The story is about a man who rose from an orphan as a baby to being a colonel in the military to being sent to a concentration camp when the government discovered his father, a man he had never met, had been convicted of being an American spy.  He eventually got out of the camp and escaped NK.

You can see him in interviews in the BBC documentary Access to Evil.

If you google search it, you’ll find it at a few video sites, but it looks like YouTube has taken it down.

It is available for free in pdf form at that link.  It is now a few years old, but it is still an excellent extended primer on the core element of the holocaust-like torture and frequent murder currently unfolding before the international communities eyes.

For another excellent source on the same topic – but one that can be read online and has video clips to enhance the understanding, check out One Free Korea’s must-see post.  

For regular updates on the issues related to North Korea, check out One Free Korea’s blog often.  It is updated daily.   OFK is a lawyer in Washington DC but finds time around his day job and other obligations to run a top-notch North Korea-related blog.

You can also use that blog to locate and navigate to other prime sources on these issues via his blogroll.

Starting here in this little house and throughout the rest of the next forty years, I had to adapt to live in a place that I came to think of as another planet.  Years later, in fact, I would often tell my daughters, “We are not in the world.  This is not the real world.”  (From The Reluctant Communist)

If you want to know about North Korea, and you only have time to read two books, you must read Aquariums and The Reluctant Communist.

Both books are easy to read.  The text flows in a natural, oral style common to autobiographies that result from a professional author spending countless hours interviewing the person the book is about.

Aquariums tells the story of Kang Chol-Hwan. 

His was one of the Korean families that returned to Korea from Japan.

(During the colonial period (1910-1945) many Koreans went to Japan either voluntarily or against their will to work.   Later, after the Korean War, many of these Korean families were pro-North Korea and decided to leave Japan to go there.  It was a terrible mistake…)

Like other returnee families, Kang’s was eventually placed in one of North Korea’s numerous concentration camps.

These camps are sometimes as big as sizable cities in the United States.  They generally house citizens the regime in Pyongyang deems it cannot trust.  (The North Korean government organizes social classes by their perceived loyalty to the regime.)  Whole families are often sent.

Kang was the child of one such pair of Korean citizens (his parents) that the regime deemed it could not trust and had to lock up – children included.

Eventually, Kang was released from the concentration camp and later managed to flee North Korea for the safety of South Korea.

This book primarily focuses on his life in the concentration camp.

Again, if you only read two books about the North, this should be one.

If you don’t already have a fundamental understanding of just how twisted the North Korean government has made that nation – you will after you read this book…

Our Holocaust Now

I believe the people in democratic societies around the world today truly believe that – if they had been in power as the main generation during the worst tragedies in human history — the time of Stalin’s Purges or Mao’s Great Leap Forward or Pol Pot’s Killing Fields or Hitler’s Holocaust —- that they would have “done something” instead of “letting” it happen.

Our democracies do still pay much tribute to the “lessons” of Hitler’s Holocaust, but have we really learned…???

In the 1990s, North Korea’s failed system brought about a a massive famine in which a large chunk of the North Korean people starved to death — and the government refused to allow effective relief through global aid groups and the UN – and instead used the famine to weed out elements of the society it deemed undesirable.

North Korea also continues to this day to run numerous large scale concentration camps the size of some notable American cities where citizens it deems it cannot trust are systematically brutalized by a hellish life we can’t even imagine.

We do have something going on today that warrants being called a “holocaust”  – and it has been going on now for over 60 years.

What are we currently doing to bring it to an end?

…very, very little.  Next to nothing…

And certainly virtually nothing if you focus on results…

Starting here in this little house and throughout the rest of the next forty years, I had to adapt to live in a place that I came to think of as another planet.  Years later, in fact, I would often tell my daughters, “We are not in the world.  This is not the real world.”

This is both correct and incorrect:

If you want to know North Korea, you have to understand its government has systematically alienated it and isolated it from the rest of the world to an unimaginable extent for the past 60+ years.

It is not of this world – but sadly – it is in this world.

The book is a must read:   (Amazon page) 

It should be read in tandem with Aquariums of Pyongyang.

Both books give an intimate description of what a demented Disney World Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il created.   Both books are firsthand accounts of just how screwed up and unimaginable life is in this nation.

Both are highly readable – written in an oral storytelling tradition common to autobiographies that are written by an author through detailed, exhaustive conversations with the person it is about.

The Reluctant Communist is about an American soldier stationed in South Korea who defected to the North during the period of the Vietnam War – then – spent the next 40 years of his life suffering in that twisted society.

While in NK, he eventually married a Japanese woman – who had been kidnapped in Japan by North Korean covert operatives so she could teach North Korean spies the Japanese language and customs.  She was just one of a handful of people NK has kidnapped for such purposes.

After several decades of hellish life in the North, Jenkins’s wife was allowed to return to Japan as a measure by Pyongyang to ease tension after it officially acknowledged the kidnapping program.  (NK was on the verge of convincing Tokyo to give it massive economic aid as part of “normalizing” relations when the acknowledgment unexpectedly exploded in Japanese society making such economic aid politically impossible for the ruling party in Japan.)

Robert Jenkins himself was allowed to leave the North, as were other spouses and family members of the once-abducted Japanese, when Japan and world opinion continued to press North Korea on the issue.

That allowed Jenkins to tell his story in full.  And it is a story you will never forget.

You have to read it to understand the depth of insanity that is North Korea…

Our Holocaust Now

I believe the people in democratic societies around the world today truly believe that – if they had been in power as the main generation during the worst tragedies in human history — the time of Stalin’s Purges or Mao’s Great Leap Forward or Pol Pot’s Killing Fields or Hitler’s Holocaust —- that they would have “done something” instead of “letting” it happen.

Our democracies do still pay much tribute to the “lessons” of Hitler’s Holocaust, but have we really learned…???

In the 1990s, North Korea’s failed system brought about a a massive famine in which a large chunk of the North Korean people starved to death — and the government refused to allow effective relief through global aid groups and the UN – and instead used the famine to weed out elements of the society it deemed undesirable.

North Korea also continues to this day to run numerous large scale concentration camps the size of some notable American cities where citizens it deems it cannot trust are systematically brutalized by a hellish life we can’t even imagine.

We do have something going on today that warrants being called a “holocaust”  – and it has been going on now for over 60 years.

What are we currently doing to bring it to an end?

…very, very little.  Next to nothing…

And certainly virtually nothing if you focus on results…

11 Jun 2009 Sen. Foreign Relations Cmte. Hearing

As North Korea’s neighbor, traditional ally, and primary aid and trade partner, China has an important role to play in influencing the path North Korea follows. On our recent trip, we found that China shared a deep concern about North Korea’s recent actions, and a strong commitment to achieve denuclearization. Our challenge now is to work with China to turn that commitment into effective implementation of the UNSC Resolutions.

Top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Cmte.

Notable Quotes

From the 11 June 2009 Sen. Foreign Relations Cmte Hearing – His opening speech:

It is urgent that the United States and its partners develop policies that are clear and consistent. We should be willing to engage the North Koreans, but there must be much greater certainty that provocative steps by Pyongyang will result in predictable and meaningful consequences for the North Korean regime.

Amen.

Actually, there really are proven consequences:  NK has learned that the US will cave in not too long after it ratchets up pressure.  They even got to witness their provocations flip the hardline Bush policy.

What Lugar really means is that — clear, consistent negative consequences are needed to replace our habit of caving in if we hope to ever dissuade NK from using brinkmanship as its primary foreign policy tool.

Did the lack of a strong, unified, and persistent response by China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, and the United States to past provocative actions by North Korea factor into Pyongyang’s decision to proceed with the latest nuclear test?

Obviously yes.

Do North Korean officials believe their country’s relationships with Iran or Syria will be permitted to develop without consequence if those relationships include cooperation on weapons of mass destruction?

Ditto.

What level of international cooperation exists to scrutinize North Korea’s global trading network and its potential proliferation role, and can such cooperation be improved?

This indicates Lugar is aware that the Treasury sanctions a few years ago were surprising effective in accomplishing what they were designed to do – freeze NK’s international money shifting ability and thus put pressure directly on the issue of regime survival – which is all Pyongyang cares about.

The United States and China have cooperated closely in the Six Party process, but our priorities are not identical with regard to North Korea. While the United States is focused on eliminating North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, China’s primary concern relates to regional stability, a point not lost on North Korean officials. Given recent provocations, have prospects for more concerted Chinese action been improved?

Again a quote that shows Lugar has an eye on a vital point.

Chair Sen. Foreign Relations Cmte.

Notable Quotes

In response to late 2008 and early 2009 ICBM and nuke tests – quote from Sen. Foreign Relations Cmte. Meeting

The draft Security Council Resolution, which we expect to be voted on soon, imposes a sweeping new arms embargo on North Korea and also bans financial transactions linked to the North’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. Significantly, it calls upon member states to inspect all cargo to and from North Korea–on the high seas, at seaports, and at airports – if countries have reason to believe the cargo contains material related to North Korea’s nuclear program or other weapons programs.  (11 Jun 2009)

Until contrary events take place, the whole of the opening statement is putting a ribbon on a donkey — it highlights tough language in UN resolutions —- and pretends they will be enforced – which they often are not.   It in this same time period that the world got to watch the US Navy helplessly shadow North Korean ships suspected of carrying prohibited cargos.  We did nothing but watch because the UN did not authorize stopping and boarding NK’s ships.

The Obama administration should be commended for this strong, united outcome, and China deserves recognition as well. As North Korea’s ally and largest trading partner, China can play a decisive role in the peaceful resolution of this crisis. I was in China when North Korea conducted its second nuclear test, and I am convinced that China shares our opposition to the North’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.  (Same)

I wonder what magic words they used to convince him of that?   It certainly can’t have been their actions – recent or older.   China agreeing to tougher language in UN resolutions is an improvement, but that just shows how little real cooperation they are willing to give, because it is just words on paper without a commitment by China to enforce them – which we don’t see —- because China fears collapse more than it fears NK with nukes.

The first crisis ended in 1994 with the signing of the Agreed Framework, which froze the North’s production of plutonium for eight years.

In 2002, the Bush Administration confronted North Korea with allegations that it was cheating on the Agreed Framework. But the Bush administration ruled out direct talks to resolve the issue. The result was the second nuclear crisis – the demise of the Agreed Framework, North Korea’s withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and the quadrupling of North Korea’s stockpile of fissile material.  (Same)

This is one of the standard interpretations of the “can’t we all just get along” theory of NK policy:  That the 1994 Agreed Framework was working fine by mothballing the plutonium it had on hand, but Bush ruined it by going the “tough talk” road.

The highlighted in red part is also part of the long-running, mostly Democrat position on NK policy:  that direct talks can work wonders – we just have to sit down and hash it out — cut deals – and show them we’re willing to do our part… — which is now best known as the Chris Hill Approach…

It is somewhat comical to read John Kerry saying this in the summer of 2009 – after the Chris Hill Approach was given full reign and —– so utterly failed…

Step one is getting a unified response from the UN. That result appears imminent. But then we must resist the temptation to go into a defensive crouch. The past teaches us that benign neglect is not a viable option.  (Same)

Idiot.   The lesson we just got is that direct talks and trying to find North Korea’s asking price then trying to fill it and wait for them to do their part is the shittiest option…

America must lead efforts to stop the current negative cycle of action and reaction and begin the hard diplomatic work needed to deliver results.  (Same)

Good gravy.   Given what we’ve seen the last two years, the man must be intellectually petrified (hardened after too many years of being in the same position).

Senate Foreign Relations Cmte.

Human Rights Sub Cmte.

East Asia Sub Cmte.

Foreign Assistance Sub Cmte.

Notable Quotes

The U.S. Congress could supply North Korea with the funding needed to disable its nuclear facilities and clean up the sites, according to a proposal by Barbara Boxer, chairwoman of the East Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Boxer made the suggestion Wednesday after listening to chief U.S. negotiator in nuclear talks Christopher Hill give a briefing on his visit to Pyongyang early this month in a closed-door session of the subcommittee.  (14 Dec 2007 Chosun Daily).

So, she is from the Chris Hill – let’s make them friends – school of North Korea Foreign Policy…

Chair – East Asia sub cmte – Info and contact

Quotes & Notes

(in reverse date order going back to 2008)

Senator Jim Webb said a missile launch by North Korea isn’t likely to lead to a “confrontation” in the region and that Japan would be within its rights to shoot down any missile that violated its airspace.

“I don’t see a high probability that there will be an international confrontation,” Webb, a Virginia Democrat and chairman of a Senate subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific affairs, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt.”  (3 April 2009 Bloomberg)