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The Hidden People of North Korea: Everyday Life in the Hermit Kingdom
This unique book provides a comprehensive overview of all aspects of life in North Korea today. Drawing on decades of experience, noted experts Ralph Hassig and Kongdan Oh explore a world few outsiders can imagine. In vivid detail, the authors describe how the secretive and authoritarian government of Kim Jong-il shapes every aspect of its citizens' lives, how the command socialist economy has utterly failed, and how ordinary individuals struggle to survive through small-scale capitalism. Weighing the very limited individual rights allowed, the authors illustrate how the political class system and the legal system serve solely as tools of the regime.
The key to understanding how the North Korean people live, the authors argue, is to realize that their only allowed role is to support Kim Jong-il, whose father founded the country in the late 1940s. An intelligent and experienced dictator, Kim controls his people by keeping them isolated and banning most foreigners. This control has loosened slightly since the late 1990s, but North Koreans remain hungry and oppressed. Yet the outside world is slowly filtering in, and the book concludes by urging the United States to flood North Korea with information so that its people can make decisions based on truth rather than their dictator's ubiquitous propaganda.
The key to understanding how the North Korean people live, the authors argue, is to realize that their only allowed role is to support Kim Jong-il, whose father founded the country in the late 1940s. An intelligent and experienced dictator, Kim controls his people by keeping them isolated and banning most foreigners. This control has loosened slightly since the late 1990s, but North Koreans remain hungry and oppressed. Yet the outside world is slowly filtering in, and the book concludes by urging the United States to flood North Korea with information so that its people can make decisions based on truth rather than their dictator's ubiquitous propaganda.
296 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
July 31, 2010
I was on a kick of reading books about North Korea this year. This one will probably be the last for a while.
While the others I read were a poignant memoir and a collection of personal stories pulled together for a journalist, Hidden People of North Korea reads more like an extended white paper or briefing document. It's interesting, and if you were going to be writing a paper about North Korea for a class, you'd definitely want to consult this book, especially for it's currency, but it's pretty dry.
The arguments are also strangely personal at times. Not in the way that it would be unnatural for someone to dislike the Kim regime (who doesn't?), but there is a certain lack of remove that is weird, especially in a work that is based more on facts than personal experience.
If you want personal stories, check out The Aquariums of Pyongyang or Nothing to Envy .
While the others I read were a poignant memoir and a collection of personal stories pulled together for a journalist, Hidden People of North Korea reads more like an extended white paper or briefing document. It's interesting, and if you were going to be writing a paper about North Korea for a class, you'd definitely want to consult this book, especially for it's currency, but it's pretty dry.
The arguments are also strangely personal at times. Not in the way that it would be unnatural for someone to dislike the Kim regime (who doesn't?), but there is a certain lack of remove that is weird, especially in a work that is based more on facts than personal experience.
If you want personal stories, check out The Aquariums of Pyongyang or Nothing to Envy .
September 20, 2018
This book is a better introductory book to North Korea and the Kim Dynasty than other books I've read, but it's also a bit duller than the other books I've read. Unfortunately, it was published in 2009, which actually makes it pretty outdated. I would still recommend it for true beginners who want a general overview of the country.
June 16, 2010
The book was very interesting and I would have rated it one star higher if I thought the subject matter were something that everyone would be interested in or if I thought potential readers would more appreciate the writing style. Though the book purports to focus on the people of North Korea, it can't help but contain details about Kim Jong-il, around whom the whole of society revolves. Most of the book, however, does focus on the proletariat, and how they struggle to lead their lives on a day-to-day basis. The details are mostly believable, even if they're cobbled together from the corroborated testimony of defectors and religious/aid groups, each of which have an agenda. Save for a couple of minor instances, the authors (a married couple that includes a South Korean national and an American) steer clear of writing opinions and adhere mostly to facts (to the extent they can be verified). I would recommend the book to anyone interested in North Korea, or even someone with a casual interest about life in the world's last, most authentic Stalinist-style communist dictatorship.
May 26, 2013
In reading The Hidden People of North Korea I learned that samizdat is Russian for clandestinely printed and distributed government-suppressed literature. Also, that North Korea has found success exporting animated films; but unfortunately the authors Hassig and Oh provided no details (I found this clip using Wikipedia and YouTube, apparently it's a joint venture between North and South Korea? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4TC9H...).
I'm hard-pressed to come up with other positive feedback. This book came across as incredibly dry, and at times pedantic; after describing the Kimilsungia Festival based on a flower cultivated in Indonesia as a gift to the Kim regime and that of the Kimjongilia Festival based similarly on a flower from Japan, the authors then overstate the obvious "the point of these cult displays honoring the two Kims is not to exhibit flowers but to show how much the people and the international community worship North Korea's leaders." It's as if they're unaware that the rest of the world is already in on the Kim joke (Team America World Police, hello?).
After fully establishing how boring North Korean propaganda filled newspapers are (so boring that the North Koreans don't even pay attention to them), the authors then quote from them verbatim for the next several pages. Meanwhile, information that I find interesting is not presented enough in depth. From pg 158, "like soldiers, students are prohibited from marrying, and also like soldiers they resort to secret love affairs". But they don't even have medicine, how can they have contraceptives or abortions? Drugs and STDs are mentioned only in passing, so I wonder what element of the population is affected, and who can afford to buy drugs, and who is selling it to them? The last chapter is very aptly titled, "The End Comes Slowly".
I'm hard-pressed to come up with other positive feedback. This book came across as incredibly dry, and at times pedantic; after describing the Kimilsungia Festival based on a flower cultivated in Indonesia as a gift to the Kim regime and that of the Kimjongilia Festival based similarly on a flower from Japan, the authors then overstate the obvious "the point of these cult displays honoring the two Kims is not to exhibit flowers but to show how much the people and the international community worship North Korea's leaders." It's as if they're unaware that the rest of the world is already in on the Kim joke (Team America World Police, hello?).
After fully establishing how boring North Korean propaganda filled newspapers are (so boring that the North Koreans don't even pay attention to them), the authors then quote from them verbatim for the next several pages. Meanwhile, information that I find interesting is not presented enough in depth. From pg 158, "like soldiers, students are prohibited from marrying, and also like soldiers they resort to secret love affairs". But they don't even have medicine, how can they have contraceptives or abortions? Drugs and STDs are mentioned only in passing, so I wonder what element of the population is affected, and who can afford to buy drugs, and who is selling it to them? The last chapter is very aptly titled, "The End Comes Slowly".
May 9, 2012
This is an excellent book about the history of North Korea, especially in the last 20 years. Prior to reading this, I was unaware about how the people in this country were managing to survive, with food in short supply.
November 30, 2024
I’ve read many “factual” yet heavily opinionated books about the Kim regime and yet this one stands apart as one I find rather intriguing.
If you can discipline yourself to read an insane amount of statistics and research packed into a relatively small book, (with little emphasis on being entertaining) this is a great read.
Personally I loved that this book was published in 2009 and makes you feel a bit oddly like a time traveler seeing history through someone else’s eyes. I was HEAVILY skeptical of “suggested policies” until I read them and was reasonably surprised that I leaned more towards agreeing with them than not.
Those who think the book has personal and even passive aggressive undertones would be entirely correct. Those who hate those undertones simply do not understand how it is to know your family is stuck in North Korea with little to no hope of ever reuniting.
A factual book tinted ever so softly by grief and love, true “seeking to do what is BEST not what is EASY” love for the North Korean people. This book broke my heart, gave incredible insight into the workings of a socialist nightmare, and gave a small hope for the future of North Korea.
If you can discipline yourself to read an insane amount of statistics and research packed into a relatively small book, (with little emphasis on being entertaining) this is a great read.
Personally I loved that this book was published in 2009 and makes you feel a bit oddly like a time traveler seeing history through someone else’s eyes. I was HEAVILY skeptical of “suggested policies” until I read them and was reasonably surprised that I leaned more towards agreeing with them than not.
Those who think the book has personal and even passive aggressive undertones would be entirely correct. Those who hate those undertones simply do not understand how it is to know your family is stuck in North Korea with little to no hope of ever reuniting.
A factual book tinted ever so softly by grief and love, true “seeking to do what is BEST not what is EASY” love for the North Korean people. This book broke my heart, gave incredible insight into the workings of a socialist nightmare, and gave a small hope for the future of North Korea.
May 14, 2017
The book is very informative (it's interesting to read about the media, literature or employment system in DPRK), but the title is quite misleading. In the biggest part the book described politics and only two chapters were about people. Even those described rather society from the statistical point of view and the result is very impersonal. The last chapter on what should USA do to solve the Korean crisis reminds a high school essay and results immature and megalomaniac.
September 4, 2020
Difficult to rate this book since it was written in 2009 and I am reading it in 2020 but I think it is worth reading now and would have definitely been worth reading back in 2009.
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January 7, 2025A bit outdated in 2025...
April 5, 2013
If you know me, you know my fascination with all things North. North Korea that is. This book is an excellent diatribe on the many, many problems facing North Korea, the least of which seems to be their move from Stalinist socialism. The author argues that their Juche methodology never allowed them to fully reap any benefits socialism provides, because they are so focused on maintaining the cult of personality surrounding Kim Jong Il.
Now, that being said, the book is somewhat outdated. With Kim Jong Un rising to power (currently moving missiles as we speak) there are a few parts of the book that are not as "powerful" as they could have been, had I read the book in 1999 or 2000. And, since the book does focus on the cult of the Kim family, it is lacking in what individual North Koreans think/feel, but honestly in the hermit kingdom, one cannot expect to know about the day to day lives of "typical" members of society. However, with interviews from high ranking defectors, you do get an intimate glimpse of his wants/needs and how incredibly removed from his countrymen they are.
Now, that being said, the book is somewhat outdated. With Kim Jong Un rising to power (currently moving missiles as we speak) there are a few parts of the book that are not as "powerful" as they could have been, had I read the book in 1999 or 2000. And, since the book does focus on the cult of the Kim family, it is lacking in what individual North Koreans think/feel, but honestly in the hermit kingdom, one cannot expect to know about the day to day lives of "typical" members of society. However, with interviews from high ranking defectors, you do get an intimate glimpse of his wants/needs and how incredibly removed from his countrymen they are.
May 2, 2016
Reading this book you would have thought this originally started as a book focused solely on the fledgling capitalism in North Korea, rather than a look at her people.
You end up only learning about the North Korean people themselves for three chapters near the end before it again returns to talking about the market economy, with very little about the problems in it (such as rivalries between market stall owners turning to murder, adulterated food products killing customers, fences, or selling out rival market people to the police, or the host of other problems which aren't government involved). The authors are far too busy telling you how wonderful this small economy is and how it can save North Koreans from the Evils of Socialism.
If you want a book about the economic situation of North Korea, the weird capitalist market economy, and the Kims, in an exceptionally dry prose more suitable for a journal on world economics, this is the book for you! If you want a book about North Korean people, look somewhere else.
You end up only learning about the North Korean people themselves for three chapters near the end before it again returns to talking about the market economy, with very little about the problems in it (such as rivalries between market stall owners turning to murder, adulterated food products killing customers, fences, or selling out rival market people to the police, or the host of other problems which aren't government involved). The authors are far too busy telling you how wonderful this small economy is and how it can save North Koreans from the Evils of Socialism.
If you want a book about the economic situation of North Korea, the weird capitalist market economy, and the Kims, in an exceptionally dry prose more suitable for a journal on world economics, this is the book for you! If you want a book about North Korean people, look somewhere else.
July 31, 2011
They teach the school children songs about crushing the American Bastards. The government claims that they are receiving tribute from US in the form of rice; what we say we are sending as humanitarian aid. And more bad crazyness.
Sometimes awkwardly written, yet full of amazing observations, based on carefully collated interviews and surveys of defectors.
Sometimes awkwardly written, yet full of amazing observations, based on carefully collated interviews and surveys of defectors.
Read
May 21, 2010Chilling account of how Kim Jong-il, dictator of North Korea, isolates and controls every aspect of his citizens' lives.
"We must envelope our environment in a dense fog to prevent our enemies from learning anything about us." -Kim Jong-il
"We must envelope our environment in a dense fog to prevent our enemies from learning anything about us." -Kim Jong-il
July 24, 2011
This book has a lot of interesting information but it is dry and hard to read. Its definitely more of a text book. They have lots of facts and figures and compliments other book when trying to get the full picture of a land that is so different.
April 3, 2012
The writing style was a bit academic and a bit dry, but the authors provided excellent arguments for why the Kim regime in North Korea has remained so stable and why there has been no real attempt to overthrow it. An excellent description of life in North Korea.
April 30, 2010
Lots of good information. Extremely dry. I don't recommend this unless you need to write a research paper on North Korea. For pleasure, there are much better alternatives.
May 25, 2010
An interesting read for somebody without much knowledge on the subject.
July 17, 2011
While this is a very important subject and the book is well-researched, it read a bit too much like a textbook to be thoroughly enjoyable to me.
July 30, 2011
Don't make waves if you
Are in North Korea, but
Do grow your own food.
Are in North Korea, but
Do grow your own food.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews