Dear Leader: My Escape from North Korea
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Dear Leader: Poet, Spy, Escapee--A Look Inside North Korea Hardcover – May 13, 2014
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Jang Jin-sung demonstrates unique insight into the lifestyle and power structures of North Korea's top elite. The tale, ending with his own dramatic escape, depicts Jang's gradual metamorphosis from total conformist, to serious doubter, to enemy of the state."
"A compelling story told with the elegance and poetry of the Orient: a page-turner that will change the way the world sees this enigmatic country." (Susanne Koelbl Der Spiegel)
"Gripping." (David Pilling Financial Times)
"A remarkable story of struggle and survival." (Larry Getlen The New York Post)
"A look inside the mysteries of North Korea by the former poet laureate for the late Kim Jong-il. Likely to fascinate anyone who's read Adam Johnson's Pulitzer-winning novel The Orphan Master's Son." (Jocelyn McClurg USA Today)
"An exciting escape closes this urgent, well-rendered attempt to penetrate North Korea's cynical, criminal power strategy." (Kirkus Reviews (Starred))
"A singular and powerful story, rare not only in its portrait of the inner workings of Pyongyang’s elite circles, but rare because a true writer—almost unheard of in North Korea—was there to see it and to tell it.” (Adam Johnson, author of The Orphan Master's Son)
"A compelling story told with the elegance and poetry of the Orient: a page-turner that will change the way the world sees this enigmatic country." (Susanne Koelbl Der Spiegel)
"Gripping." (David Pilling Financial Times)
"A remarkable story of struggle and survival." (Larry Getlen The New York Post)
"A look inside the mysteries of North Korea by the former poet laureate for the late Kim Jong-il. Likely to fascinate anyone who's read Adam Johnson's Pulitzer-winning novel The Orphan Master's Son." (Jocelyn McClurg USA Today)
"An exciting escape closes this urgent, well-rendered attempt to penetrate North Korea's cynical, criminal power strategy." (Kirkus Reviews (Starred))
"A singular and powerful story, rare not only in its portrait of the inner workings of Pyongyang’s elite circles, but rare because a true writer—almost unheard of in North Korea—was there to see it and to tell it.” (Adam Johnson, author of The Orphan Master's Son)
About the Author
Jang Jin-sung is a former poet laureate for North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Since leaving the country he has become a bestselling author and widely solicited commentator on North Korea. He has been awarded the Rex Warner Literary Prize and read his poetry at London’s Cultural Olympiad in 2012. He now lives in South Korea and is editor in chief of New Focus International, an authoritative website reporting on North Korea.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
44 of 45 people found the following review helpful
By
Phillip
on May 12, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition
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This book is the sort that can save lives – hopefully even 25 million of them. It is the most absorbing read that this reader has had in many years. Why is it better than the many noteworthy books on North Korea that have been published before? Because it was written by a high level insider - one of the country’s chief propagandists - who also happens to be an articulate and sensitive writer, with a vastly different perspective from that of a Westerner or a "common" (if there can be such a characterization) North Korean escapee.
It's not just a searing indictment of the Kim dynasty or a political dissertation that details the organization and functioning of a Stalinist dictatorship. It's not just an intimate account of unimaginable human suffering that has been inflicted on a nation’s population over the past few decades by an evil regime. It's not just a thrill-a-minute international espionage story that follows two high-value defectors as they flee, starving and penniless, across the winter landscape of Korea and Northern China, hunted by security forces from both countries. In fact, it is all of these story lines, plus more. The range of its setting stretches from privilege to privation. It is a depiction of a place that seems surreal and hallucinogenic, though it is only too real. It is a story of a man’s awakening from a blinkered life to a wide world beyond his imagining – both its horrors and beauty. It is about his coming to terms with terrible truths and the equally terrible lies that he had helped to perpetrate. It is a buddy story about two young men on the run who share every human emotion possible – from valor to shame to frailty to brotherly love. And perhaps most importantly, it is an epic poem, written by a talented story teller.Read more ›
It's not just a searing indictment of the Kim dynasty or a political dissertation that details the organization and functioning of a Stalinist dictatorship. It's not just an intimate account of unimaginable human suffering that has been inflicted on a nation’s population over the past few decades by an evil regime. It's not just a thrill-a-minute international espionage story that follows two high-value defectors as they flee, starving and penniless, across the winter landscape of Korea and Northern China, hunted by security forces from both countries. In fact, it is all of these story lines, plus more. The range of its setting stretches from privilege to privation. It is a depiction of a place that seems surreal and hallucinogenic, though it is only too real. It is a story of a man’s awakening from a blinkered life to a wide world beyond his imagining – both its horrors and beauty. It is about his coming to terms with terrible truths and the equally terrible lies that he had helped to perpetrate. It is a buddy story about two young men on the run who share every human emotion possible – from valor to shame to frailty to brotherly love. And perhaps most importantly, it is an epic poem, written by a talented story teller.Read more ›
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By
David Michie
on May 23, 2014
Format: Hardcover
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This book is an absolutely mesmerising account of how a senior propagandist in North Korea fled to China. Reading almost like a thriller, rather than a memoir, Jang Jin-Sung, a talented writer who came to the attention of Dear Leader himself, explains how he felt increasingly compromised working for the regime, until he had to run for his life. The tension just doesn't stop, and interwoven in his personal story is an account of life in North Korea. Some of this we all know - the starvation, systematic abuse and unrelenting propaganda. But there are a lot of surprises - like how much the North Korean leadership hates China.
Even if you have no particular interest in North Korean politics (like me) this book is an outstanding read. It also comes as a startling reminder of the incredible reality that we share a planet with a whole nation of people whose lives are an ongoing torment beyond anything we can imagine.
I'd love to read another book by Jang, about how he found adjusting to life 'on the outside' ...
Even if you have no particular interest in North Korean politics (like me) this book is an outstanding read. It also comes as a startling reminder of the incredible reality that we share a planet with a whole nation of people whose lives are an ongoing torment beyond anything we can imagine.
I'd love to read another book by Jang, about how he found adjusting to life 'on the outside' ...
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By
patricia m sexton
on May 22, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition
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If you're at all interested in North Korea, totalitarian states, or fascinated by the sheer determination of someone committed to changing his life in otherwise impossible circumstances, you may likely find this to be one of the best books you'll ever read.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By
Jennifer Anne Mathews
on May 23, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition
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Completely validates "The Orphan master's Son". I would recommend this book to anyone who has any doubts about democracy. Read it. Now. next week is too late.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By
Roald Euller
on October 8, 2014
Format: Hardcover
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I am not sure what to make of this book. It reads like an over the top adventure yarn and I have no doubt that escaping North Korea is a harrowing ordeal or that the author experienced something very much like what is described. Nor do I doubt that the author really was a member of Kim Jong-il's inner circle who worked for the UFD as a poet and author. But outside those broad outlines, I am not sure how much of the book to believe.
For starters, Jang Jin-sung is not the author's real name - it is his pen name, as he states toward the end. I understand that this is in part to protect friends and family members who remain back in North Korea who would be subject to terrible reprisals if his real identity were known. But surely the North Koreans must know who he is, after all, how many defecting poet laureates could there be? In fact, he recounts that he is threatened regularly with assassination by the North Koreans, so his family must in fact be very well known to the North Korean security forces. Then there is the curious fact mentioned almost in passing that one of his relatives is the representative to the Middle East for North Korean arms dealing who annually gave a $10 million dollar "gift" to Kim Jong-il and showers his family members back in the North with Mercedes Benz automobiles. Did this strike anyone other than me as bizarre? Finally, there is the statement by the translator regretting that the "whole story with all its details could not be told and that the truth would emerge over time" (I am paraphrasing). So my basic question is: what was omitted, what was made up, and what was really true?
Make no mistake, I understand the author's need for discretion, and I am not being critical.Read more ›
For starters, Jang Jin-sung is not the author's real name - it is his pen name, as he states toward the end. I understand that this is in part to protect friends and family members who remain back in North Korea who would be subject to terrible reprisals if his real identity were known. But surely the North Koreans must know who he is, after all, how many defecting poet laureates could there be? In fact, he recounts that he is threatened regularly with assassination by the North Koreans, so his family must in fact be very well known to the North Korean security forces. Then there is the curious fact mentioned almost in passing that one of his relatives is the representative to the Middle East for North Korean arms dealing who annually gave a $10 million dollar "gift" to Kim Jong-il and showers his family members back in the North with Mercedes Benz automobiles. Did this strike anyone other than me as bizarre? Finally, there is the statement by the translator regretting that the "whole story with all its details could not be told and that the truth would emerge over time" (I am paraphrasing). So my basic question is: what was omitted, what was made up, and what was really true?
Make no mistake, I understand the author's need for discretion, and I am not being critical.Read more ›
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By
Jennifer
on October 5, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition
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If you are a fiction-only reader, I assure you that, even though Dear Leader is a true story, it is indistinguishable from a great novel. The story has the pacing and revelations of The De Vinci Code. It depicts two dystopian societies that are, dare I say, more intriguing than those in 1984 and Brave New World. As with the Hunger Games or Divergent, you will quickly find yourself emotionally invested in Jang’s fate and that of his friends. This is the best narrative I have read in years, and the fact that it is a memoir makes it all the more heart-wrenching and profound.
Jang allows readers to live in his head and see through his eyes in a way few memoir writers do. For example, Twelve Years a Slave, Man's Search for Meaning, Angela’s Ashes, and The Diary of Ann Frank are indisputably great and intimate memoirs, but they do not involve an awakening that one's dearly held articles of faith---beliefs around which everyone one knows has been required to organize their lives-- are an elaborate deception. Another unique difference is that Jang makes a decision to pursue truth despite the risk to himself and those he loves. Under North Korean law, it is a capital offense to seek information about the outside world. After the offender is executed, his family and closest friends are imprisoned indefinitely unless they prove they had no knowledge of the crime. Lastly, Jang has the soul of a poet and understands the value of words. Even though this book was written in Korean, Jang writes beautifully and chooses his words thoughtfully. His memoir is not merely a call to action or a tribute to the innate curiosity and courage at the core of all people. Jang writes with his reader in mind, and he wants to give a small gift to each reader who joins him on his journey.Read more ›
Jang allows readers to live in his head and see through his eyes in a way few memoir writers do. For example, Twelve Years a Slave, Man's Search for Meaning, Angela’s Ashes, and The Diary of Ann Frank are indisputably great and intimate memoirs, but they do not involve an awakening that one's dearly held articles of faith---beliefs around which everyone one knows has been required to organize their lives-- are an elaborate deception. Another unique difference is that Jang makes a decision to pursue truth despite the risk to himself and those he loves. Under North Korean law, it is a capital offense to seek information about the outside world. After the offender is executed, his family and closest friends are imprisoned indefinitely unless they prove they had no knowledge of the crime. Lastly, Jang has the soul of a poet and understands the value of words. Even though this book was written in Korean, Jang writes beautifully and chooses his words thoughtfully. His memoir is not merely a call to action or a tribute to the innate curiosity and courage at the core of all people. Jang writes with his reader in mind, and he wants to give a small gift to each reader who joins him on his journey.Read more ›
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