The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag

The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag
by Chol-hwan Kang, Pierre Rigoulot

The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag
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Book Summary Information

Author: Chol-hwan Kang, Pierre Rigoulot
Edition: Paperback
Published: 2005-08-23
ISBN: 0465011047
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Basic Books

Book Reviews of The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag

Book Review: A heartwrenching story of survival
Summary: 5 Stars

Not since Night (Oprah's Book Club) by Elie Wiesel have I read such a grippng story of a child's survival in the face of unspeakable cruelty & human suffering. Kang Chol-Hwan spent ten years in North Korea's infamous Yodok prison camp. After an alledged infidelity to communist party ideals by his grandfather, Chol-Hwan and his family were sent to the camp in the late 1970s when the boy was only nine years old. There he witnessed torture, suffering & death on a daily basis; seeing neighbors starve to death was a commonplace occurence. The courage & will to survive displayed by Kang Chol-Hwan in the face of such unimaginable horror is remarkable, although the experience did leave lasting emotional scars:

"I think the camp also changed me psychologically. As a child, I was outgoing and restless. When people meet me today, they find me reserved & somewhat distant. Growing up in the camp made me shut myself off from the world. I learned about suffering and hunger, violence and murder. For a long time I was angry at my grandfather. Only around 1983 did I begin to realize that not he but rather Kim Il-Sung and his regime were the real causes of my suffering. They were the ones responsible for the camp and for filling it with innocent people. All during my childhood, Kim Il-Sung had been like a god to me. A few years in the camp cured me of my faith. My fellow prisoners and I were the wayward sheep of the revolution, and the Party's way of bringing us back into the fold was to exploit us unto death. The propoganda, which exalted North Korea as the people's corner of paradise, now struck me as revolting."

This book should be read by everyone who needs to be reminded how fragile human rights & personal freedom can be in the face unchecked evil. "The Aquariums of Pyongyang" is destined to become a classic story of the struggle for justice and human dignity. This is a very touching book that cannot possibly leave a reader unmoved. The images created by this book will remain with me for a very long time.

Summary of The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag

North Korea is today one of the last bastions of hard-line Communism. Its leaders have kept a tight grasp on their one-party regime, quashing any nascent opposition movements and sending all suspected dissidents to its brutal concentration camps for "re-education." Kang Chol-hwan is the first survivor of one of these camps to escape and tell his story to the world, documenting the extreme conditions in these gulags and providing a personal insight into life in North Korea. Part horror story, part historical document, part memoir, part political tract, this record of one man's suffering gives eyewitness proof to an ongoing sorrowful chapter of modern history. New edition with a new preface by the author.

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