North Korean defectors often find it hard to settle down. It is not easy for somebody who’s escaped a totalitarian country to live in the free world. Defectors have to rediscover who they are in a world that offers endless… — Barbara Demick Copy Share Image
North Korea invites parody. We laugh at the excesses of the propaganda and the gullibility of the people. But consider that their indoctrination began in infancy, during the fourteen-hour days spent in factory day-care centers; that for the subsequent fifty… — Barbara Demick Copy Share Image
A North Korean soldier would later recall a buddy who had been given an American-made nail clipper and was showing it off to his… — Barbara Demick Copy Share Image
“While the Chinese Red Guard also rooted out “capitalist roaders” during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, it resulted in a chaotic… — Barbara Demick Copy Share Image
“Chang-bo took to his bed, or rather to the quilts on the floor that was all they had left. His legs swelled up like… — Barbara Demick Copy Share Image
“He was polite, respectful, not daring even to hold Mi-ran’s hand until they’d been dating for three years.” — Barbara Demick Copy Share Image
“As she sat alone in the apartment, the enormity of it all started to sink in. Any hope that the North Korean regime might… — Barbara Demick Copy Share Image
“The more there was to complain about, the more important it was to ensure that nobody did.” — Barbara Demick Copy Share Image
“It is axiomatic that one death is a tragedy, a thousand is a statistic. So it was for Mi-ran. What she didn't realize is… — Barbara Demick Copy Share Image
“Kim Il-sung had promised North Koreans three bowls of rice every day. Rice, especially white rice, was a luxury in North Korea. It was… — Barbara Demick Copy Share Image
“Chinese Red Guard also rooted out “capitalist roaders” during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, it resulted in a chaotic reign of… — Barbara Demick Copy Share Image
“It is worth noting here how extraordinary it was for anyone to be homeless in North Korea. This was, after all, the country that… — Barbara Demick Copy Share Image
“Supervisors routinely fabricated statistics on agricultural production and industrial output because they were so fearful of telling their own bosses the truth. Lies were… — Barbara Demick Copy Share Image
