Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite

by Suki Kim

There they were, the people who made me, whose unions had led me to stand there in that time—the history of me.

On that evening, as a sun the color of mournful pomegranate fell behind the Forever Tower, behind the smoke stack, behind this city, this school, behind the children of the elite who were now my children for a brief time, these lovely, lying children, I saw very clearly that there was no redemption here.

“During the vacation, I missed your catchword, ‘gentleman,’ and it used to make us amazed but we could read your mind that you wanted us to be gentle in life.”