Dear Leader
Poet, Spy, Escapee--
New York : 37 Ink/Atria, 2014.
Format: Book
Edition: First 37 Ink/Atria Books hardcover edition.
Description: xxii, 339 pages ; 24 cm
"In this rare insider's view into contemporary North Korea, a high-ranking counterintelligence agent describes his life as a former poet laureate to Kim Jong-il and his breathtaking escape to freedom. "The General will now enter the room." Everyone turns to stone. Not moving my head, I direct my eyes to a point halfway up the archway where Kim Jong-il's face will soon appear... As North Korea's State Poet Laureate, Jang Jin-sung led a charmed life. With food provisions (even as the country suffered through its great famine), a travel pass, access to strictly censored information, and audiences with Kim Jong-il himself, his life in Pyongyang seemed safe and secure. But this privileged existence was about to be shattered. When a strictly forbidden magazine he lent to a friend goes missing, Jang Jin-sung must flee for his life. Never before has a member of the elite described the inner workings of this totalitarian state and its propaganda machine. An astonishing expose; told through the heart-stopping story of Jang Jin-sung's escape to South Korea, Dear Leader is a rare and unprecedented insight into the world's most secretive and repressive regime"-- Provided by publisher.
Contents:
Dictator. Psychological warfare -- Going home -- My hometown transformed -- The crime of peering over the border -- A farewell sin -- In the rifle sight -- Fugitive. Yanbian looks to the world, the world to Yanbian! -- Framed for murder -- "Annals of the Kim Dynasty" -- Criminal operations -- North Korean women sold as "pigs" -- At a loss -- Farewell, Young-min -- Freedom. From Yanji to Shenyang -- A fateful meeting with Wang Cho-rin -- Becoming a piano teacher -- The Kim Jong-il strategy -- Meeting Cho-rin's "intended" -- A murderous regime -- Long live freedom!
Subjects:
Chang, Chin-sŏng.
Kim, Chŏng-il, 1942-2011.
Jang, Jin-sung.
Kim, Chŏng-il, 1942-2011.
Kim, Jong-il, 1942-2011.
Propaganda -- Korea (North)
Political refugees -- Korea (North) -- Biography.
Poets -- Biography.
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Political.
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs.
Propaganda.
Hofdichter.
Elite.
Korea (North) -- Politics and government -- 1994-2011.
Korea (North) -- Biography.
Nordkorea.
Chang, Chin-sŏng.
Kim, Chŏng-il, 1942-2011.
Jang, Jin-sung.
Kim, Chŏng-il, 1942-2011.
Kim, Jong-il, 1942-2011.
Propaganda -- Korea (North)
Political refugees -- Korea (North) -- Biography.
Poets -- Biography.
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Political.
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs.
Propaganda.
Hofdichter.
Elite.
Korea (North) -- Politics and government -- 1994-2011.
Korea (North) -- Biography.
Nordkorea.
ISBN:
9781476766553 (hardback)
Availability | |||
---|---|---|---|
Call Number | Location | Shelf Location | Status |
BIOGRAPHY Jang, Jin-sung | Main (Downtown) | Third Level, Biography | In |
Includes index.
Includes index.
Includes index.