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Coreea de Nord. Viața dincolo de clișee
Coreea de Nord este o tara in care toată lumea trebuie sa venereze un dictator atotputernic, o tara in care disputele cu vecina Coreea de Sud degenerează mereu in violente, unde sunt detonate cu o îngrijorătoare regularitate bombe nucleare și unde se presupune că aproape toată lumea se afla in pragul înfometării.
208 pages, Paperback
First published April 14, 2015
213 people are currently reading
2819 people want to read
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dnf
June 12, 2020Strasznie przesłodzone i mało treściwe. To przedstawia taki obraz, jakby nic złego specjalnie się w Korei Północnej nie działo. Nie polecaaam ✌🏻
June 11, 2020
No nie. Nie zgodzę się, że w kraju, gdzie działają obozy pracy, jest aż tak wesoło i przyjemnie jak twierdzą autorzy. Strasznie płytkie jest to spojrzenie na Koreę Północną, bo można wysnuć wniosek że łapówka jest lekiem na całe zło.
October 1, 2015
Daniel Tudor and James Pearson’s new book, North Korea Confidential: Private Markets, Fashion Trends, Prison Camps, Dissenters and Defectors, seeks to investigate many of the popular misconceptions and myths that have sprung up around North Korea – still one of the most reclusive countries on the planet. One of their central goals is to cut through the usual hyperbole and rhetoric one often encounters when reading about North Korea to present more of a rounded picture of the actual day-to-day life of ordinary citizens there. In asking what life is generally like for regular North Korean citizens, they come to several surprising and illuminating conclusions. Their core argument is that the devastating famines experienced by the country during the 1990s, coupled with the North Korean government’s “Arduous March” policy and a significant decrease in aid from long-term benefactor Russia, led to a series of highly significant social and economic changes. They reason that subsequent to the calamities of the ‘90s, during which time the North Korean government essentially relinquished responsibility for feeding its people, private informal markets began to emerge – markets which now play an increasingly important role in the country’s social life. They memorably liken this new style of private trade to Victorian Britain’s attitude towards sex: “While everybody does it, few publicly admit to its existence.”
The book comprises seven fascinating chapters, each of which explore a specific aspect of contemporary Korean life. Each chapter is packed full of insightful analysis and compelling nuggets of information, from the popularity of South Korean-style eyelid surgery (often performed by privately trained citizens!), to fashion styled after South Korean stars, the abundance of smuggled films (and pornography) stored on illegal flash drives, illegal cell phones that can call outside the country, the market for comic books, and many, many more. Not since Barbara Demick’s Nothing to Envy has there been such an effective street level view of life in the isolated country. Pearson and Tudor’s book is a highly rewarding read for anyone with even a passing interest in North Korea.
The book comprises seven fascinating chapters, each of which explore a specific aspect of contemporary Korean life. Each chapter is packed full of insightful analysis and compelling nuggets of information, from the popularity of South Korean-style eyelid surgery (often performed by privately trained citizens!), to fashion styled after South Korean stars, the abundance of smuggled films (and pornography) stored on illegal flash drives, illegal cell phones that can call outside the country, the market for comic books, and many, many more. Not since Barbara Demick’s Nothing to Envy has there been such an effective street level view of life in the isolated country. Pearson and Tudor’s book is a highly rewarding read for anyone with even a passing interest in North Korea.
October 31, 2019
Mam problem z tą książką. Już na początku odniosłam wrażenie, że autorzy stawiają pewną tezę i tak dobierają tematy, żeby ją udowodnić. A jest to teza dość śmiała i kontrowersyjna, która w uproszczniu brzmi: "w tej Korei Północnej wcale nie jest tak źle, jak wszyscy myślą." A potem podają przykłady opierające się na poniższym (uproszczonym) wzorze:
państwo zabrania -> obywatel robi mimo zakazu -> daje łapówkę -> państwo przymyka oko
Chyba że:
- nie ma na łapówkę
- ma złe pochodzenie
- w jego aktach jest zapis że X lat wczesniej powiedział, że matka Kim Dzon Una urodziła się w Japonii (co jest prawdą)
- inny równie absurdalny powód (w myśl zasady "daj mi człowieka, paragraf się znajdzie")
to wtedy mamy:
państwo zabrania -> obywatel robi mimo zakazu -> państwo dla przykładu wysyła do obozu pracy lub stosuje karę śmierci.
Przykładowe zakazy:
- kobietom zabrania się jazdy na rowerze
- obywatele nie mogą się swobodnie przemieszczać, nawet we własnym kraju (zresztą, na auta ich nie stać, a pociągi z powodu częstych braków prądu jeżdżą z opóźnieniem bądź wcale)
- zabrania się farbowania włosów czy noszenia dżinsów
- nie ma własności prywatnej (możesz kupić mieszkanie, ale nie prawa do niego)
Nie no, faktycznie, wcale nie jest tam tak źle...
państwo zabrania -> obywatel robi mimo zakazu -> daje łapówkę -> państwo przymyka oko
Chyba że:
- nie ma na łapówkę
- ma złe pochodzenie
- w jego aktach jest zapis że X lat wczesniej powiedział, że matka Kim Dzon Una urodziła się w Japonii (co jest prawdą)
- inny równie absurdalny powód (w myśl zasady "daj mi człowieka, paragraf się znajdzie")
to wtedy mamy:
państwo zabrania -> obywatel robi mimo zakazu -> państwo dla przykładu wysyła do obozu pracy lub stosuje karę śmierci.
Przykładowe zakazy:
- kobietom zabrania się jazdy na rowerze
- obywatele nie mogą się swobodnie przemieszczać, nawet we własnym kraju (zresztą, na auta ich nie stać, a pociągi z powodu częstych braków prądu jeżdżą z opóźnieniem bądź wcale)
- zabrania się farbowania włosów czy noszenia dżinsów
- nie ma własności prywatnej (możesz kupić mieszkanie, ale nie prawa do niego)
Nie no, faktycznie, wcale nie jest tam tak źle...
August 21, 2018
Excellent review about current state of live in North Korea.
August 15, 2017
This book is full of facts about life in North Korea, but stops short of bringing out the emotions and truly connecting you to the people. This book is an interesting catalog of the details of the government and culture, with insights on the possible future. Several times, the authors defended life in the DPRK as not being as bad as our media paints it. However, what struck me is the realization that I read this book, lying on a beautiful beach surrounded by my family in complete leisure and without fear. To say that the lives of those in N Korea are "not as bad" gave me little comfort for them and little compassion for the regime; I don't want to normalize their plight. I did find the comparisons to modern S Korean life interesting. In the end, I recommend the book Nothing to Envy over this one if you want to hear stories that bring the people in N Korea to life. And recommend this one for more detailed information and background.
December 14, 2020
Dobry reportaż na początek przygody z reportażem i z informacjami o Korei Północnej. Bardzo króciutki i mało treściwy. Po prostu parę ciekawostek, dla tych co nic na ten temat nie wiedzą. Wynika z tego, że niemal wszystko w Korei Północnej da się załatwić łapówkami.
June 23, 2019
Ciekawe, chociaż bardzo słabo napisane.
May 18, 2025
Teraz kdrama Crash Landing On You ma trochę więcej sensu.
Książka ciekawa, ale że z 2015 roku, nie da się nie zastanawiać, czy i w jakim stopniu się zestarzała i jak wygląda sytuacja teraz. Dobrze się ją czytało, ale mam wrażenie, że to bardzo skrótowy zbiór informacji i czuję po lekturze niedosyt.
Książka ciekawa, ale że z 2015 roku, nie da się nie zastanawiać, czy i w jakim stopniu się zestarzała i jak wygląda sytuacja teraz. Dobrze się ją czytało, ale mam wrażenie, że to bardzo skrótowy zbiór informacji i czuję po lekturze niedosyt.
February 13, 2023
Nie do czytania. Chyba, że jesteście amerykańskim turystą i chcecie się upewnić, że wybranie się do Korei Północnej na wycieczkę jest zupełnie w porządeczku.
June 8, 2023
Informative reading. Paints a very different picture of the activity within North Korea that we would expect from the country’s international image.
June 8, 2015
North Korea is most often presented as a barren wasteland, devoid not only of food and human rights, but also of any real culture or free thought. The typical North Korean is portrayed as a sort of robotnik, robbed of agency and the ability to think for themselves. In North Korea Confidential, Tudor and Pearson challenge these assumptions by detailing the very capitalist lives of North Koreans today.
The main premise of this book is that Tudor and Pearson seek to argue that not only has North Korea become a de facto capitalist society, but that this change is a consequence of the 1990's famine and consequent break down of the food distribution system in the country. Their argument grounds modern realities in the historical context required to understand much of the current change occurring in the country in a way that is interesting and easy for the lay reader to follow.
In everything from the most popular cellular technology to fashionable clothing, the authors discuss what's hot, what's not, and what the state is trying to do about it. They recount stories of illegal trading, subversive deals, and mass bribery, that are now common throughout the Hermit Kingdom that we so often think of as 'communist'. There is no question that a brutal dictatorship still exercises punishing force, but in the new North Korea market forces reign supreme.
Whilst not forgetting the egregious human rights abuses that continue to go on in the country, Tudor and Pearson give voice to North Koreans, showing us a country not of brainwashed subjects but of regular people who live, love, and work much like we do, albeit in tougher conditions. Offering a fresh new take on the subject, this book explains market forces, trends, and the people who drive it all. Highly recommended if you're interested in modern North Korea.
The main premise of this book is that Tudor and Pearson seek to argue that not only has North Korea become a de facto capitalist society, but that this change is a consequence of the 1990's famine and consequent break down of the food distribution system in the country. Their argument grounds modern realities in the historical context required to understand much of the current change occurring in the country in a way that is interesting and easy for the lay reader to follow.
In everything from the most popular cellular technology to fashionable clothing, the authors discuss what's hot, what's not, and what the state is trying to do about it. They recount stories of illegal trading, subversive deals, and mass bribery, that are now common throughout the Hermit Kingdom that we so often think of as 'communist'. There is no question that a brutal dictatorship still exercises punishing force, but in the new North Korea market forces reign supreme.
Whilst not forgetting the egregious human rights abuses that continue to go on in the country, Tudor and Pearson give voice to North Koreans, showing us a country not of brainwashed subjects but of regular people who live, love, and work much like we do, albeit in tougher conditions. Offering a fresh new take on the subject, this book explains market forces, trends, and the people who drive it all. Highly recommended if you're interested in modern North Korea.
January 16, 2022
Nie sądziłam, że o tak ciekawym kraju można napisać tak nieciekawy reportaż. Do tego dziwnie są te wszystkie fakty „złagodzone”. Liczyłam na drastyczną prawdę a dostałam głównie przesłodzone ciekawostki o modzie przez kilkanaście stron i o tym jak łapówką wszystko da się załatwić. Chociaż może to ja nie do końca zrozumiałam wizję autorów, tak czy owak - nie podobało mi się.
January 1, 2016
I've had a fascination with North Korea for some time now. This reads as a very accurate up-to-date reporting of how the country has adapted after the horrific famine and the government failure to deliver on its societal promise to its people.
March 22, 2019
The book delivers exactly what it promises – it’s a straightforward description of life in North Korea with no emotions or personal stories involved. It was pretty interesting to learn how ordinary things like getting a haircut can cause so much trouble.
July 3, 2019
I'd say that "North Korea Confidential" is a decent read but it's way too repetitive and presents too many well-known facts as "sensational" to be actually good.
April 6, 2017
Practically everything you know about North Korea is wrong. That, at least, is the inescapable conclusion to take from reading Daniel Tudor and James Pearson’s new book, North Korea Confidential.
I exaggerate, of course. North Korea is, without question, one of the poorest countries in the world. It’s ruled by a brutal dictatorship that operates a system of political prisons that would do Josef Stalin proud. It’s a nuclear power and given to saber-rattling. And one family, the Kims, is the country’s ruling dynasty, now in its third generation.
Though all that, and more, is, indeed, true, Tudor and Pearson draw on extensive research to demonstrate that the impression we Westerners get from the news media is still highly misleading. The North Korean people are not slogan-chanting automatons enslaved to adulation for Kim Jong Un (their “Dear Leader,” or “Great Leader,” or whatever else he might be calling himself). Kim Jong Un is not a lunatic; his father or grandfather weren’t, either. Nor is he the sole, undisputed leader of the nation; “he has inherited a system [created by his father] in which one rather shadowy organization may possess more power than he does.” North Korea is not a Communist country, nor has it been for nearly two decades. And there is virtually NO chance that the country will collapse, the victim of its own considerable internal contradictions.
In chapters devoted to the market economy; leisure time; the power struggle at the top; crime and punishment; clothes, fashion, and trends; communications, and the country’s social class structure, Tudor and Pearson paint a picture of a complex society struggling with the conflicts of the mid-twentieth century while the outside world labors to drag it into the twenty-first.
Here’s the gist of the message in North Korea Confidential: ever since the tragic famine that overtook North Korea in the mid-1990s, the desperate urge for survival has led people at all levels of society to build a rudimentary market system that has become the foundation of the country’s economy. The famine was so severe and far-reaching — costing at least hundreds of thousands if not millions of lives –in a country whose population now stands at just twenty-four million — that the government was unable to continue distributing food, as it had ever since Kim Il Sung industrialized the country in the years following the Korean War. Once the distribution of free food was disrupted, the North Korean people found ways to grow their own food, or forage for it, and to sell or exchange food for other necessities in homegrown markets that sprang up in defiance of the Party and the government. And those markets have grown in importance to the point where the gray economy may overshadow the official one.
Equally important, the famine undermined respect for the Kim dynasty’s government. Though vocal criticism of their leadership is still rare (and viciously punished), people demonstrate their independence in a variety of ways: they seek out DVDs and thumb drives containing South Korean and Chinese music, films, and TV shows (and even an occasional American movie); they listen to South Korean, Chinese, and US-sponsored radio for news of the outside world; they dress in ways that defy the Party’s severe guidelines; they travel without permits from town to town and sometimes across the Chinese border; and, increasingly, they are gaining access to the Internet despite the government’s efforts to make that impossible. (More than ten percent of the population now own cell phones.) Whenever they’re caught flouting the rules in these or many other ways, they are almost always able to bribe their way out of the draconian punishment the law dictates.
In truth, there are hints of much of this in the news about North Korea. Yet I’d never before read of the multimillionaires among the Pyongyang elite, or of the estimated $20 billion fortune accumulated by the Kim family. I knew that the country maintains one of the world’s largest armies, but I was unaware that soldiers are more often put to work as free labor on construction and other projects rather than trained for combat. I had surmised that, as in any country, connections to people in power would provide a layer of protection from victimization by the police, but I learned that cash — outright, blatant bribery — is a daily fact of life. I knew that historically “even family members would sometimes inform on each other, either out of fear or the belief that it was the ‘right’ thing to do,” but not that “[t]his is certainly no longer the case.” The regime may still have the power to maintain its hold on the country, but — after the famine — ordinary citizens no longer are inclined to show their respect to authority, even to the Kim family.
All in all, North Korea Confidential provides a useful counterbalance to the one-dimensional pictures we tend to hear from most defectors and occasional dissidents and from the news and analysis that looks at the country from the top down rather than the bottom up.
Daniel Tudor and James Pearson are both British journalists. Tudor formerly worked in Seoul, Korea, as the local correspondent for The Economist. Pearson, also an old Korea hand, currently writes a blog for Thomson Reuters.
I exaggerate, of course. North Korea is, without question, one of the poorest countries in the world. It’s ruled by a brutal dictatorship that operates a system of political prisons that would do Josef Stalin proud. It’s a nuclear power and given to saber-rattling. And one family, the Kims, is the country’s ruling dynasty, now in its third generation.
Though all that, and more, is, indeed, true, Tudor and Pearson draw on extensive research to demonstrate that the impression we Westerners get from the news media is still highly misleading. The North Korean people are not slogan-chanting automatons enslaved to adulation for Kim Jong Un (their “Dear Leader,” or “Great Leader,” or whatever else he might be calling himself). Kim Jong Un is not a lunatic; his father or grandfather weren’t, either. Nor is he the sole, undisputed leader of the nation; “he has inherited a system [created by his father] in which one rather shadowy organization may possess more power than he does.” North Korea is not a Communist country, nor has it been for nearly two decades. And there is virtually NO chance that the country will collapse, the victim of its own considerable internal contradictions.
In chapters devoted to the market economy; leisure time; the power struggle at the top; crime and punishment; clothes, fashion, and trends; communications, and the country’s social class structure, Tudor and Pearson paint a picture of a complex society struggling with the conflicts of the mid-twentieth century while the outside world labors to drag it into the twenty-first.
Here’s the gist of the message in North Korea Confidential: ever since the tragic famine that overtook North Korea in the mid-1990s, the desperate urge for survival has led people at all levels of society to build a rudimentary market system that has become the foundation of the country’s economy. The famine was so severe and far-reaching — costing at least hundreds of thousands if not millions of lives –in a country whose population now stands at just twenty-four million — that the government was unable to continue distributing food, as it had ever since Kim Il Sung industrialized the country in the years following the Korean War. Once the distribution of free food was disrupted, the North Korean people found ways to grow their own food, or forage for it, and to sell or exchange food for other necessities in homegrown markets that sprang up in defiance of the Party and the government. And those markets have grown in importance to the point where the gray economy may overshadow the official one.
Equally important, the famine undermined respect for the Kim dynasty’s government. Though vocal criticism of their leadership is still rare (and viciously punished), people demonstrate their independence in a variety of ways: they seek out DVDs and thumb drives containing South Korean and Chinese music, films, and TV shows (and even an occasional American movie); they listen to South Korean, Chinese, and US-sponsored radio for news of the outside world; they dress in ways that defy the Party’s severe guidelines; they travel without permits from town to town and sometimes across the Chinese border; and, increasingly, they are gaining access to the Internet despite the government’s efforts to make that impossible. (More than ten percent of the population now own cell phones.) Whenever they’re caught flouting the rules in these or many other ways, they are almost always able to bribe their way out of the draconian punishment the law dictates.
In truth, there are hints of much of this in the news about North Korea. Yet I’d never before read of the multimillionaires among the Pyongyang elite, or of the estimated $20 billion fortune accumulated by the Kim family. I knew that the country maintains one of the world’s largest armies, but I was unaware that soldiers are more often put to work as free labor on construction and other projects rather than trained for combat. I had surmised that, as in any country, connections to people in power would provide a layer of protection from victimization by the police, but I learned that cash — outright, blatant bribery — is a daily fact of life. I knew that historically “even family members would sometimes inform on each other, either out of fear or the belief that it was the ‘right’ thing to do,” but not that “[t]his is certainly no longer the case.” The regime may still have the power to maintain its hold on the country, but — after the famine — ordinary citizens no longer are inclined to show their respect to authority, even to the Kim family.
All in all, North Korea Confidential provides a useful counterbalance to the one-dimensional pictures we tend to hear from most defectors and occasional dissidents and from the news and analysis that looks at the country from the top down rather than the bottom up.
Daniel Tudor and James Pearson are both British journalists. Tudor formerly worked in Seoul, Korea, as the local correspondent for The Economist. Pearson, also an old Korea hand, currently writes a blog for Thomson Reuters.
November 10, 2022
książka bardzo ciekawa, ale definitywnie musze bardziej zagłębić się w temat aby zweryfikować informacje zawarte w niej. jako sam reportaż napisana ciekawie, jednak niektore kwestie nie zostały "całkowicie" wyczerpane.
3,25/5
3,25/5
January 5, 2025
Some worthwhile insights. A bit thin and dissatisfying compared to what I was expecting. “Nothing To Envy” is a far superior choice on the topic.
April 17, 2022
Kilka uwag od strony redakcyjnej, jeżeli mogę tak to nazwać:
- w książce nie zaznaczono nawet kto robił korektę, podane jest jedynie nazwisko tłumaczki;
- upierdliwości w transkrypcji - jeżeli decydujecie się na pisownię "Kim", to nie zmieniajcie losowym ludziom na "Gim". W jednym akapicie jest opis osoby, która ma na naziwsko "Bak", a w drugim, o tej samym człowieku, napisali już "Pak", litości;
- źródła. Panowie podali 19 źródeł (na CAŁĄ KSIĄŻKĘ), nie zaznaczają co jest konkretnie z jakiego źródła, co jakiś czas zaznaczą, że jakaś informacja pochodzi od uciekinierów i tyle. Jeżeli podaje się jakieś statystki, informacje - to obowiązkiem jest podanie źródła i wydaje mi się, że kto jak kto, ale naukowcy powinni o tym wiedzieć
A tak, to cała książka jest w zasadzie zbiorem ciekawostek, głównie o ludziach wysoko postawionych w NK, przez co można czasem odnieść wrażenie, że nie jest już tak źle, z rzadka autorzy przypominają, że te wszystkie elementy, w większości przypadków, nie odnoszą się do zwykłych ludzi. Ciężko tę pozycję zaliczyć do reportażu, prawdę mówiąc, spodziewałam się znaaacznie więcej.
Jeżeli ktoś bardzo chce zapoznać się z treścią tegoż "dzieła", to skłaniałabym się bardziej ku audiobookowi puszczonemu w tle do spacerów z psem, pracy czy sprzątania, bo w moim odczuciu trochę żal czasu na czytanie.
A jeżeli chodzi o realnie dobre reportaże na temat Korei Północnej, to "Światu nie mamy czego zazdrościć" Barbary Demick jest znacznie lepiej napisany, bardziej szczegółowy i zawiera bardzo rzetelnie przedstawione źródła do każdego fragmentu.
- w książce nie zaznaczono nawet kto robił korektę, podane jest jedynie nazwisko tłumaczki;
- upierdliwości w transkrypcji - jeżeli decydujecie się na pisownię "Kim", to nie zmieniajcie losowym ludziom na "Gim". W jednym akapicie jest opis osoby, która ma na naziwsko "Bak", a w drugim, o tej samym człowieku, napisali już "Pak", litości;
- źródła. Panowie podali 19 źródeł (na CAŁĄ KSIĄŻKĘ), nie zaznaczają co jest konkretnie z jakiego źródła, co jakiś czas zaznaczą, że jakaś informacja pochodzi od uciekinierów i tyle. Jeżeli podaje się jakieś statystki, informacje - to obowiązkiem jest podanie źródła i wydaje mi się, że kto jak kto, ale naukowcy powinni o tym wiedzieć
A tak, to cała książka jest w zasadzie zbiorem ciekawostek, głównie o ludziach wysoko postawionych w NK, przez co można czasem odnieść wrażenie, że nie jest już tak źle, z rzadka autorzy przypominają, że te wszystkie elementy, w większości przypadków, nie odnoszą się do zwykłych ludzi. Ciężko tę pozycję zaliczyć do reportażu, prawdę mówiąc, spodziewałam się znaaacznie więcej.
Jeżeli ktoś bardzo chce zapoznać się z treścią tegoż "dzieła", to skłaniałabym się bardziej ku audiobookowi puszczonemu w tle do spacerów z psem, pracy czy sprzątania, bo w moim odczuciu trochę żal czasu na czytanie.
A jeżeli chodzi o realnie dobre reportaże na temat Korei Północnej, to "Światu nie mamy czego zazdrościć" Barbary Demick jest znacznie lepiej napisany, bardziej szczegółowy i zawiera bardzo rzetelnie przedstawione źródła do każdego fragmentu.
November 2, 2015
If you ask people who travel to North Korea frequently about the best book on the country this is the one they name. It's well-researched and nuanced and enables the reader to see beyond what is visible from the outside. It's also recent and up-to-date on what is happening in the country. The only knock I can think of is its brevity: when I got to the end of it I wanted further information on this fascinating subject.
June 16, 2019
A very good, no-nonsense description of contemporary North Korea. The authors include only those pieces of information that have been confirmed by several independent sources (unless stated otherwise), which adds to the book's trustworthiness.
There were some parts I didn't care about (politics, secret agencies, etc.) which is why I'm giving the book only 4 stars.
There were some parts I didn't care about (politics, secret agencies, etc.) which is why I'm giving the book only 4 stars.
December 7, 2023
ciekawe, ale bez szału. porusza dużo tematów, z czego w większości po łebkach tylko. ja to traktuje bardziej jako wstęp do innych, bardziej pogłębionych reportaży
August 5, 2023
Powiedzieć, że jestem rozczarowana to jakby nie powiedzieć nic.
Na początku myślałam, że autorzy chcą mnie zachęcić do zobaczenia jakże wspaniałej Korei Północnej.
Potem pojawiło się bardzo dużo różnych informacji, które niestety nie były opisane w szczegółach. A w mojej ocenie lepiej opisać dane zagadnienie, w większych szczegółach niż jedynie o nich wspomnieć, tak żeby coś wiedzieć.
Jeśli szukacie jakieś książki o Korei Północnej to mogę wam polecić "Za mroczną rzeką", w której mężczyzna ucieka od jakże brutalnej, pełnej bólu i cierpienia państwa.
Na początku myślałam, że autorzy chcą mnie zachęcić do zobaczenia jakże wspaniałej Korei Północnej.
Potem pojawiło się bardzo dużo różnych informacji, które niestety nie były opisane w szczegółach. A w mojej ocenie lepiej opisać dane zagadnienie, w większych szczegółach niż jedynie o nich wspomnieć, tak żeby coś wiedzieć.
Jeśli szukacie jakieś książki o Korei Północnej to mogę wam polecić "Za mroczną rzeką", w której mężczyzna ucieka od jakże brutalnej, pełnej bólu i cierpienia państwa.
August 24, 2022
było okej, ale będę musiała przeczytać o korei polnocnej coś jeszcze, bo tutaj większość tematów nie jest wyczerpana
February 29, 2016
A country full of obedient citizens with no way to observe the outside world: its own private universe. This is what many people imagine when you mention the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, commonly called North Korea. North Korea Confidential shows just how false this image is. The book starts by explaining the currency of the country and explaining the exchange to common currencies such as the US Dollar. Authors Daniel Tudor and James Pearson then go on to explain how it is very necessary for many North Koreans to engage in less than legal activities in order to obtain enough money to survive. The book highlights the fact that, contrary to popular belief, most government officials know about these illegal activities but simply allow them to occur or accept bribes for not reporting them.
North Korea Confidential then goes on to describe other aspects of a North Koreans life such as entertainment. Entertainment in this country now commonly includes movies from other countries saved on a USB stick which can be easily destroyed if caught. This particular part connected to me because here in the United States, movies are at our fingertips. In North Korea, however, they ,must go to great lengths to obtain them and even then it is very dangerous to be caught with them. The theme for this book is that sometimes in life other cultures are very different from the image that is placed on them by society. North Korea Confidential definitely lived up to my expectations and, even though a very large vocabulary was used, it was an interesting read. This is a good read for anyone who is interested in learning more about the day to day lives of other cultures. It should be noted however that due to the higher reading level of the book, it is best suited for high school aged students and older individuals. I would recommend this book but it must be kept in mind that it is by no means a page-turner.
North Korea Confidential then goes on to describe other aspects of a North Koreans life such as entertainment. Entertainment in this country now commonly includes movies from other countries saved on a USB stick which can be easily destroyed if caught. This particular part connected to me because here in the United States, movies are at our fingertips. In North Korea, however, they ,must go to great lengths to obtain them and even then it is very dangerous to be caught with them. The theme for this book is that sometimes in life other cultures are very different from the image that is placed on them by society. North Korea Confidential definitely lived up to my expectations and, even though a very large vocabulary was used, it was an interesting read. This is a good read for anyone who is interested in learning more about the day to day lives of other cultures. It should be noted however that due to the higher reading level of the book, it is best suited for high school aged students and older individuals. I would recommend this book but it must be kept in mind that it is by no means a page-turner.
April 26, 2015
While North Korea is still the very last place I want to visit, it was interesting to get a peek into the daily lives of ordinary North Koreans, and to see them not as the helplessly brainwashed subjects of the Kim family that they are usually presented as in the American media. It was surprising, for example, to learn that though they live in a hard-line communist country, a large percentage of the country's citizens run their own small businesses, even trading in goods imported from China and elsewhere. And even though the practice is illegal, the government tends to look the other way when it comes to such individual capitalist enterprises, or to limit itself to accepting a few bribes.
The text was fairly dry, and I would have liked a more thorough examination of daily life without all the historical context, but I understand that since the authors had to rely on information gathered from defectors, North Koreans allowed to work abroad, and other such people who often did not want personal details revealed, such impersonality (is that a new word I just created?) is to be expected.
A glossary of Korean terms right at the beginning would have been even better.
The text was fairly dry, and I would have liked a more thorough examination of daily life without all the historical context, but I understand that since the authors had to rely on information gathered from defectors, North Koreans allowed to work abroad, and other such people who often did not want personal details revealed, such impersonality (is that a new word I just created?) is to be expected.
A glossary of Korean terms right at the beginning would have been even better.
August 30, 2021
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.
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.
July 8, 2024
Ksiażka dla osób, które przerobiły już kilka innych książek o KRLD. Przed lekturą warto przeczytać chociażby 'Światu nie mamy czego zazdrościć' lub 'The Aquariums of Pyongyang'
'Tajemnice Korei Północnej' prezentują powolne zmiany w myśleniu i zachowaniu społeczeństwa północnokoreańskiego. Wielki kryzys głodu z lat 90. sprawił, że zarówno ludzie zaczęli brać sprawy bardziej w swoje ręce, a państwo zaczęło przymykać oko na wolnorynkowe działania mieszkańców. Nie jest to ciężka lektura, ale niektóre recenzje tej książki, sugerują że przedstawia ona zakłamaną wizję KRLD. Myślę, że każdy kto jest zaznajomiony z tematem, po przeczytaniu tej książki, nie dojdzie do wniosków, że KRLD jest super. Jest to książka, która przedstawia nowe oblicze wciąż bardzo problematycznego państwa, w którym jednak zachodzą dosyć ciekawe zmiany społeczne.
'Tajemnice Korei Północnej' prezentują powolne zmiany w myśleniu i zachowaniu społeczeństwa północnokoreańskiego. Wielki kryzys głodu z lat 90. sprawił, że zarówno ludzie zaczęli brać sprawy bardziej w swoje ręce, a państwo zaczęło przymykać oko na wolnorynkowe działania mieszkańców. Nie jest to ciężka lektura, ale niektóre recenzje tej książki, sugerują że przedstawia ona zakłamaną wizję KRLD. Myślę, że każdy kto jest zaznajomiony z tematem, po przeczytaniu tej książki, nie dojdzie do wniosków, że KRLD jest super. Jest to książka, która przedstawia nowe oblicze wciąż bardzo problematycznego państwa, w którym jednak zachodzą dosyć ciekawe zmiany społeczne.
July 31, 2017
It's safe to say that I knew relatively nothing about North Korea, and yet I was still able to follow along and understand the topics the authors brought up. In fact everything was explained incredibly well and not in a boring manner. It was anything but "dry" which is quite the feat with a nonfiction book (coming from someone who rarely ever reads nonfiction).
This book changed my perspective on North Korea, for example some people in North Korea have seen the Titanic and I still haven't! I found the parts about fashion and the black market particularly interesting! It's definitely a must read for anyone trying to truly understand North Korea.
This book changed my perspective on North Korea, for example some people in North Korea have seen the Titanic and I still haven't! I found the parts about fashion and the black market particularly interesting! It's definitely a must read for anyone trying to truly understand North Korea.
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