How the Hermit Kingdom Lives
The past two decades have witnessed a silent, dual transformation within North Korea — a move from socialism to a feudal dynasty at the regime level, and to a de facto market economy through spontaneous marketization-from-below at the social level. Yet relatively little is known about this.
This book, which grew out of the weekly column “Ask a North Korean” on website NK News, offers a rare chance to look into “normal” lives in an “abnormal” country. Subjects covered span from economic life, work, study, health and welfare, religion, and fun and leisure to love and sex. Also revealed are the differences in daily life between residents of Pyongyang and the rest of the country, and between nouveau riches and the rest of the population.
Ironically, it was the Great Famine of the 1990s that would ultimately improve people’s livelihood and choices. North Koreans had to figure out ways to survive, independent of the state, making them hugely resourceful and resilient. Also, the influx of outside information on tiny USB drives is bringing cultural changes that include perceptions of the outside world and the spread of Hallyu among young North Koreans. The influence of markets, combined with this outside information, is far more powerful than the state expected. North Korea’s path to a normal country may have already started from within and from below.
From economic life, work, study, health and welfare, religion, and fun and leisure to love and sex.