I recently read Nothing
to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, a 2009 book by Barbara Demick. It
focuses on six defectors and is a harrowing account of daily life in North
Korea, especially during the devastating famine of the 1990s. The book is
well-written and reads like a novel. The author states that she modeled the
book Hiroshima by John Hersey, who
was a professor of hers at Yale.
This book is not a political analysis of the current problems
the world has with North Korea. It is, however, a devastating portrait of life
under a totalitarian regime. The author does not offer much hope that this
regime will end soon. Reading Demick's book is a reminder that totalitarianism
is not something that only occurred in the past. It is also a stark reminder of
the power of propaganda, especially when information is controlled.
The control of information by the North Korean government
and its chaperoned visits for journalists makes reporting on North Korea
extraordinarily difficult. The author therefore chose to interview defectors. This
prompts the criticism that defectors have biases which skews their accounts of
life in North Korea. However, Demick seems to have chosen well the six
defectors whose stories she recounts. One woman in particular was a true believer
in the North Korea regime and only changes her mind during the famine and then,
even more so, after being tricked by her
daughter into defecting to South Korea.
The recounting of the famine of the 1990s is particularly disturbing
and detailed. Most readers will probably not have been aware of the extent of
the devastation and deaths it caused.
As for unifying the Korean peninsula, there would be
difficulties. The two Koreas have grown apart, and the costs to South Korea
would be enormous. The economic disparities between the two Koreas is much
greater than the differences between West and East Germany prior to
unification. Also, the hardships of living in North Korea has caused there to
be noticeable differences in the physical appearance of those living in the
North and the South.
In an afterword written in 2015, Demick writes: “North Korea
watchers debate whether conditions inside the country are getting better or
worse, or even changing at all. What is not in doubt is that the government
still goes to great lengths to deceive foreign visitors.” It is perhaps time
for Demick or some other journalist to write a new book about North Korea.
