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February 2, 2010

Christopher Hitchens on Brian Myers’s “The Cleanest Race”

Hitchens writes: All of us who scrutinize North Korean affairs are preoccupied with one question. Do these slaves really love their chains? The conundrum has several obscene corollaries. The people of that tiny and nightmarish state are not, of course, allowed to make comparisons with the lives of others, and if they complain or offend, they are shunted off to camps that–to judge by the standard of care and nutrition in the “wider” society–must be a living hell excusable only...
Categories Anti-Americanism/Books & Films/Korean Society/Propaganda/Racism
January 30, 2010

Brian Myers Will Do Book Event in D.C.

I may have to find the time to attend this: Brian Myers is coming to The Wilson Center to discuss his new book. I’m going to withhold judgment until I read it. Myers has written much great work about North Korea, the state’s wierd pathology, and the problems with viewing it as merely a Stalinist state, but the thing is, the Great Confiscation looks awfully Stalinist to me, and I’m not yet persuaded why North Korea can’t be both racist...
Categories Books & Films/Racism
January 27, 2010

Must-Read Book Reviews: Hassig and Myers on North Korea

The New York Times has some great book reviews today. One of the titles is Barbara Demick’s “Nothing to Envy,” and two others are of books I’ve been looking forward to reading: “The Hidden People of North Korea” by Kangdan Oh and Ralph Hassig (excerpt here) and “The Cleanest Race” by Brian Myers (excerpt here). I was astonished to read that “Katy” Hassig, a person who is deeply connected and intertwined with Korea policy-making circles in Washington, would nonetheless arrive...
Categories Books & Films
December 30, 2009

Review: Nothing to Envy — Ordinary Lives in North Korea, by Barbara Demick

December 30, 2009:   I’ve been looking forward to this one. It arrived in the mail yesterday afternoon, and I’ll be nibbling away at this a few pages at a time during my commutes, posting short updates as I hit interesting passages (this way, I don’t labor under the guilt of having written nothing about it for weeks if work or family obligations prevent me from finishing it). Having flipped through a few pages, I see a work that sits...
Categories Books & Films/Media Criticism
December 29, 2009

Don Kirk’s Korea Betrayed is changing the way I think about Kim Dae Jung

And unless you already believe that DJ was a closet commie, Korea Betrayed might change the way you think, too. Kirk, whose research of his subject is extensive, describes in detail how in his early life, DJ flirted with a number of leftist political organizations and unions, some of which were also linked to North Korea, but none of those associations necessarily linked DJ to the North Koreans. After all, North Korean troops almost shot DJ in 1950, and only...
Categories Books & Films/Korean History/Uncategorized
December 7, 2009

In the Mail: Korea Betrayed — Kim Dae Jung and Sunshine, by Donald Kirk

Kirk is a good enough friend that I’m pleased and a bit relieved that, so far, Korea Betrayed (available here) is good enough to present no challenge to my objectivity. Because the time I have for reading is so limited, I’ll review this is small increments as I have the opportunity to read a few pages (the last time I was sent a review copy, it took me months to publish my review). The first chapter covers DJ’s origins on...
Categories Books & Films
November 9, 2009

Brookings Event with Kongdan Oh and Ralph Hassig on Tuesday

11/11 Update:   The program audio for this event is now available for free (and FAST) download as an MP3 file.  Just click the event link and look for the “Multimedia Downloads” section. Original Post: Stumbled on this earlier, but was in the middle of something, finally posting it now. It would have been late notice then, but now, oy… Tuesday, November 10th, 10-11:30 a.m. at Brookings in DC there’s what looks to be a very interesting program about a...
Categories Books & Films/Inside NK
October 26, 2009

Interview with the Producer of “Kimjongilia”

The Voice of America interviews Nancy Heiken, producer of the documentary Kimjongilia, about North Korea’s concentration camps. You can see a short video clip here. Personally, however, I’d say the film’s own site does a better job of conveying its artistic theme — contrasting the eerily beautiful illusions of the state against the terrible realities beyond the gauzy backdrops. I’m looking forward to having a chance to see this.
Categories Books & Films/The Camps
October 5, 2009

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, by Barbara Demick

Barbara Demick, the L.A. Times’s excellent correspondent covering North Korea, has written a book about the people that most big media correspondents have dedicated their careers to ignoring. Yet every town in North Korea, no matter how small, has a movie theater, thanks to Kim Jong Il’s conviction that film is an indispensable tool for instilling loyalty in the masses. When Mi-ran was growing up, Hollywood films were banned from North Korea, as were virtually all other foreign films, with...
Categories Books & Films
September 9, 2009

Seoul Train Screening, Weekly Demonstration, LiNK Gala Live Online

For those living in Seoul, a couple events of note.  Thursday, September 10th, 8-10 p.m., there is a screening of Seoul Train near Hapjeong Station (lines 2 & 6), take exit 5 to Yogiga Gallery.  After the documentary, a couple activists from the film will talk.  Translation will be provided, all are encouraged to attend.  (Disclosure – this is being organized by a member of Justice for North Korea, a group of which I am an active member.  We don’t...
Categories Activism/Books & Films/Human Rights
January 27, 2009

‘Kimjongilia,’ The Movie

A new documentary will play at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and this is one that I’m going to be watching very carefully: “Kimjongilia.” The film is about North Korea and those who have escaped it, their tortuous flights, and their often equally tortuous deprogramming as they adapt to life on Earth. The film’s subject matter focus is on the concentration camps, and the astonishment of the Director, N.C. Heikin, that world opinion has not arisen in outrage against them....
Categories Activism/Books & Films/Human Rights/Refugees/The Camps
December 5, 2008

Book Review: Escaping North Korea, by Mike Kim

[By Guest Blogger, Dan Bielefeld] A couple months ago I saw something about a new book by a Korean American who had lived in China for four years helping North Koreans.  This really caught my attention — I’ve heard of such people but I don’t know a lot about them since most of their work is done in secret.  To pique my interest a bit further, he’s from the same part of the country I am (he’s from Chicago, I’m...
Categories Activism/Books & Films/China/Refugees
September 18, 2007

Q&A With Professor Andrei Lankov: On Changing North Korea

[OFK:  This post is a follow-up Q&A to my review of Professor Andrei Lankov’s new book, “.”  Prof. Lankov is a lecturer at the Australian National University, now on leave and teaching at Kookmin University.  You  can see more of  Prof. Lankov’s  books here, and you can find plenty more of his work linked on this blog.  Two of his more notable recent  articles include “The Natural Death of North Korean Stalinism” and “How to Topple Kim Jong Il.”]  ...
Categories Books & Films/Deprogramming
September 16, 2007

Review: ‘North of the DMZ,’ by Andrei Lankov

[Update:    I’ve since received some responses to specific questions  I asked  Prof. Lankov, so  the discussion should begin either later  tonight or tomorrow AM, depending on other stuff I need to do first.]   I first read Andrei Lankov’s work when  both of us were  blogging on NKZone, through his  columns in the Korea Times,  and through his  more recent scholarly works.  I imagine that most readers have also read something of those works. The first time I met...
Categories Books & Films/Inside NK
August 24, 2007

“Famine in North Korea”: An Interactive Review (3 of 3)

[OFK:  In this post, Marcus Noland and Stephan Haggard respond to  Part 1 and Part 2 of my  review of their book, “Famine in North Korea:  Markets, Aid, and Reform.”] Josh Stanton has written by far the most thoughtful and cogent analysis of Famine in North Korea that we have seen to date. Stanton’s review is generous, but also raises important questions about virtually all elements of our analysis. In the interest of furthering both scholarly and policy debate, we...
Categories Books & Films/Famine & Food Aid
August 23, 2007

“Famine in North Korea:” An Interactive Review (2 of 3)

[Part I is here.]   IV.  Aid We will probably never know how many people died in North Korea’s last Great Famine, but can we prevent the next one?  This regime  seems so  indifferent to the suffering of its people — even  determined to perpetuate it — that well-meaning aid agencies have  been forced to compromise basic humanitarian norms.  Those compromises are understandable, but the standards were meant to keep food from being used as a political weapon.  The compromises...
Categories Books & Films/Famine & Food Aid