North Of The Dmz Essays On Daily Life In North Korea Andrei Lankov by Andrei Lankov 9780786428397, 0786428392 instant download after payment.

The Kim dynasty has ruled North Korea for over 60 years. Most of that period has found the country suffering under mature Stalinism characterized by manipulation, brutality and tight social control. Nevertheless, some citizens of Kim Jong Il's regime manage to transcend his tyranny in their daily existence. This book describes that difficult but determined existence and the world that the North Koreans have created for themselves in the face of oppression. Many features of this world are unique and even bizarre. But they have been created by the citizens to reflect their own ideas and values, in sharp contrast to the world forced upon them by a totalitarian system. Opening chapters introduce the political system and the extent to which it permeates citizens' daily lives, from the personal status badges they wear to the nationalized distribution of the food they eat. Chapters discussing the schools, the economic system, and family life dispel the myth of the workers' paradise that North Korea attempts to perpetuate. In these chapters the intricacies of daily life in a totalitarian dictatorship are seen through the eyes of defectors whose anecdotes constitute an important portion of the material. The closing chapter treats at length the significant changes that have taken place in North Korea over the last decade, concluding that these changes will lead to the quiet but inevitable death of North Korean Stalinism.
"Book describes the difficult but determined existence that North Koreans have created for themselves in the face of oppression. The book introduces the political system and the extent to which it permeates citizens' daily lives; discusses the schools, the economic system, and family life; treats the changes that have taken place in North Korea over the last decade"--Provided by publisher.
Leaders dear and great --
In times of propaganda --The arts and the media --
The workers' paradise? the social structure of the DPRK --
Pyongyang --
Daily lives --
Recreation and fashion --
Family matters --
All things which move --
Big Brother is watching --
How does the system work? --
Schools --
It's economics --
Foreign affairs --
On spying, smuggling and kidnapping --
North Koreans overseas, foreigners in North Korea --
Defectors --
The unnoticed death of North Korean Stalinism.