“European who served for many years as a diplomat in Pyongyang, with postings there off and on from the 1970s into the 1990s, likened North Korea to a Catholic state in the Middle Ages. He estimated that around 90 percent… — Bradley K. Martin Copy Share Image
“In North Korea a person has two lives, natural and political. But once you get sent to a prison camp your political life is over and you have only your natural life. You’re nothing, an animal, a savage. The guards… — Bradley K. Martin Copy Share Image
“In Hwang’s view, the Pyongyang leadership “used the feudalistic idea of filial piety to justify absolutism of the Great Leader. Filial piety in feudalism demands that children regard their parents as their benefactors and masters because they would not have existed without their parents. Taking care of your parents, the people who gave you life—in other words, being dutiful children—is… — Bradley K. Martin Copy Share
“In the early 1970s the regime dropped a very clear official hint that a close relative would become Kim Il-sung’s successor. The 1970 edition of North Korea’s Dictionary of Political Terminologies had included this critical definition: Hereditary succession is a reactionary custom of exploitative societies whereby certain positions or riches may be legally inherited. Originally a product of slave societies,… — Bradley K. Martin Copy Share
“European who served for many years as a diplomat in Pyongyang, with postings there off and on from the 1970s into the 1990s, likened… — Bradley K. Martin Copy Share Image
“In North Korea a person has two lives, natural and political. But once you get sent to a prison camp your political life is… — Bradley K. Martin Copy Share Image
