'Nothing to envy: real lives in North Korea' by Barbara Demick

It is difficult to convey the horror of living in a totalitarian state but Barbara Demick manages to portray the suffering of the North Korean people under their morally bankrupt regime. The widely held perception in the western world is that North Koreans spend most of their time marching in unison around Pyongyang. Demick takes us outside that closely censored image and into the real lives of those seemingly loyal subjects.

Her book is drawn from interviews with defectors who, almost without exception, have a relative who died as a result of a famine in the 1990's . Large tracts of the work focus on this famine, which is believed to have wiped out as much as ten percent of the population, working out at just over two million people. Understandably, previous loyalty to the ruling Workers Party became as scarce a commodity as the food itself. Those who would not steal died first, those who would not break the law to sell were next.

Yet, despite the resentment, no change was wrought in the government's policy and many working people have not recieved a pay cheque since the mid 90's. Kim Jong-Il continued drinking fine wine and dining on lobster whilst his country was laid waste. As if this were not reprehensible enough, his clique knew that they had enough informers to maintain the situation. People knew that a misplaced word could send them to a labour camp, never to return.

The only method of social advancement in North Korea is through joining the Workers Party. Demick shows us that this is the only ambition that most of the population can hold. However, due to a strange caste system that dominates the society, it is an impossibility for just as many. Our defectors are more than aware of the irony of a communist utopia in which such a system persists. It is made clear that for many, that was the reason for leaving.

In amongst the attempts at thought control, there are some moments of rare humanity. A thread that runs through the book is a love affair between two of the defectors that is touching for its desperation. There is a great taboo in North Korea about pre-marital relationships of any kind, partly due to the chilling belief that it would detract from loyalty to the state. Thankfully, in this case it does exactly that and they find the bravery to escape.

This is a rare moment of lightness in an otherwise harrowing work. One after the other, the defectors reveal the moment they became disillusioned with all that they had been taught to believe. From an early age, North Koreans are taught that Kim Jong-Il and his father Kim Il-Sung are the providers of almost everything. The personality cult surrounding Kim Il-Sung in particular is something to behold, as is the grief that took hold of people upon his death in 1994.

Yet, when leaders are supposed to be the providers of everything, questions are naturally asked when the supplies run out. Opposition expressed privately was the only refuge for many of the defectors and even then the constant barrage of propaganda forced many to doubt themselves. As a result, Demick is deeply sympathetic to those who struggle to adapt to life in the outside world, pointing out that many of them have never been instructed to think for themselves.

The book is a thoroughly researched piece that evidently took many years of interviews and study to complete. It is an absolute credit to Demick that she shows us exactly what it is like to live in the world's most secretive state. The drabness and claustrophobia of life are reflective of Stalinism at its worst. George Orwell once wrote of 'a boot stamping on the face of human face forever'. Unfortunately, North Korea is every bit the realisation of his dystopia.

Every page that passes makes the reader more and more grateful for the blessing of being born in a democracy. It is by no means an easy read but a necessary one.