I think that one of the main reasons I love reading and travel are for the chance to learn how others live. This book provided amazing arm-chair travel to a closed country and told the poignant stories of several different families who have now defected to South Korea or China.
Two of many, many things that I learned:
1)
This is the
first time I’ve heard any North Korean “talk”. As interested as I’ve always
been in the country, it had been one faceless mass of suffering humanity… Until
now! The peoples’ ingenuity and resourcefulness in the face of so many
challenges made me see them in a whole new light. They are human, like you and
me.
2)
My mother always
said, “Unless you are content being single, you will not be content married.” I
think other situations could be filled in the blanks of this same phrase. I
found it intriguing how the very same individuals who had many social or
emotional or identity issues in North Korea were followed by the very same
problems OUTside North Korea. In the same way, those who were content under the
NK regime are still content in their new homes with new challenges.
It was pretty shocking to read to what extent NK's “Great Leaders” set
themselves up as god to the people, even being referred to in the Korean word
for "god". Although devastating to the people still trapped, it was
heartening to read that just enough cracks have appeared in recent years
in the “bubble” that is North Korea that the brainwashing tactics aren’t as
effective as they were back in the first few decades of this staunchly
communist country. Author Barbara Demick states that the people now clearly
realize that their government is the source of all their woes, but it's an as
yet unspoken
understanding.
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