The Aquariums of Pyongyang : Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag

Part horror story, part historical document, part memoir, part political tract, one man's suffering gives eyewitness proof to an ongoing sorrowful chapter of modern history. ϡ쯦랠 "North Korea is today one of the last bastions of hard-line Communism. Fearing that influence from beyond its borders might corrupt the "ideological unity of the People and Party," North Korean leaders have kept a tight grasp on their one-party regime. No organized, active opposition movement exists, either at home or abroad, and few have ever managed to leave the country. Western journalists and historians have had little access to any information apart from official Party documents and propaganda. And until now, not much was known about the concentration camps where dissidents and others requiring "re-education" have been sent." "Kang Chol-hwan is the first survivor of one of these labor camps to escape the "hermit kingdom" and tell his story to the world. In collaboration with French journalist and historian Pierre Rigoulot, Kang reveals the human suffering in his camp, with its forced labor, frequent public executions and near-starvation rations that Kang supplemented with rats and bugs. This publication is the first of its kind to document the extreme conditions in these gulags, and provides a personal insight into life in North Korea." "Part horror story, part historical document, part memoir, part political tract, this story of one young man's personal suffering finally gives eye-witness proof to a neglected and ongoing chapter of modern history."--Jacket "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.