I’ve always wanted to compile a complete list of
all the North Korean defector memoirs. There are currently 14 memoirs about defectors
from North Korea published in English--I’m fairly certain about this but if I
missed one please feel free to email me. Some of them are better
known than others and have appeared on recommended reading lists for books on
North Korea by some major publications. Below
is the list of all 14 memoirs in the order of publication in English:
The Tears of My Soul (1993)
A Mig-15 to Freedom (1996)*
A Mig-15 to Freedom (1996)*
The Aquariums of Pyongyang (2001)
This is Paradise: My North Korean Childhood (2005)
The Reluctant Communist (2008)*
Long Road Home (2009)
Long Road Home (2009)
Escape from Camp 14 (2012)
Stars between the Sun and Moon (2014)
Dear Leader: My Escape from North Korea (2014)
The Girl with Seven Names (2015)
The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot (2015)
Under the Same Sky (2015)
In Order to Live (2015)
A Thousand Miles to Freedom (2015)
Every Falling Star (2016)
A River in Darkness (2017)
*Added later thanks to readers' suggestion. Now there are 16.
*Added later thanks to readers' suggestion. Now there are 16.
There are many more defector stories published in
South Korea and Japan that have not been (and may never be) translated into
English. Hwang Jang-yop, the highest ranking North Korean ever to defect, wrote
a memoir I Saw History’s Truth which was published in 1999 in South
Korea--see below my translation of excerpts from his 1998 interview which is
still relevant today. Oddly Hwang's memoir has not been translated into English
but there is a book published in English based on it: Exit the Emperor Kim
Jong-Il by John Cha. Odder still is the fact that Shin Sang-ok's memoirs
have not been translated into English--though, again, there is a book published
in English based on them: A Kim Jong-Il Production by Paul Fischer. I recognize
that it may be a stretch to say Shin Sang-ok and Choi Eun-hee, arguably the
most famous South Korean movie director and actress respectively, are
defectors. They are in fact South Koreans who were abducted by Kim Jong-un's
father Kim Jong-Il but “defected” from North Korea after 8 years of unusual
captivity. For me their stories most certainly belong in this genre.
Typically the details of North Korean defector
stories are hard, if not impossible, to verify. But as the defector ranks
grow and more of them speak out through various channels and more defector
accounts are published, it has become possible in many cases to examine or
cross-check their stories. Author Blaine Harden wrote eloquently about this
issue in a Washington Post piece.
I hope to blog about these memoirs in the order of
their English publication. My postings will include my comments, musings,
and personal memories evoked by these stories. Though not a day goes by where I do not
think about the unknown fate of my family and not a day goes by where I do not
open my computer every morning hoping that the day's breaking news is: The Kim Dynasty
Finally Collapses, I have for the longest time tried to forget my own
memories. So this would be an interesting amble down memory lane for me—it’s
been a long time. I did not experience the life of suffering most defectors had
to endure and most North Koreans are enduring daily there still; nor did I
experience harrowing journeys through China and then the Gobi desert or through the crocodile
infested Mekong and jungles of South East Asia, where many have perished. My
life in North Korea was comfortable by North Korean standards and my escape was
a comfortable plane ride to the West, not counting tense days and hours leading up to the flight. The
heroes in these memoirs, like all other North Korean defectors, risked their
lives to embark on their journey to freedom. But it also takes courage to tell
these stories. For all North Koreans defection is the journey of a lifetime that
culminates in our escape from the most unimaginable place on the planet but it never really begins until we speak up and stand up for all those who still remain in that "black hole of human souls."
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Before I get started, I would like to share with
you my own translation of excerpts from Hwang Jang-yop’s 1998 interview conducted by Hagiwara
Ryo and published by the Japanese monthly Bungeishuju (1999; Issue 2). I did
not know Hwang Jang-yop personally but he was no stranger to me and most North
Koreans, especially those born before the 1990s. Before my defection, I had always considered him the only decent man within the regime’s government and respected
him accordingly. My grandmother, a widower since before the Korean War, had a
huge crush on him, a little secret she shared with her favorite grandson--her
words not mine. I was already in the US when Hwang defected in 1997 which was a
huge and desperately needed morale booster for me, a "traitor." I felt
justified in my own defection. He was the only other defector from North Korea
I knew of at the time--Google hadn't arrived yet. Of course, I could not have
been more wrong.
HR (Hagiwara Ryo): There are various theories as to
why you defected to South Korea…What was the real reason?
HJY (Hwang Jang-yop): …I couldn’t bear to watch it
while Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il were ruining the country. I felt terrible
leaving North Korea with things the way they were. But I thought shouting
hurrah while millions were starving to death was not a human thing to do
either...Another reason was Kim Jong-Il’s constant war
preparations. I couldn’t bear it any longer watching him only focused on war
preparation while people were starving to death en masse. The generals believed
that the North would prevail even if American troops were still stationed in the
South. They claimed that we had to go to war as soon as possible because
winning the war would get harder down the road...Say [Kim Jong-Il] had several billion dollars in
his Swiss bank accounts, I can categorically tell you that he would never touch
them to alleviate people suffering…He is cruel. He takes more pleasure from
seeing people suffering than living well. He has a sadistic personality…He is
the absolute dictator who will kill anyone who is opposed to him whether it’s
100,000 or a million. That’s what keeps the system in place under the current
circumstances. [It was said that Kim Jong-Il wanted to make sure to impart to Kim Jong-un his belief in the power of brutality in ruling the masses.]
…
HR: What does Kim Jong-Il think of Japan? Where
does Japan fit into his policies? I don’t think he views Japan as a problem. I
think he is more interested in engagement with the US because he believes that
Japan will just follow the US's lead.
HJY: That’s right. I think his biggest goal for the
North Korea-Japan relationship is compensation through the normalization of
diplomatic relationships. But he believes that Japan won’t agree to it so long
as the US is not on board. That’s why he is interested in improving relations
with the US a little. North Korea does not want the actual normalization of
diplomatic relationships with the US. They just want to improve the North-US
relationship so that the US does not stand in the way of the normalization of the diplomatic relationship between the North and Japan. That’s one. Secondly,
North Korea believes the improvement of the North-US relationship will be
beneficial to their attempt to break free from international isolation.
HR: Do you think they would want to normalize their
relationship with the US?
HJY: Kim Jong-Il is absolutely opposed to having
the US embassy in Pyongyang. As of the time I left, he made sure that no US liaison
office was stationed in Pyongyang either. He wanted it to be in Rason if at
all.
HR: Then the prospect of the US-North Korea
relationship improving fundamentally is dim?
HJY: I can’t say. It depends on how the US views
North Korea. From what I’ve seen, neighboring countries do not know North Korea
very well. Even China, one country that supposedly knows North Korea the
best, doubts the situation inside North Korea could be that horrific.
Imagine how little the US or Japan would know. South Korea, too, does not know
North Korea very well. North Korea is so closed and so different from other
countries that you can’t understand it with normal standards, which is the
reason I wrote the book The Truth and Deception in North Korea. No
outsider knows the truth about North Korea. I couldn’t remain silent.
HR: What can we do?
HJY: …There are those who believe that, because
North Korea is destroyed economically, helping them economically and helping
them break free from international isolation would bring them into the
international community. I disagree. The regime is fundamentally maintained by the military and violence. The legitimacy of the regime’s existence is based on
unification through the takeover of the South. That’s their nature. That’s why
they keep emphasizing that there will be no democracy until unification and
anyone who is opposed to unification will be executed. But in order to move
toward reform, they need democracy. But can there be democracy in North Korea?
They can't travel and have no access to foreign books, not to mention freedom
of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly...Would the regime take
its coat off if we embraced them warmly with sunshine? They can't. Because
their true identity will be exposed once they take their coat off. That's why
even in today’s dire circumstances they uphold their superpower rationale.
HR: What is "superpower rationale"?
HJY: The superpower rationale means to gain
economic benefits from South Korea and others by means of extortion through
threats while striving toward the status of the "superpower of ideology," "military
superpower," and "political superpower." The idea came about from the three reasons
the regime attributed to the collapse of Soviet Union and the East European
countries: 1) Weakening of dictatorship through the criticism of Stalin's
personality cult, 2) Making concessions on human rights for the Helsinki
Accords, a declaration reached during the conference on security and
economic co-operation and human rights in Europe held in 1975, 3)
Reduction of military spending by Gorbachev. The regime was asking why the Soviet
Union reduced its nuclear weapons stockpile when they could have used it
to force America to help them [economically]. That’s how North Korea sees
it. They believe that big capitalists in America are fearful of wars and even
more fearful of dying but those who have got nothing to lose are not afraid of
dying. That’s why more nuclear weapons would have brought more economic aid
from capitalists everywhere. That’s the lesson they drew. It’s too late for
North Korea to develop its economy. That’s why they determined that they have
no choice but to strengthen the personality cult for the superpower of ideology and
rush in the direction of military and political superpower.
HR: What can we do to counter North Korea with
that kind of rationale? Can we guide them to reform and openness?
HJY: …Kim Jong-Il or the regime has no reason to
reform or open up. That would be suicidal for them.
…
HR: Any message to the people of Japan or Koreans
in Japan?
HJY: ...We must end the Kim
Jong-il regime as soon as possible. Once the Kim Jong-il regime collapses,
there won’t be a second Kim Jong-il. Once the regime collapses, there will be
reform and openness and then democracy. Market economy will be implemented and
the doors will be open to the world. This way the malignant cancer that
has been threatening the peace in East Asia will be eliminated.