Good books about north korea?

[UndergroundConnexion]

I am wondering if i can find somewhere any good books about north korea.
recently i saw one for cheap but when reading on the back cover "north korea is one of the last communist countries" is thought : fuck that book , probably some reactionary shit. Dont get me wrong im not pro dprk, i just want an objective book.

[UndergroundConnexion]

who placed this here? here i will not get any answer...

[The Author]

Try "North Korea: Another Country" by Bruce Cumings.

Very detailed information on the D.P.R.K., and the imperialist propaganda crusade which has been launched against it. Also, some good information on the atrocities committed by the U.S. armed forces during the Korean War as well.

[MarxSchmarx]

Bruce Cummings' points are well taken, but he is first and foremost a historian of the Korean war and the West, not of North Korea per-se. I hesitate to say that when he just goes after strawmen arguments like "North Koreans are zombies" and focuses too much on the EXTERNAL (e.g. Western) responses to North Korea.

Unfortunately there are no "objective" accounts of what's going on in North Korea. Well, at least outside MI5, the KGB and the CIA.

"First-hand" account for North Korea available to the non-DPRK press come from refugees and defectors who can't be fans of the regime. Either that or sycophants the official government guide deems safe to let speak to foreigners.

So any objective, current account of the North comes from people with strong emotions.

With those caveats, a fascinating, well-documented, and readable book is:

Rogue Regime: Kim Jong Il and the Looming Threat of North Korea by Jasper Baker.

It details what went terribly, terribly wrong up there, and the mistakes made after the death of Kim il Sung that resulted in the humanitarian disaster. It also talks about the North's current efforts to integrate into the international community.

Also there are numerous memoirs by the elite that got out, but the only one I've read is:

Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in a North Korean Gulag by Kang Chol Hwan