Dear Leader
North Korea’s senior propagandist exposes
shocking truths behind the regime
Ebury Publishing - $34.99
Dear
Leader is a devastating account of life in North Korea by a
former Party insider. The importance of Mr Jang’s standing in North Korea and
how damaging his testimony is to the regime cannot be overstated - never before
has a member of the elite described how this totalitarian state is actually
run.
Jang Jin-sung was a cadre in Section 5 (Literature),
Division 19 (Poetry) of Office 101. Personally endorsed by Kim Jong-il for a
triumphalist poem he’d penned glorifying the Kim dynasty and the State, he was
anointed a Poet Laureate for North Korea. Enjoying a privileged position within
the party, Mr Jang was bestowed with food provisions, a travel pass and, due to
the nature of his work in Office 101, access to strictly censored material from
South Korea.
Mr Jang’s life in Pyongyang made him ignorant of the
horrific suffering of his fellow North Koreans, many of whom lived in atrocious
conditions, subject to unimaginable poverty. It was not until he used his
special status to travel back to his hometown that his eyes were opened. He was
shocked to discover it had deteriorated into a vision of hell, his former
townsfolk now starving, wretched and hopeless. Jin-sung’s experience led him to
privately question the regime, and he began to confide in his best friend,
fellow cadre and former classmate, Hwang Young-min, composer to the Wangjaesan
Orchestra, Kim Jong-Il’s court entertainers. The young men could not have
foreseen how their affluent existence would so soon be utterly shattered. When
a forbidden magazine Jin-sung illegally lent to Young-min was accidentally left
on public transport, the men fell foul of the regime. They would soon feel the
full force of North Korea’s ruthless brutality, their terror compounded by the
merciless ‘guilt by association’ decree – family members for two subsequent
generations are horribly punished and often put to death for the ‘crimes’ of
their relative.
A unique and highly readable account, Dear Leader exposes
a side of North Korea which has never before been seen. It is also the heart-stopping
story of an escape to freedom.
THE AUTHOR: Jang Jin-sung is a former court poet for North
Korean leader, Kim Jong-il. Since leaving the country he has become a
bestselling author and poet, and has had the attention of the worldwide media.
He has been awarded the Rex Warner Literary Prize and read his poetry at
London’s Cultural Olympiad in 2012. He now lives in South Korea and is
Editor-in-Chief of New Focus International, an authorative website reporting on
North Korea – www.newfocusintl.com
No comments:
Post a Comment