North of the Dmz: Essays on Daily Life in North Korea
by Andrei Lankov
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Book Summary Information
Author: Andrei LankovEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-04-24
ISBN: 0786428392
Number of pages: 358
Publisher: McFarland & Company
Book Reviews of North of the Dmz: Essays on Daily Life in North Korea
Book Review: Daily life in the land of "Dear Leader"
Summary: 5 Stars
Andrei Lankov has spent his career studying North Korea, beginning as an exchange student in Pyongyang, and more recently, interviewing numerous defectors. As a Russian, Lankov is in a position to make observations that would escape other observers, namely the parallels with Stalinist Russia. Indeed, the author says that the Kim dynasty has created a caricature of Stalinism that even the Soviet leaders regarded as a laughingstock.
Lankov's book examines daily life in North Korea. Most of its essays focus on minutiae, such as the architectural layout of high-rise apartment buildings and the design of its currency, while a few essays cover more substantial matters, such as the North Korean kidnappings of other countries' citizens, and the attempts to murder South Korean leaders. This book is for those who have already read something about North Korea and want to know more. What is it like to live in the world's most oppressive society?
This book is filled with interesting tidbits. If you're a North Korean, you can expect to change clothes once a week and get a bath every two weeks(!). To have a bathtub or shower in one's apartment is a rare luxury reserved for the elite; others must go to crowded bathhouses. Basic hygiene becomes a luxury.
In no way is this an egalitarian society; it consists of clearly delineated strata based on genealogy and occupation, in which the highest tranche enjoys unparalleled luxury while the bottom level faces chronic malnutrition, if not outright starvation. Of the population, 1/20th has been in a prison camp at some point in their lives, and some die slow deaths in those camps due to starvation and overwork. The largest prison camps are veritable cities with 50,000 inmates.
If there is a flaw, it's that the writing seems excessively informal. The writing is peppered with exclamation marks. Because the book consists of essays that Lankov had written for other media outlets, some essays repeat material in earlier essays. (Was there an editor?) The author's use of the word "lefties" speaks for itself. Indeed, one of Lankov's pet peeves is that human rights abuses in North Korea get insufficient media attention because such criticism is unfashionable at the moment, and draws a parallel with how "lefties" were once enamored with Maoist China.
Lankov assumes a "hard landing" is around the corner (i.e., a collapse of North Korean society rather than gradual reform). If so, it will be far more traumatic than the collapse of other Communist regimes, and the burden on South Korea will be unfathomable, straining that nation to the breaking point. However, analysts have been anticipating the collapse of the North Korean regime for decades, and it hasn't happened yet despite famines coupled with oppression surpassing Stalin's policies. Lankov argues the free flow of information across the Chinese-North Korean border, previously an impermeable barrier, will lead to the regime's collapse.
Summary of North of the Dmz: Essays on Daily Life in North Korea
The Kim dynasty has ruled North Korea for over 60 years. Most of that period has found the country suffering under mature Stalinism characterized by manipulation, brutality and tight social control. Nevertheless, some citizens of Kim Jong Il's regime manage to transcend his tyranny in their daily existence.This book describes that difficult but determined existence and the world that the North Koreans have created for themselves in the face of oppression. Many features of this world are unique and even bizarre. But they have been created by the citizens to reflect their own ideas and values, in sharp contrast to the world forced upon them by a totalitarian system.
Opening chapters introduce the political system and the extent to which it permeates citizens' daily lives, from the personal status badges they wear to the nationalized distribution of the food they eat. Chapters discussing the schools, the economic system, and family life dispel the myth of the workers' paradise that North Korea attempts to perpetuate. In these chapters the intricacies of daily life in a totalitarian dictatorship are seen through the eyes of defectors whose anecdotes constitute an important portion of the material. The closing chapter treats at length the significant changes that have taken place in North Korea over the last decade, concluding that these changes will lead to the quiet but inevitable death of North Korean Stalinism.
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