There is one serious error of interpretation in your review: the implication that starving people rebel. You wonder why the starving North Koreans did not revolt against the monstrous entity that pretended to govern them. As a matter of fact, historically, the very opposite is the case. Revolts and revolutions tend to happen when groups and classes are growing in power and prosperity and feel constricted, not when they are starving. Ireland did not revolt in 1845, but in 1798 and in 1916. Starvation is the wisest and most successful tool of tyranny; no wonder that Hitler, Lenin and Stalin used it systematically. The reason why the Communist government did not fall within a few years of its takeover of Russia - apart from the military genius of Trotsky, alas - was that it was busy from the beginning starving the population; by 1919, the desperate famine of Russia was notorious all over the West, yet Lenin obstinately - and wisely, from his point of view - resisted any attempt at organized Western relief. And as for the North
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Well, I couldn't address everything in my review. Those things are covered in the book, of course.
I wasn't wondering why the starving population didn't rebel. I understand that phenomenon well enough. My observation was that the defectors who made it out and now knew the truth still often felt vestigial loyalty to North Korea, and even a desire to return.
In some cases this was because, as Demick points out, many of them thought that Kim Jung Il's regime was on its last legs and that they'd soon be able to return to a different country.
Others react with the natural defensiveness all people feel for their own, the phenomenon of knowing perfectly well how screwed-up your own family is but even though you know that Uncle Bob is a lousy drunken creep, you'll get pissed off when an outsider says it.
Still, there were many heartbreaking ironies in the book illustrating just how deeply the North Koreans have been inculcated in the philosophy of Juche. My impression is that while East Germans for the most part knew they were living in a
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This is also covered in the book. North Korea was more prosperous than South Korea until the 70s. But this was solely due to their massive subsidization by China and the Soviet Union, who basically gave them everything from food to industrial equipment to technology.
When the USSR collapsed, and China began to find North Korea an embarrassing crazy neighbor on their border that they wished they could be rid of, the money stopped flowing and that led directly to the famine of the 90s. Meanwhile, South Korea continued to become more democratic and more prosperous.
But you're right that the view the North Koreans have of the world still dates back to the 60s.
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I wasn't wondering why the starving population didn't rebel. I understand that phenomenon well enough. My observation was that the defectors who made it out and now knew the truth still often felt vestigial loyalty to North Korea, and even a desire to return.
In some cases this was because, as Demick points out, many of them thought that Kim Jung Il's regime was on its last legs and that they'd soon be able to return to a different country.
Others react with the natural defensiveness all people feel for their own, the phenomenon of knowing perfectly well how screwed-up your own family is but even though you know that Uncle Bob is a lousy drunken creep, you'll get pissed off when an outsider says it.
Still, there were many heartbreaking ironies in the book illustrating just how deeply the North Koreans have been inculcated in the philosophy of Juche. My impression is that while East Germans for the most part knew they were living in a ( ... )
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When the USSR collapsed, and China began to find North Korea an embarrassing crazy neighbor on their border that they wished they could be rid of, the money stopped flowing and that led directly to the famine of the 90s. Meanwhile, South Korea continued to become more democratic and more prosperous.
But you're right that the view the North Koreans have of the world still dates back to the 60s.
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