The Tears of My Soul

By Kim Hyun Hee and Hyun Hee Kim

A North Korean spy, trained and indoctrinated by her government to kill ruthlessly and efficiently , offers rare insight into the rigors of her enforced service, which ended with a conviction for a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688128335
• ISBN13: 9780688128333
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: William Morrow & Co
• Length: 183 Pages
• Weight: 1.03 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 0.8" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Remarkable Account Still Relevant Today

In "Tears of My Soul," Kim Hyun Hee tells the incredible story of how she was trained as a North Korean espionage agent and selected to carry out the mission given by Kim Jong-il, North Korea's "Dear Leader," to blow up a South Korean airliner. Kim Hyun Hee was apprehended after Korean Airlines flight 858 crashed, killing 115 passengers. In this book she explains how for weeks after being taken captive she attempted to conceal her real identity, but the South Korean investigators methodically carried out their interrogation, uncovering numerous flaws in her argument. Eventually she gives up, confessing her true identity and the crime she had committed. After a dramatic trial confirming her guilt she was nevertheless pardoned by the South Korean government, which deemed that the North Korean regime, and not Kim Hyun Hee, was to blame for the tragedy. After being so completely brainwashed by the North Korean system, Kim Hyun Hee was shocked to find that Seoul and South Korean society were in fact nothing like the awful descriptions given them in North Korean propaganda. She thus comes to the sad realization that all she had been taught in the North were lies. She feels terrible for the crime she committed. She is welcomed by the South Korean church and she finds forgiveness in Christianity. Moreover, she was filled with joy to find out that her mother's relatives live in the South. Family is one of the major themes of the book. Kim recalls with fondness the youth she spent with her family in Cuba, where her father served as a diplomat. A division was created between her and her family, however, after she was selected to serve as an agent. During her years of training her visits home became increasingly rare. From her father's perspective she was no longer his daughter but a daughter of the North Korean communist party. Before departing on her fateful mission, Kim Hyun Hee stole away from the training compound in the mountains to visit her family in an attempt to make things right. Throughout the book Kim would become emotional whenever describing her feelings for her family in the North "Tears of My Soul," published in 1993, remains relevant today. The North Korean regime continues to flout the international community and follow its own rogue course. It pours scarce resources into the military and its long-range missile and nuclear weapons programs, even as its people go without the most basic necessities. Kim Hyun Hee's tells her truly remarkable story in "Tears of My Soul," providing readers with a behind the scenes look into how the North Korean regime operates. Kim Hyun Hee wrote this memoir in order to expose the evil North Korean regime and, in a gesture of contrition for her terrible crime, she donated all of the proceeds from this book to the families of the victims of KAL 858.

WOW....

hard, truly hard, to believe life is really like this in the world...makes me glad for the FREEDOM we still have in America :)

Where is the movie?

This book reads like a piece of fiction. It is crazy to believe that it is true. I enjoyed every page of this book and believe that it should be read in high schools.

Unusual Insight On North Korean Terror Operations

North Korea is undoubtedly the most terror-oriented country in the world today -- both for it's own people and the world at large. This book is a stark exposure of that system. Miss Kim and a much older agent, posing as her father, successfully bombed a South Korean airliner, killing all on board. As they were about to be arrested, her partner committed suicide with a cyanide pill. With his last words he told her how terrible he felt for her, "...I am old, my life is over...but you..." As it turned out, this was just the start of another bizarre twist in her strange journey. From a young, innocent girl, to highly trained killer, to notorious celebrity in South Korea, this book tells her incredible story. Written with assistance from the KCIA -- several years after a reprieve from a death sentence for mass murder -- this book is yet another damning expose of the North Korean regime. It traces her intensive training and indoctrination at various secret North Korean facilities, the terror-bombing of a South Korean airliner, and, eventually, her celebrity status in South Korea (Miss Kim received hundreds of marriage proposals after going public). Particularly insightful is her deprogramming in South Korea after her capture and her reactions to the new world she would now live in.

Reads Like a Novel

Hyun Hee Kim's training as a paramilitary agent reads like a spy novel, and if true, provides an interesting view into the Orwellian world of North Korea.Her training in sabotage, foreign language, and intelligence tradecraft are detailed, as is her deprogramming in South Korea after she was caught blowing up a civilian airliner in the 1980s.Some have speculated as to how reliable her account is, but I found myself not caring about this question, though it's an important one. The book is an exciting and quick read that will keep you engaged until the end.