North Korea Confidential

North Korea continues to fascinate me with its walking contradiction of a nation. Only someplace like this can simultaneously be a violent dictatorship and an emerging capitalist nation.

This book is a great introduction to modern North Korea. Most of what I've read up to this point covered right around the great famine period in the 90s (known as the Arduous March), and this was a nice read that takes the reader beyond that point. I was familiar with some terminology, but this book still did a great job of informing me of things I hadn't considered.

Things have changed, but also not. Rigid rules and enforcement, but bribes and money talks, and suddenly your infractions just go away. It also sounds like the average citizen is gaining a bit more freedom than they used to (conservative women's heeled shoes! Small amounts of makeup! Books!). It'll be interesting to see what happens to this country in the future, though it sounds like the citizens are using these new freedoms to secure themselves better positions within a rigid caste system rather than trying for more freedom for all.

Highly recommend this to anyone wanting a modern look at North Korea.