North Korea Through the Looking Glass [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

One finds oneself wishing that the authors would share with the reader all of the interesting data that they discovered in researching the book. Instead, all we get are general statements about the corruption and ineptitude of the North Korean government. This could have been a much better book if the authors had elected to paint a more vivid picture by including more detail. Here's an example: on page 66 the authors make the following statement: "North Korean government and party officials also engage in many illicit activities such as counterfeiting, production of illicit drugs, and smuggling (especially conducted by the DPRK's foreign diplomatic corps). " There is no elaboration on this provocative declaration. The citation for this statement is an article by David Kaplan et al. in US News & World Report, dated February 15, 1999. I looked up the article and found it to be fascinating. The US News piece states that North Korean counterfeit "$100 bills ... are cranked out on a $10 million intaglio press similar to those employed by the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing, officials say. North Korean defectors claim the notes come from a high-security plant in Pyongyang. Kim Jeong Min, a former top North Korean intelligence official, told US News that he had been ordered to find paper used to print US currency but couldn't. 'Instead. I obtained many $1 notes and bleached the ink out of them,' he says." You can see how the authors water down the source material to a bland presentation of generalities. It as if the authors went to the same writer's school as the North Korean propagandists, from whom they endlessly and boringly quote.

I was also annoyed by the repeated jabs at the North Korean government. Readers should be allowed to come to their own conclusions about the foolishness of the North Korean dictator, rather than be pelted with parenthetical inserts about the ineptitude of the leadership. An example: "The most pressing economic problem is the food shortage. The apparent (but wrong) solution to the problem is to try to achieve economic self-sufficiency... " This style gets irritating very quickly. Sometimes, the writing becomes downright stupid. An example from chapter 8: "North Korea is half a world away in the part of the globe less familiar to Americans -- Asia rather than Europe."

I was interested in examining the 29 photographs that occupy the center of the book. Unfortunately, they all appear to be government-approved. For instance, there are several sterile photos of peoples' backs as they stand still looking at statues exalting communism. Of course, the lifelessness of theses photos probably does reflect the Zeitgeist of this unfortunate country. But I wish the photographs could have provided more insight into the difficulty of daily life in North Korea.

Despite the flaws in the book, the subject is of such intrinsic interest that I kept reading. My persistence was rewarded at the end of the book, where the authors discuss policy options in dealing with North Korea. This section was well-reasoned and shows that the authors do indeed know their topic. Too bad the preceding 200 pages were not equally as good.

This work is based on painstaking research and insightful analysis. There are charts and tables to support the author's findings, and there is an interesting picture section. Although it may seem a dauntingly dry read at first blush, it is in fact crisp and easily understood. Excerpts from two sections serve to illustrate.

In the preface, Oh and Hassig write: "Three years ago, when we first proposed to write this book, one of our colleagues sought to dissuade us on the grounds that North Korea would collapse before the book reached the printer. This was not an uncommon expectation in the years immediately following the 1994 death of North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung. We had earlier predicted that his son and successor, the reclusive Kim Jong Il, would be unable to hold on to power for long. In any event, North Korea still survives, muddling along in a considerable weakened state. But even should North Korea collapse in the near future, we believe that a better understanding of the country and its people will help the world deal with a Korea struggling to reunify."

On page 201, under the sub-heading "Policy Considerations," we find: "The first goal of any responsible policy must be to avoid provoking conflict on the Korean Peninsula. Most of the people killed in a second Korean conflict would be Koreans in the North and South, and for a third party to trigger such a conflict would be unconscionable."

And: "The second policy goal should be to provide the North Korean people with the opportunity to move toward democracy (a specific example of the avowed U.S. policy of promoting democracy abroad) by penetrating the illusions under which the North Korean elites and masses live. This simply means telling the truth to the North Korean people as much as possible. Since the Kim regime is built on lies and oppression, truth telling will go a long way toward defeating it."

The chapter headings define the book's comprehensive focus:

1. Looking Backward (A historical and demographic appreciation.)
2. The Power and Poverty of Ideology (Juche revealed.)
3. The Turning Point Economy (Five decades of "plans," and the economy continues to decline as debt rises.)
4. The Leader, His Party, and His People ("Great Leader," and "Dear Leader," their personalities and grasp of reality, but "Nothing New under the Son.")
5. The Military: Pillar of Society (Core truths, capabilities, strategy and social role.)
6. Social Control (To "smash maneuvers by all class enemies," and establish a "revolutionary law-abiding spirit.")
7. The Foreign Relations of a Hermit Kingdom (Keeping its distance.)
8. Dealing with the DPRK (The difficulties in closing the gap.)

Although it is doubtful that American leaders at the highest levels have read "North Korea," it is a sure bet that some political and defense policy makers and senior advisers have done so. And it is these individuals, as well as the rest of us who wish to remain informed, for whom Oh and Hassig have prepared this well-crafted work.