Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

by Barbara Demick

“We have no culture without electricity,”

“Even if the road is harsh, we’ll protect the party,”

Even in a society as collectivist as North Korea, no one wanted to share their kimchi with a stranger.

The darkness of North Korea by night has an absoluteness that people from the electrified world have never experienced.

If somebody stamped out a cigarette on the pavement, somebody else would pick it up to extract a few flecks of tobacco to roll again with newspaper.

As she stirred to consciousness, she heard the chirp of the rice cooker in the kitchen. She sat up with a start. This was her wake-up call. She was ready to go.