Comrades and Strangers: Behind the Closed Doors of North Korea

by Michael Harrold

In 1987 Michael Harrold went to North Korea to work as English language adviser on translations of the speeches of the late President Kim Il Sung (the Great Leader) and his son and heir Kim Jong Il (then Dear Leader and now head of state). For seven years he lived in Pyongyang enjoying privileged access to the ruling classes and enjoying the confidence of the country's young elite. In this fascinating insight into the culture of North Korea he describes the hospitality of his hosts, how they were shaken by the Velvet Revolution of 1989 and many of the fascinating characters he met from South Korean and American GI defectors to his Korean minder and socialite friends. After seven years and having been caught passing South Korean music tapes to friends and going out without his minder to places forbidden to foreigners, he was asked to leave the country.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Politics, Memoir, Asia

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[R · Rating 2 out of 5]

While there is some really good, interesting material on what it is like to live in North Korea for many years the author is also a whiny little bitch. He can't comprehend how they didn't embrace him fully and it hurt his fucking feelings. I finished it, but barely. The author's 'voice' is not one I feel the need to ever hear again.

[Jeff C. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having recently completed Barbara Demick's wonderful book "Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea", I was eager to start this book and gain the perspective of a westerner living in North Korea. I was left disappointed. What I gained was the perspective of a comparatively pampered foreigner whose social life consisted of drinking beer in the isolation of the bars in Pyongyang’s restrictive foreigner hotels.

In stark contrast to Ms. Demick’s presentation of the lives of ordinary North Koreans, Mr. Harrold spent his seven years rubbing elbows with the North Korean elite in their socialist showcase city of Pyongyang. Even then, he was forbidden to associate with ordinary Koreans and was under the constant scrutiny of his North Korean minders. Mr. Harrold saw what the North Korean government wanted him to see, heard what they wanted him to hear, and read what they wanted him to read.

Mr. Harrold’s perspective is skewed and he comes across as an apologist for the most paranoid, oppressive, and xenophobic nation on earth. He was evidently duped by the propaganda he was employed to help translate as he is clearly an unabashed admirer of “Great Leader” Kim Il Sung and “Dear Leader” Kim Jong Il. I was annoyed by his thinly veiled antipathy toward the United States and South Korea and I nearly quit reading the book when he suggested the possibility that South Korea actually started the Korean War. That’s when he lost his last remaining shred of credibility.

Moreover, his life in Pyongyang comes across as exceedingly dull and dreary. What possessed him to spend seven years there is beyond me. His fondness for the Korean people and his desire to fit in and be accepted by them is admirable. Unfortunately for Mr. Harrold, he was on the wrong side of the 38th parallel for that to ever happen.

I didn’t enjoy this book and I can’t recommend it. If one wants to understand life in North Korea, I recommend "Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea" by Barbara Demick. It’s a far more enjoyable and honest read.

[International Cat Lady · Rating 1 out of 5]

Seriously?? Seven years in North Korea and 400+ pages of text and nothing remotely interesting happens. Either this fellow led the most boring life possible in North Korea, or he simply chose to write about... nothing for 400+ pages. I can't believe I finished it. Not only was it duller than dull, but it's interwoven with so much North Korean party-line propoganda that half the time I wanted to throw the book across the room. I find North Korea fascinating - and found this book the exact opposite.

[David Lum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating! Not as impossible to put down as “Nothing To Envy,” but still a great read. This book shows the lives of the incredibly privileged upper class in Pyongyang, and it shows it from the viewpoint of someone who’s not an “American bastard” (rather a Brit). For that reason the whole thing is way more sympathetic, even to the North Korean leadership who definitely seemed like flat-out monsters in that other book.

So: more nuanced but maybe less “real” since the author never experienced life among the 99%. Likewise not as interesting as first-hand reports from relatively unprivileged defectors.

For me the most amazing detail in the book is the mere existence of the unbelievably huge and tall pyramidal hotel that looms over Pyongyang. Started in 1987 and then abandoned while still just a hideous pile of concrete, this thing was converted into a glass-coated pile of concrete around 2012. But still it’s not a functional hotel in any way in 2025. Probably the greatest symbol I’ve ever seen of the stupidity and chaos of central planning in the DPRK.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

A thoroughly tepid memoir that fails to capitalize on its most interesting material. What the reader wants (descriptions of the other foreigners working and living in North Korea, descriptions on what all these hotels and landscapes look like, the logistics of the author's day to day life) are absent.

The book lacks rhythm and consistency, its 400 pages fluffed up with long asides on North Korean history, a history not well written enough or well told enough to justify its inclusion. The so called "love story" is more often than not unsettling.

For those wanting insight into North Korea, read Barbara Demick's "Nothing to Envy."

"Comrades and Strangers" is not worth your time.

[alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

honestly the author comes off as a bit....socially awkward during his time in north korea. some of the stories are interesting, but the writing is so dry - and at points extremely confusing - that it took me a lot longer than i expected to finish this. i'd only recommend this book if you want to find good bars in pyongyang.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, in my opinion, gives the best insight into what it would have been like to live in North Korea as a westerner under KIS. Many of the other reviews said it was boring or too sympathetic to the North but I found it fascinating just reading about his day to day life.

[Rainstories · Rating 2 out of 5]

the personal journey of the author is more of the story than a trove of insider information on north korea. because of the authors restriction while living there there’s not much information on the people or the overall society but what is there is interesting enough to hint towards north koreas operations. on the downside it was a little bit hard to read, as there was a very liberal use of commas that made sentences long winded and makes you wonder why he didn’t break one sentence into two. definitely a book that you have to read slowly and pay attention closely to.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating! In 1987, a British man named Michael answers an ad placed by the North Korean government to live in North Korea and translate the speeches of Kim Il Sung and later Kim Jong Il into english. From the moment he arrives at the airport, Michael (the author) is presented a certain view of the country by Mr. Choe, later revealed to be a skilled manipulator and one of North Korea's senior political figures. As time goes on, Michael gradually becomes sympathetic to the North Korean people...in my opinion he has bought the propaganda, ironically even he himself acknowledges that practically every word spoken to him and place showed to him is a calculated move. In reality the average North Korean is starving to death, while Michael and the other foreign translators of speeches live well, perhaps like a middle class American. At one point, the government actually builds a concrete wall outside of Michael's and the other foreigner's living quarters to prevent them from seeing people who are suffering - and even the workers building the wall are starving.

Filled with a cast of zany characters, both locals and other foreigners, the book is quite entertaining. It was also neat to read about places in a country that Americans currently cannot visit....although you can view them from Google Maps!!! Michael visits the "propaganda" city, a fake city built entirely to convince outsiders of the country's prosperity, falls in love with a North Korean Girl, gets beat up, followed and watched, wiretapped, ordered not to leave his building at one point, attempts to go to secret buildings off limits, etc.

I found it entertaining to read about some of the propaganda in the media there that he describes...you really have to read it from someone who was actually living there for seven years to believe it. The propaganda is so fierce that it's comical at times.

Yet another interesting fact: there were American soldiers serving in South Korea who defected to North Korea at various times and starred in North Korean films.

I think there's something for everyone in this book, whether you enjoy the eccentric characters, the numerous historical references or just his perspective on the country. I give it 4 rather than 5 stars because it can drag at times and be a bit boring.

[Hanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This author has an interesting experience. I appreciate his honesty about his own perspective. Although he has a pro-Western bias, he is attempting to be nuanced and he genuinely wanted to understand the country where he was staying. Were the North Koreans prudent, or harming their own cause, when they prevented him from having authentic relationships with locals? Other comments about this book irritated me. Some say he was too malleable and practically became a stooge of the regime. I noticed none of that! And what would you have had him do? Try to stage a revolution with a band of government minders checking his every move? He was fresh out of university when he went there. For all anyone knew at the time - Eastern socialism was here to stay, forever. As biographies go, this one was highly readable. It's fascinating to realise that the author would have quite happily settled down in North Korea, if it hadn't been for the fact that they eventually booted him out. He seems in two minds about his experience, and about the DPRK.

Edit: As a comparison between living as a foreigner in the Eastern bloc at the time (which I did - USSR) North Korea is clearly a different planet. As a European from a neutral country living in the USSR in the 1980s, my family did not experience any of what is described here. The paranoia and suspicion permeating everything in North Korea is probably exactly what prevented it from going the same way as the USSR. Anyone who enjoys good biographies or have an interest in the DPRK should read this book. You will not be disappointed.

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not very good. Do not start here if you are just starting to read up on North Korea.

The author apparently spent 7 years in North Korea doing nothing other than drinking beer in various hotel bars. I cannot help but wonder what really was the authors motive for staying in North Korea for 7 years. He seems very apolitical and gives the impression that he does not sympathize with communist ideology like some of the other foreigners he encounters in North Korea. The fact that his job was editing English texts is interesting/amusing because the book is poorly written, numerous times I had to reread sections because of bizarre word order.
I really feel that there is something significant that he is not telling us and consequently the book really lacks any intrigue.

[Valarie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The main reason this book was published is because the author had an experience that almost no one else can understand. As memoirs go, however, it is disorganized and dull. Harrold seems intent on describing every incident that occurred in his time in North Korea, adding up to 400 pages of complaints, with the occasional interesting event. While he often claims to be aware of his privileged status as a foreigner, the statements of guilt and sympathy come off as insincere. The book would have been much more enjoyable if it had been edited down considerably. As it is, it will only interest people who are determined to read every book about North Korea published in English (that's me).

[Adrian]

Harrold spent seven years in North Korea between 1987 and 1995 as an editor of Kim Il Sung's work. No great stylist Harrold is effective in getting across what living in this isolated state was like. North Koreans are not so unlike South Koreans. They take enormous pride in their country's very ordinary attributes. I wearied of international political analysis. Harrold is also far too sympathetic to the North Korean view of things, understandable for someone who lived there, but it makes me wonder why he went to the country in the first place something he never explains.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've got an odd fascination with The North Korean train wreck, and this story struck me as fascinating because it was a pretty normal guy i could identify with living in North Korea for a substantial amount of time. True that his story is not full of adventure but i think that is part of the story of the bleakness of the country and the omnipresence of the "great leader"

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-written, but told us very little. But I doubt that any foreigner could glean much. Harrold provides as much as first-hand experience as a foreigner can get in a country where the population is heavily controlled.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite book about North Korea, still--I recommend reading Harrold's book for minute DPRK details. Just ignore the bad writing.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the Kindle lendable list.

[Ruchira Wijayaratne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't get through the whole thing. Not because it wasn't good, but because I got side tracked and then couldn't get back into it.

[J.C. Rhee]

I heard this book contains interesting inside story of a ex-pat. could be interesting.