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

North Korea is today one of the last bastions of hard-line Communism. Its leaders have kept a tight grasp on their one-party regime, 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. Part horror story, part historical document, part memoir, part political tract, this record of one man’s suffering gives eyewitness proof to an ongoing sorrowful chapter of modern history. New edition with a new preface by the author. From Publishers Weekly North Korea is among the most opaque nations on earth, its regime noted for repression and for the personality cult of its father and son leaders, the late Kim Il Sung and his successor, Kim Jong Il. Kang Chol-hwan draws from firsthand experience in explaining the repression. After the division of North and South Korea, Kang’s family returned to North Korea from Japan, where his grandparents had emigrated in the 1930s and where his grandfather had amassed a fortune and his grandmother became a committed Communist. They were fired with idealism and committed to building an edenic nation. Instead, the family was removed without trial to a remote concentration camp, apparently because the grandfather was suspected of counter-revolutionary tendencies. Kang Chol-hwan was nine years old when imprisoned at the Yodok camp in 1977. Over the next ten years, he endured inhumane conditions and deprivations, including an inadequate diet (supplemented by frogs and rats), regular beatings, humiliations and hard labor. Inexplicably released in 1987, the author states that the only lesson his imprisonment had "pounded into me was about man’s limitless capacity to be vicious." Kang’s memoir is notable not for its literary qualities, but for the immediacy and drama of the personal testimony. The writing, as translated by Reiner, is unadorned but serviceable, a style suited to presenting one man’s account of a brutalized childhood. Kang now lives in South Korea, where he is a journalist; his co-author Rigoulot was a contributor to The Black Book of Communism. Together, they have added a chapter to the tales of horror that have come out of Asia in recent years. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Most readers know of the politically bleak and economically disastrous history of North Korea. This affecting and directly written memoir will help make that history personal and specific. Kang, who escaped from North Korea in 1992 and now lives in Seoul, writes with the help of Rigoulot, editor of The Black Book of Communism (LJ 11/1/99). They tell the story of the Kang family, who became prosperous members of the Korean community in Japan in the 1930s but returned to North Korea out of sympathy in the 1960s. At first they lived comparatively well, but soon they ran afoul of paranoid political repression and became one of the many victims of the Korean prison work camps. The details of the gulag are depressingly familiar from memoirs of other Stalinist regimes, but this work is nonetheless important to record and witness. Charles W. Hayford, Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. After The Division Of North And South Korea, Kang's Family Returned To North Korea From Japan, Where His Grandparents Had Emigrated In The 1930s. His Grandfather Had Amassed A Fortune And His Grandmother Became A Committed Communist. They Were Fired With Idealism And Committed To Building A New Korea, Only To Be Removed Without Trial To A Remote Concentration Camp, Apparently Because The Grandfather Was Suspected Of Counter-revolutionary Tendencies. Kang Chol-hwan Was Nine Years Old When Imprisoned At The Yodok Camp In 1977. Over The Next Ten Years, He Endured Inhumane Conditions And Deprivations, Including An Inadequate Diet (supplemented By Frogs And Rats), Regular Beatings, Humiliations And Hard Labor. Introduction: North Korea -- The World's Last Stalinist Regime -- A Happy Childhood In Pyongyang -- Money And The Revolution Can Get Along -- Next Year In Pyongyang! -- In A Concentration Camp At The Age Of Nine -- Work Group Number 10 -- The Wild Boar: A Teacher Armed And Ready To Strike -- Death Of A Black Champion -- Corn, Roaches, And Snake Brandy -- Death At Yodok -- The Much-coveted Rabbits -- Madness Stalks The Prisoners -- Biweekly Criticism And Self-criticism -- Public Executions And Postmortem Stonings -- Love At Yodok -- Sojourn In The Mountain -- Ten Years In The Camp: Thank You, Kim Il-sung! -- The North Korean Paradise -- The Camp Threatens Again -- Escape To China -- Small-time Prostitution And Big-time Smuggling In Dalian -- Arrival In South Korea -- Adapting To A Capitalist World -- Epilogue: Pursuing Aid For North Korea. Kang Chol-hwan And Pierre Rigoulot ; Translated By Yair Reiner. Paperback Reissued In 2005 By Basic Books.--t.p. Verso. With A New Preface By The Author -- Cover. "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. In the 1960s, North Korea's disaster was not yet on the horizon.