The Aquariums Of Pyongyang

"Destined to become a classic" (Iris Chang, author of The Rape of Nanking), this harrowing memoir of life inside North Korea was the first account to emerge from the notoriously secretive country -- and it remains one of the most terrifying. Amid escalating nuclear tensions, Kim Jong-un and North Korea's other leaders have kept a tight grasp on their one-party state, 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. Sent to the notorious labor camp Yodok when he was nine years old, Kang observed frequent public executions and endured forced labor and near-starvation rations for ten years. In 1992, he escaped to South Korea, where he found God and now advocates for human rights in North Korea. Part horror story, part historical document, part memoir, part political tract, this book brings together unassailable firsthand experience, setting one young man's personal suffering in the wider context of modern history, giving eyewitness proof to the abuses perpetrated by the North Korean regime.

Kang Chol-hwan grew up in North Korean labour camps and escaped to South Korea to document his personal life as a testimonial to the hardships and atrocities that still constitute the lives of several hundred thousand people living in the gulag today.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 In the 1960s, North Korea’s disaster was not yet on the horizon. In economic terms, the country was neck and neck with the South, and in Pyongyang, the regime’s privileged showcase, it seemed the Party’s talk of triumph and promise might actually be true. #2 I had fond memories of my time at the School of the People, a grammar school in Pyongyang. Despite their adherence to communist educational methods, almost all the teachers were attentive and patient with their pupils. #3 In North Korea, the education of the revolution’s soldiers was a top priority. We were taught about the morals of communism and the history of the Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il regime. We were never asked to do anything too difficult. #4 My family was better off than most, living in a newly built neighborhood that was exceptionally quiet and verdant. We had a refrigerator, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, and a color television set.

1977, Pyongyang, capitale de la Corée du Nord. Kang Chol-hwan vit avec sa famille dans un quartier aisé de la ville. Il a neuf ans. A l'école, on lui explique que le Grand Leader assure la puissance et l'autonomie du pays contre les "marionnettes impérialistes de Séoul". Ses grands-parents sont favorables au régime de Kim II-sung ; le grand-père a même légué sa fortune au Parti du travail. Pourtant, le vieil homme disparaît. Peu après, le reste de la famille est arrêté et interné au camp de Yodok, sans explication. Commence alors un calvaire qui durera dix ans, le temps de l'adolescence pour Kang Chol-hwan. Animé par une colère qui ne l'a jamais quitté, il fait le terrible récit de l'enfer organisé. Enfants ou adultes, tous sont soumis au même régime : travail forcé, surveillance continue, bourrage de crâne, humiliation systématique, punitions sauvages... Mais aussi la faim, le froid et leur cortège de maladies. C'est, en Occident, le premier témoignage sur l'univers concentrationnaire nord-coréen, les coulisses du décor ubuesque et mensonger planté par un Etat mégalomane et tyrannique. Alors que la misère et la corruption rongent ce dernier bastion du stalinisme, Kang Chol-hwan dénonce d'une voix simple et intransigeante les méfaits d'une propagande cramponnée à une idéologie meurtrière.

The last ten years have witnessed an enormous growth in American interest in Asia and Asian/American history. In particular, a set of key Asian historical moments have recently become the subject of intense American cultural scrutiny, namely China’s Cultural Revolution and its aftermath; the Korean American war and its legacy; the era of Japanese geisha culture and its subsequent decline; and China’s one-child policy and the rise of transracial, international adoption in its wake. Grice examines and accounts for this cultural and literary preoccupation, exploring the corresponding historical-political situations that have both circumscribed and enabled greater cultural and political contact between Asia and America.

This book explores the roots of reverence and admiration expressed by many distinguished Western intellectuals for ruthless dictators.

Describes Kim Jong Il's rise to power in North Korea and how his strict policies have contributed to devastating famine, the slaughter of many North Koreans, and the isolation of North Korea from the world.