korea, exposing all their different schemes such as kidnappings and weapon addiction.
Dislikes- Oh I have so much to say, but for your sake, I'll keep it shorter. While the information was laid out nicely (referring to my likes), there was not too much information provided. While yes, this is new to me, if I had not read this book, I would have easily spent less than 10 seconds to search up information here. This leads up to my second point- this book tries to fit too much into a single book. This is less of a novel and more of a medley of different stories from different books, which makes reading this book quite confusing, as mid chapter you would go from reading about the excursion, to reading about someone's story about getting kidnapped and put into a concentration camp to reading about someone's life living in top tier housing provided by North Korea after getting kidnapped by agents.
Now for what I would have changed. If I were to put myself in the writer's shoes, the first major issue I would change is to remove the medley of stories, and focus heavily on the excursion and a bit on Choi and Shin's story. Or alternatively, I would change the title of this story to something along the lines of "The heavily restricted life of North Korea" and focus the story on Choi and Shin's story which I found more interesting than the excursion.
What could the information in this book mean for us? I think the information in this book is trying to bring to light North Korea's heavy censorship, which might actually be a upcoming issue for us too, US trying to ban TikTok for its relations to China for example, which in turn the US hopes for citizens to move onto American platforms such as Meta, but in a surprising turn, people actually started moving to Red Note, another Chinese social media app. Another topic could be propaganda. North Korea regularly feeds its citizens propaganda representing America as a monster, which isn't far off from how America is trying to subtly represent China as anti-American.
Who might be interested in this book? Well, if you're into North Korea, travelling and stories, this might be for you. But if not, I recommend not bothering as there are better books on North Korea such as "Escape from camp 14".
A quote from this book: "Even a powerful illusion has its limits".
April 14, 2015
En svårbeskrivbar bok: en reseskildring av en gruppresa till Nordkorea där man samtidigt får lära sig mycket om landets och regionens historia, och som även innehåller berättelse om hur Nordkorea på 70-talet kidnappade ett sydkoreanskt filmstjärnepar för att göra film i Nordkorea.
Det är som en resa till Alice i Underlandet, både vad gäller landet Nordkorea och personerna som är med på den där bussen, allt ifrån en tonårspojke som är fanatiskt intresserad av Nordkorea, till ett gäng unga män från Bromma som har gjort det till en grej att besöka udda och makabra resmål.
Som sagt, svårbeskrivbar bok, men jag tycker att det här citatet beskriver känslan i boken på ett väldigt bra sätt och varför jag bara var tvungen att fortsätta läsa:
Den kvinnliga guiden i brun uniform och skärmmössa talar till oss genom megafon. Hon sveper med armen och säger att bergstopparna på det heliga revolutionära berget alltid är snötäckta. När vi pekar på bergen och säger till guiden att de faktiskt inte är snötäckta, tittar hon snett förbi oss och upprepar orden: ”Bergstopparna på det heliga revolutionära berget är alltid snötäckta.”
Det är som en resa till Alice i Underlandet, både vad gäller landet Nordkorea och personerna som är med på den där bussen, allt ifrån en tonårspojke som är fanatiskt intresserad av Nordkorea, till ett gäng unga män från Bromma som har gjort det till en grej att besöka udda och makabra resmål.
Som sagt, svårbeskrivbar bok, men jag tycker att det här citatet beskriver känslan i boken på ett väldigt bra sätt och varför jag bara var tvungen att fortsätta läsa:
Den kvinnliga guiden i brun uniform och skärmmössa talar till oss genom megafon. Hon sveper med armen och säger att bergstopparna på det heliga revolutionära berget alltid är snötäckta. När vi pekar på bergen och säger till guiden att de faktiskt inte är snötäckta, tittar hon snett förbi oss och upprepar orden: ”Bergstopparna på det heliga revolutionära berget är alltid snötäckta.”
September 23, 2014
An interesting book about a group trip to North Korea. I am very fascinated by the country, even though I know extremely little about it. I think my lack of base knowledge may have made the book harder to follow at times: sometimes I didn't understand why they were going on about japanese movies or I kept confusing events with each other.
But it was still pretty well-written, and we get to follow two parallell stories: the story of the actual trip taken by the authors, and the story about two kidnapped South Korean movie directors and their time spent in the country, between 1967 and 1986. Both are very interesting, although I guess in different ways.
(Not to mention that the tourist group keeps breaking the rules set up by their guide. They mention that "we have nothing to fear, but the guide may end up in a labour camp if he can't control his group". How lovely of them to not give a crap if that dude and his family ends up in those horrible camps as long as they get a cool picture. Really.)
But it was still pretty well-written, and we get to follow two parallell stories: the story of the actual trip taken by the authors, and the story about two kidnapped South Korean movie directors and their time spent in the country, between 1967 and 1986. Both are very interesting, although I guess in different ways.
(Not to mention that the tourist group keeps breaking the rules set up by their guide. They mention that "we have nothing to fear, but the guide may end up in a labour camp if he can't control his group". How lovely of them to not give a crap if that dude and his family ends up in those horrible camps as long as they get a cool picture. Really.)
May 1, 2013
Nordkorea framstår inte just som lättare att förstå efter att ha läst denna bok. Via en hårt kontrollerad gruppresa där kontakten med verkligt folk tycks helt obefintligt ges i sort sett samma bild av Nordkorea som fört fram tidigare. Här finns den absurda kulten av ledare, den paranoida misstänksamheten mot i stort sett alla andra länder, den ödlsliga huvudstaden där vardagslivet tycks utgöras av ett välregisserat skådespel, dom hårt drillade massuppvisningarna. Men också fattigdomen och misären som ständigt tycks kunna anas, trots gruppledarnas desperata försök att hålla Nordkoreas sken uppe. Kidnappningen av Madame Choi och Shin Sang-ok och deras tid som filmskapare i Nordkorea är visserligen intressant, och bisarr nog i sig, men boken tappar lite läsvärde när den glider för långt in i beskrivningen av film i Nordkorea och Sydkorea.
November 1, 2018
This is a couple of tales which are as bizarre as they are unsettling,
as fascinating as they are baffling, as interesting as they are disgusting.
It is three true stories about North Korea.
One being the kidnapping of South Koreas two greatest director, Madame Choi Eun-hee and Mister Shing Sang-ok (who where also at the time former husband and wife) and their story.
The other being a tourist trip to North Korea and the smal spring of a strange, for most of us, alien world with the author himself being one of the "tourist's".
The last one is a brief, but still very helpful, history of the Korean peninsula and North Korea.
It's incredibly well written, well informed book that gives new and thought provoking perspektivs on stories and the medium of film and pop-culture, it's influence, and also how it can be used to influence the public idea of the undying Persona of a great leader.
as fascinating as they are baffling, as interesting as they are disgusting.
It is three true stories about North Korea.
One being the kidnapping of South Koreas two greatest director, Madame Choi Eun-hee and Mister Shing Sang-ok (who where also at the time former husband and wife) and their story.
The other being a tourist trip to North Korea and the smal spring of a strange, for most of us, alien world with the author himself being one of the "tourist's".
The last one is a brief, but still very helpful, history of the Korean peninsula and North Korea.
It's incredibly well written, well informed book that gives new and thought provoking perspektivs on stories and the medium of film and pop-culture, it's influence, and also how it can be used to influence the public idea of the undying Persona of a great leader.
July 26, 2015
An awkward translation and strange structure kept me from ever truly enjoying this book. It's got a great hook - what does North Korea want its visitors to see? - but the book gets bogged down in telling parallel narratives about the international community's relations with North Korea and the experiences of kidnapped filmmakers Madame Choi and Shin Sang-ok. These competing narrative strands serve a laboured attempt to get to a metaphor about the monstrous behaviour of the Kims and the monster film the couple made while imprisoned there. A few interesting moments, but unless you're a completist, go with 'A Kim Jong-Il Production', which covers a lot of the same ground in a much clearer, more engaging way.
July 14, 2015
Saklig och välformulerad bok om Nordkoreas snedvridna populärkultur. Det här är den första boken jag läst om Nordkorea, och den ger mersmak. Att boken har kultur och film som utgångspunkt är särskilt intressant och nydanande. Ämnen som behandlas är filmens betydelse för nationens identitet, ex-presidentens barnsliga förtjusning i sydkoreansk och japansk kultur och kidnappningen av två sydkoreanska filmskapare. Hade ingen aning om hur viktig kulturen var för att upprätthålla det politiska systemet.
Är inte helt såld på hur den byggdes upp, men när den var bra var den jävligt bra, språket helt utsökt och analyserna skarpa.
Är inte helt såld på hur den byggdes upp, men när den var bra var den jävligt bra, språket helt utsökt och analyserna skarpa.
October 18, 2017
I would actually give this more of a 3.5-3.9. The book generally follows two threads: reporting from the authors' eight-day tour in North Korea; and the story of the 1978 kidnapping of a South Korean film star and director so they could make movies for Kim Jong-Il. The narration jumped around quite a bit, but with material that was invariably interesting: historical facts about North Korea; more modern geo-political events; and odd pieces of cultural/social context. In short, a very readable book about a head-twistingly strange country. If you know nothing about North Korea and want a quick and entertaining overview, this is your book.
November 4, 2015
Polveileva teos, joka kuvaa osaltaan ryhmämatkan kulkua Pohjois-Koreaan, osaltaan näyttelijä Choi Eun-heen ja ohjaaja Shin Sang-okin tarinaa elokuvien parissa niin Pohjois- kuin Etelä-Koreassakin. Ajoittain teoksessa kuvaillaan myös yleisemmin Koreoiden historiaa - etenkin elokuvien saralta.
Kirjaan on yritetty sisällyttää liian paljon eri aineksia, mikä tekee teoksesta harmillisen sekavan. Kaikki aihepiirit ovat mielenkiintoisia, mutta kokonaisuus kärsii useasta rinnakkaisesta tarinasta.
Kirjaan on yritetty sisällyttää liian paljon eri aineksia, mikä tekee teoksesta harmillisen sekavan. Kaikki aihepiirit ovat mielenkiintoisia, mutta kokonaisuus kärsii useasta rinnakkaisesta tarinasta.
March 19, 2016
A really good book that follows Bartas and his friend on a supervised tour of North Korea. Their story is intertwined with that of a South Korean film star who was kidnapped by North Korea to kickstart the North Korean film industry. A fascinating and enjoyable read about a place that remains locked away from the rest of the world while creating its own histories and ideologies.
August 8, 2011
personlig och lågmäld reportagebok om en resa i ett bisarrt land. tar avstamp i författarnas möte med en filmstjärna vars levnadshistoria tagit henne med våld från syd- till nordkorea och sedan genom avhopp åter till syd och bygger på författarnas och kim jongils filmintresse.
April 11, 2012
Intressant bok som gav lite mersmak av att läsa mer om Nordkorea. Inte jätteförtjust i upplägget av hur just denna bok skrivits, utan som sagt den stora behållningen är den fakta som framkommer rörande detta mystiska land.
March 21, 2015
Suljettu Pohjois-Korea kiinnostaa. Tämä turistimatkan ympärille koottu sekavanoloinen kuvaus ei sytyttänyt. En vaan jaksanut kiinnostua eteläkorealaisen filmitähden ja hänen ohjaajamiehensä tarinasta, jonka kirjoittajat yrittävät nivoa samaan pakettiin matkakertomuksensa ja Korea-tietouden lomaan.
April 21, 2015
Till en början kändes det mest som en reseskildringsblogg men utvecklades efter hand till en alltmer flersidig analys av den nordkoreanska identiteten och mytbildningen.
March 31, 2014
Intressant Nordekorea resereportage och skildring av en känd Sydkoreanskfilmskapares möte med norr.
September 15, 2015
It was a very good book indeed.
January 1, 2016
Nopealukuinen synteesi yhdistää Korean niemimaan historiaa, kidnapattuja elokuvantekijöitä ja matkakertomusta.
November 11, 2016
A great introduction to the strange country of North Korea
June 19, 2017
Definitely learned a lot more about North Korea than I had known before (which was basically zero). I like the authors' approachable style, and that they're writing from a non-American point of view.
March 29, 2018
Rating 3.5
August 24, 2018
Upplägget att beskriva alla detaljer som sker på en 8-dagars resa till Nordkorea tycker jag var tråkig. Det finns bättre Nordkorea-böcker man kan läsa.
June 13, 2023
4.0/5
Very wonderful and depth to tone english translation from the Swedish one as they are talking ahout the true colors of tourism and living cost around DPRK's isolated socialist nation, as I'm herited for this curiousity that I picked this up to read about whaylt it had truly describes as pooor socialist country, as the Politburo's assest to strict control over tourist, media and very heavy propaganda, nice written statements around the accounts from Russians and Europeans excursionating around ....
Very wonderful and depth to tone english translation from the Swedish one as they are talking ahout the true colors of tourism and living cost around DPRK's isolated socialist nation, as I'm herited for this curiousity that I picked this up to read about whaylt it had truly describes as pooor socialist country, as the Politburo's assest to strict control over tourist, media and very heavy propaganda, nice written statements around the accounts from Russians and Europeans excursionating around ....
January 13, 2021
Helt ok som en reseskildring kompletterad med fakta och intervjuer. För en bättre bild av nordkoreaners liv bakom kulisserna rekommenderar jag Demicks "Inget att avundas". Det är fascinerande med ett land så absurt att det är svårt att begripa hur det alls kan existera.
December 29, 2016
Intressant om Nordkorea, men inte alls i klass med andra Nordkorea-böcker (t ex Demick, Inget att avundas - läs den istället om du bara läser en...)
July 25, 2025
Intressant om än åldrad skildring av världens mest kanske uppochnervända land
August 10, 2016
Most incredible part is about how only five haircuts are allowed.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews