North Korea through the Looking Glass

Rating:
Summary: A Hermit Kingdom
Review: (...) In "North Korea: Through the Looking Glass," they have combined their considerable intellectual talent and first-hand experience to craft a masterpiece of description, understanding and policy guidance.

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.

Rating:
Summary: A Hermit Kingdom
Review: A great introductory insight into one of the most strange and mysterious countries on earth. The authors provide valuable examples and a good understanding as to how the bizarre North Korean government operates, and how this regime minipulates the minds of its people. The most interesting parts of the book are the insights provided by the many defectors from the North, and the stories they tell.

In my opinion, the book lacked any real insight into North Koreas military capability, it kind of leaves the reader wondering how strong this country really is. Though the author does mention that North Korea has a "military first" policy, and most of its money and resources goes into the military, we don't know what types of capabilities they really have, what types of technology they possess, and what countries are supplying them with what technological products. This lack of information may be due to lack of the authors access to this information.

After reading this book, I still don't know how the economy of this country functions, this is definetly a country that requires serious help from the outside. This book is a great read, and a very good introduction to understanding this backward nation.

Rating:
Summary: Authors not up to the task
Review: Interest in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has increased since President Bush included the nation with Iran and Iraq as an "Axis of Evil" state. Further interest was generated in October of 2002, when the North Korean government confirmed that it possesses a nuclear weapons program. I, along with many Americans, are now seeking information about this mysterious hermit nation. I chose Kongdan Oh's "North Korea: Through the Looking Glass" because it seemed to be a non-technical overview of North Korean society, economics, and politics. The blurbs on the back cover described the book as providing "genuine insight" gleaned from "painstaking research." Unfortunately, the book did not live up to its promise.

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.

Rating:
Summary: Authors not up to the task
Review: Interest in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has increased since President Bush included the nation with Iran and Iraq as an "Axis of Evil" state. Further interest was generated in October of 2002, when the North Korean government confirmed that it possesses a nuclear weapons program. I, along with many Americans, are now seeking information about this mysterious hermit nation. I chose Kongdan Oh's "North Korea: Through the Looking Glass" because it seemed to be a non-technical overview of North Korean society, economics, and politics. The blurbs on the back cover described the book as providing "genuine insight" gleaned from "painstaking research." Unfortunately, the book did not live up to its promise.

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.

Rating:
Summary: Yet another alcoholic despot
Review: The title suggests an "Alice in Wonderland" fantasyland, but a huge dose of Edgar Allen Poe must be added to the cauldron to get a feel for the horrors of this most bizarre of lands.

This terrific book explains that the combination of Confucian kingdom and totalitarian socialist state allows the rulers of North Korea, Kim Il Sung from its founding at the end of WW2 to his death in 1994 and his successor-son, Kim Jong Il, to wield inconceivable power not only over peoples' actions, but also over their minds. North Koreans almost uniformly believe their rulers are the equivalent of Gods. According to the authors, in the Korean tradition of Confucianism, North Koreans willingly subject themselves to a strict hierarchical social order and absolute loyalty to and respect for the Kims, which is returned with feigned benevolence.

While the history and troubles of North Korea make interesting reading, the most fascinating aspect for students of addiction (which provides an oft-overlooked explanation for bad behaviors) revolve around the observable (sometimes, subtle) clues to early-stage alcoholism in the current "central brain," Kim Jong Il. Needless to say, the clues are few, since little escapes the "hermit kingdom." We learn that the person who is, perhaps, the highest-ranking defector ever, former North Korean party secretary Hwang Jang Yop, reported that an understanding of Kim's personal life is irrelevant to comprehending his political behavior. This is simply untrue, especially if there is alcoholism, although I don't expect (or suspect that) the authors would understand this.

Kim displays numerous behavioral indications of alcoholism, which the book goes into in great detail (and which I describe in my books as evidence of addiction). As I note elsewhere and in the calculations embedded in my on-line Substance Addiction Recognition Indicator, barring actual evidence of addictive use we're limited to ascribing an 80% likelihood of alcoholism. As I've also noted elsewhere, a diagnosis of alcoholism is essential if we are to understand the motivations of the subject under scrutiny, if there really is early-stage alcoholism.

While such evidence is scarce, it is not non-existent. According to the authors, the late-night parties of his younger days are said to be legendary. Japanese women invited to attend one of Kim's intimate parties, apparently after he became the supreme leader, report that he drank heavily and scattered hundred dollar bills (a rather ironic use of U.S. money). And, the authors say, "Kim Jong Il relies on a kitchen cabinet composed of a small group of friends and family members of approximately his own age, especially trusting a few close relatives and drinking buddies." As discussed in my book "Drunks, Drugs & Debits," merely having drinking buddies, especially when well past age 30, is a classic sign of alcoholism.

The truly frightening aspect to this surreal mess is that not only is the head of state a likely alcoholic (and, therefore, capable of anything), but also that the vast majority of the North Korean people appear to be as indoctrinated as were the citizens of George Orwell's imaginary Oceania.

"Through the Looking Glass" details the amazing propaganda used by Kim, his military amateurism, social controls and "thought" control over the North Korean people. The book is a fascinating read. For those who grasp the idea of alcoholism, it offers a unique insight as to why Kim Jong Il, possibly the only alcoholic despot other than Stalin to have access to nuclear weapons (who had them for only a short time before he died), may be the most dangerous man ever.


Rating:
Summary: Good intro into North Korea and Juche
Review: This book is by far the bet introduction into the psyche of North Korea and its leadership that I've read. It focuses more on the politics/religion (one in the same) of North Korea than the military. A good book for anyone interested in this rogue nation.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent book that provides great insight
Review: This book is really loaded and provides the reader with much insight behind this closed borders of this isolated country. North Korea is one of the last countries in the world that doesn't have diplomatic relations with the U.S. The book also provides historical data that is helpful as there isn't much known about this country who happens to be the largest weapons exporter in the region. Another book that I highly recommend as it discusses North Koreas secret, but aggressive nuclear weapons program supported by China is the thriller THE CONSULTANT by Alec Donzi.