Escaping North Korea: Defiance and Hope in the World's Most Repressive Country

by Mike Kim

Book Overview

This unique book provides a rare inside look into the hidden world of ordinary North Koreans. Mike Kim, one of the few Americans granted entry into the secretive "Hermit Kingdom," came to know the isolated country and its people intimately. His North Korean friends entrusted their secrets to him as for the first time they recounted their experiences enduring famine, sex-trafficking, and torture in the gulags. Kim also led refugees to asylum through...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0742556204
• ISBN13: 9780742556201
• Release Date: July 2008
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Great Book!

After hearing about North Korea in the recent news lately, and discovering the two Americans Euna and Laura that were captured made me read this book. I knew Lisa Ling several years ago as a journalist and followed her stories and was shocked to hear what happen to her sister. People need to see it. This book made me appreciate and be thankful of what I already have. Overall, great book! kept me reading..

North Korean Horrors

Horrors of living in North Korea as related by refugees who flee the country into China looking for a better life. A lot of credit goes to those selfless people who help the North Koreans escape the hell of a regime run by a madman.

Defiance and Hope

true stories about unbelievable situations in OUR MODERN world. North Korea is the most repressive country in the world and if more people knew about it, then more people would do something about. i know i am!

An insightful and really easy read

The best thing about this book is that it is an easy read. Although Kim engages with North Korea, a political hotbed and at the forefront of the global stage, his stories are personal and his style easy to follow. Pick this book up if you want a real feel for what is happening on the China-North Korea border. The human element makes it a compelling, but easily flowing read. Because of both its content and its style, you will find it difficult to this book down.

A great read!

A great read if you're interested in the North Korean situation beyond what the news media reports (ie nukes). Kim does a great job of making a complex problem palpable and, in many ways, relatable to the western readers. Though he goes in depth regarding the government's role in the famine and warped culture, he doesn't demonize them nor does he make excuses for them. A very balanced and unbiased look into the hermit kingdom from an outside perspective.