Review: North Korea Undercover: Inside the World's Most Secret State

North Korea Undercover: Inside the World's Most Secret State by John Sweeney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While North Korea is not a place that lends itself to levity, John Sweeney brings his very British wit to bear on the absurdity that is the Kim dynasty. The book could be seen as a beginner's guide to the country and its history, and paints a picture in broad strokes through Sweeney's first hand experiences and interviews with escaped North Koreans, diplomats, and other political figures.

The book could have used another round of edits, as Sweeney tends to repeat himself, but we can forgive him his tics. He's one of those particularly fearless journalists, inserting himself into all sorts of places he isn't welcome (various dictatorships, the Church of Scientology, etc.). Nonetheless he restrains himself in North Korea, posing as a professor chaperoning a group of students.

Especially interesting are Sweeney remarks on the unreality of the tourist experience. Every visitor is constantly escorted, and their every experience is stage managed. The museums (all, of course, about the Kims) are full of giant Kim statues - Kims Il Sung and Jong Il, that is - but empty of visitors. There are no people with any disabilities. The crowds at the lackluster circus clap in eerie unison. Anyone who dies in a "traffic accident" can be assumed assassinated, since there are barely any vehicles on the road. The only places with reliable electricity are the massive mausoleum with the preserved Kim corpses and the electric fence barring the way to South Korea.

Sweeney offers plenty of further reading on the gulag, though warns the books can be very difficult
to read, and gives a thorough history of the nationwide enslavement Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il have created and upheld through isolation brainwashing. It's just as creepy and horrible as you'd expect, if not more so. I was shocked to learn that institutions like the World Health Organization and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation rely on information provided by the North Korean government to make decisions about relief and healthcare measures. That anyone takes anything on faith from this unhinged despot just floors me - but what else can they go by? What will we see as satellite imagery brings us closer and closer to seeing the world?

The book is simultaneously surreal and chilling, and though it's a few years out of date, the only thing that's changed is the temperature of the rhetoric. Sweeney's take on the possibility of nuclear war? Unlikely. He predicts that Kim Jong Un will continue his brinkmanship without end, primarily to put on a show for fellow North Koreans. But he must know, says Sweeney, that an attack will prompt a counterattack, and he is hopelessly outgunned in any actual conflict. Kim Jong Un will talk, but doesn't want to take a chance on actually losing the power he's grown accustomed to. We must hope he's an evil genius and not a true madman.

If Sweeney's right, we can only hope that the US won't allow itself to be provoked by words. Hardly a comforting thought!


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