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Dear Leader: Poet, Spy, Escapee - A Look Inside North Korea

Jang Jin-sung

Hardcover | Pages: 339 pages

Rating: 4.31 | 6269 Users | 717 Reviews

Describe Based On Books Dear Leader: Poet, Spy, Escapee - A Look Inside North Korea

Title	:	Dear Leader: Poet, Spy, Escapee - A Look Inside North Korea
Author	:	Jang Jin-sung
Book Format	:	Hardcover
Book Edition	:	Special Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 339 pages
Published	:	May 13th 2014 by 37 Ink
Categories	:	Nonfiction. History. Autobiography. Memoir. Biography. Politics

Chronicle During Books Dear Leader: Poet, Spy, Escapee - A Look Inside North Korea

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.

Define Books As Dear Leader: Poet, Spy, Escapee - A Look Inside North Korea

Original Title:	Dear Leader: Poet, Spy, Escapee - A Look Inside North Korea
ISBN:	147676655X (ISBN13: 9781476766553)
Edition Language:	English
Literary Awards:	Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Memoir & Autobiography (2014)

Rating Based On Books Dear Leader: Poet, Spy, Escapee - A Look Inside North Korea

Ratings: 4.31 From 6269 Users | 717 Reviews

Crit Based On Books Dear Leader: Poet, Spy, Escapee - A Look Inside North Korea

I read this because, probably like many people I'm curious about North Korea, and it was amazing. It's a history lesson, a groundbreaking current affairs expose, and a gripping escape story all rolled into one. Because Jang Jin-Sung held relatively privileged positions within North Korean society, he had access to far more information than the average citizen - and he's still not able to share all of it. What he does share, though, is definitely worth knowing about. The expected horrors and

First of all: Wow.This is one of those reads I want to just pepper with adjectives. It was spellbinding. Tragic. Moving. Chilling. Suspenseful. Intense. Lyrical. Inspiring. Heart rending. The writing is as beautiful as the story is compelling. "Dear Leader" is the seventh book centered around North Korea that I've read in two years. Mostly, I've stuck to defector stories, being endlessly fascinated by how ordinary people live in the DPRK, and how a fortunate minority have managed to escape. The



I like to read speculative fiction science fiction and fantasy and this may as well be. The socio-political situation described in North Korea is as alien as something dreamed up by George Orwell or Philip K. Dick.The author was a state sponsored poet actually a high-ranking member of the controlling workers party and got to see behind the wizards curtain realizing finally that all the propaganda about Dear Leader, the moniker used for the ruling Kim, was a load of horses***. He decided to

I'm retired from the U.S. Navy's submarine force, so I occasionally get questions about North Korea. Their isolation has led to years of speculation about their government and citizens. It's hard for experts to understand the country's culture and politics, let alone their economy or their military intentions. "Dear Leader" is written by one of the most informed defectors to leave the country in years. Jang Jin-sung came to the attention of the leadership during college with his poetry and

Jang Jin-sung was not just an ordinary poet. He was a court poet to Kim Jong-il, the despotic dictator, euphemistically Dear Leader, who ruled North Korea until his death in 2011. Jang was a young superstar when at the age of 28 he could so thoroughly impress Kim Jong-il with a poem that he gained the highest personal acknowledgment one could ever dream of in North Korea: he became one of Kim Jong-il's Admitted. The Admitted were held in such high esteem that even the dreadful Ministry of State

Honestly, I wasnt going to read this one for book club. But I am so glad I gave it a chance. One friend of mine noted that the translation did not lose anything, and that was also a huge plus. In our climate today, where we have been pitted against each other, and the media takes the rap for everything, this book was an amazing insight into North Korea and the ruling regime. First off, this book isnt political or dry, and its not as though state secrets are being shared. But it was one