North of the DMZ: Essays on Daily Life in North Korea

Let’s be clear from the start that this is a compilation of articles written for periodicals, and as such it suffers from a certain ‘jerkiness’ as the subject is constantly changing. Plus we also get more than a little repetition, as, for instance, a term is (once more) defined for a presumed new reader. Further, there are inconsistencies since it seems that as new data became available numbers might change; see the number of deaths from the 1990’s famine for example. Suffice to say, it could have been improved by a more attentive editor. Add to that, the photos are often not very clear; certainly not pro-quality. And then my (used) copy came with marginal notes; not as advertised.It is certainly worth the read regardless.I’ve read some few books on the subject of North Korea, but there seems to be a serious disconnect between them.Some claim that we in the west are misled; that the lives of those in North Korea are not drastically different from those who live in the westernized nations of Asia.Others are clear regarding how the population of NK is mistreated by the government and how the NK people manage to live their lives as a result of, and in spite of, that mistreatment. Lankov is no apologist for the disaster known as North Korea.Lankov is a survivor of the disaster known as the USSR. He, tellingly, takes the western left to task for its fashion of propagandizing in support of the failing commie states, including, finally, the DPRK, as the others collapsed. The western left’s fantasies of free stuff and utopias only finds limits when mass starvation is obvious and becomes too clear to ignore, and with regard to NK, some still haven’t opened their eyes,It would seem that those right across the border in South Korea would be immune to such foolishness, given the abundant NK corpses, but it seems not, and those fools get a critique also.But Lankov is still subject to wishful thinking at times: the preface makes the claim (Pg 2) that “Most people’s lives remain nearly untouched by high politics…” (whatever “high” politics means), and then spends the next 300 pages presenting evidence that the lives of North Koreans are impacted by politics (high or low, I’m not sure) in 24/7/365 fashion. Never do those in North Korea ever get to ignore politics; a slip of the tongue can put you and your family in a ‘camp’ from which you will hope you escape by dying. Perhaps they might appear to be able to ignore politics, but after reading the book, you might (as I did) come to believe the NK population has simply developed deception to a fine art.Similarly, he claims the communists here and elsewhere delivered better healthcare than the democracies, citing WHO ‘estimates’ for longevity and infant mortality. Any digging at all tells you that WHO uses the data provided by the government of the country in question to develop those estimates; the same Communist governments which constantly and blatantly lie in every other form of data.In the case of North and South Korea, we also have the clear evidence of poor health in the decreased stature (some several inches) of NK people as a result of life-long malnutrition. And we have Lanklov’s information on the same page regarding shortages or lacks of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment. Evidence beats claims (and estimates) always and everywhere.Then, questionably, he assumes the founders of the North Korean government were idealists rather than power-hungry thugs and toward the end, he details a lavish dinner for the Kims and associates during the famine when thousands were dying of starvation daily and rhetorically asks whether they were “cruel”. He decides they were “indifferent”. Regarding the first, it is purely opinion and mine is different. Regarding the second, I’m not sure I see a difference.Aside from those instances, he seems clear-headed regarding the dishonesty, mistreatment, constant indoctrination, imprisonment, and starvation of the North Korean population at the hands of the government, and the transgressions of that government in many other areas, including outright kidnapping of foreign nationals.But one anecdote caught my eye: Regarding the NK workers engaged in logging in Russia, he notes the poor treatment (by western standards), but also the extremely high pay by comparison to what it is possible to earn in NK. Further, he states that the workers have about 1/3 of that amount collected by the supervisors for use by the NK government. Compared to most Western governments, the Norks are in a low-tax area!Unlike any other account I’ve read, he does take a long view of the circumstances, often wondering what will occur when the Kims lose power, as they must. None of the alternatives are pretty and there’s much worthy of consideration. He touches on one effort which gets little attention: The South really has no interest in unification by now. They have watched what happened when East Germany collapsed and seen the tremendous costs involved in cleaning up the messes left by Communists world-wide. They’d rather the North ‘progress’ such that they do not have to play the savior to one more batch of Communist victims.Flawed, but well worth reading.

For years now, Western observers of North Korea have tended to use absolutes in describing the country. It is, for example, said to be the last Stalinist nation on earth and the world's most secretive, isolated, autarkic society, while its leader (Kim Chong-il) is characterized and caricatured as odd and ruthless in the extreme. None of these descriptors is necessarily wrong, but individually and collectively they tend to obscure the fact that a great deal has changed over the past several decades.Riding to the rescue, so to speak, is the distinguished Russian scholar Andrei Lankov, who has gathered together in "North of the DMZ: Essays on Daily Life in North Korea" articles originally printed in the "Korea Times" and "Asia Times." Lankov brings to his musings and this book exceptional skills and credentials: he writes beautifully, has a fine sense of humor, attended Kim Il-song University several decades ago, knows South Korea as well as its northern counterpart, and has personally experienced growing up in a Communist country. The resulting book is a delight to read and certainly one of the most valuable primers ever published on North Korea, with its 100-plus essays at once both anecdotal in tone and exceptionally well-researched.Lankov's main focus in "North of the DMZ" is the life of everyday North Koreans, and in this regard the essays cover everything from the arts, media, social structure, and recreation to love and marriage, transportation, education, and food supplies. Another large portion of the essays cover policies and control systems that the government has tried to impose, with the emphasis here on how poorly these are actually working. The essays were not written with the intent of answering strategic questions about the viability of the North Korean state, and the book does not address the perspectives of those who rule or such issues as the role of nuclear weapons in ensuring the survival of North Korea. Nonetheless, "North of the DMZ" paints a compelling picture of a society and economy in flux. This society bears little resemblance to the tightly-controlled and idealized country described in official propaganda, and anyone seeking to answer strategic questions about North Korea's future will want to factor in the tactical ground truth uncovered by Lankov.

Andrei Lankov's excellent North of the DMZ is a collection of essays that first appeared in two newspapers, the Korea Times and Asia Times. Lankov was an exchange student from the USSR in the 1980s and has spent a good deal of time in North Korea. In this book, he concentrates on the effect that such a repressive regime has on the lives of the people. There is a lot of information about the changes that are taking place and how capitalism is slowly creeping its way into North Korean society. This trend began during the famine of 1996-1999 when women started selling goods and food items in the streets in order to make a little money to buy more food for their families. Although illegal, the government turned a blind eye to these markets. Just about every aspect of North Korean life is examined in the well-written and comprehensive collection of essays. The book is highly readable and is wonderful as a introduction to North Korea for anyone who wants to learn about this odd and backward society and government. The class system or songbun is covered as well as schools, marriage, propaganda, prison camps, and the Kim family 's tight and repressive reign.The book is worth reading and is a very good addition to my collection of books about North Korea.