The Hidden People of North Korea: Everyday Life in the Hermit Kingdom.

• Author: Bao, Angela Beibei
• Position: Brief article - Book review

THE HIDDEN PEOPLE OF NORTH KOREA: EVERYDAY LIFE IN THE HERMIT KINGDOM

Ralph Hassig and Kongdan Oh

(New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2009), 300 pages.

For outsiders, the view of North Korea has long been obscured. The current dictator, Kim Jong Il, once said: "We must envelop our environment in a dense fog to prevent our enemies from learning anything about us." However, Ralph Hassig and Kongdan Oh, two longtime Korea watchers, present a stunningly detailed account of daily life in this mysterious regime.

Based on interviews with 200 defectors, including several former officials, and dispatches from local media, the book describes the seldom-reported inner world of ordinary North Koreans. It challenges the conventional wisdom that the country's masses are always united around the Kim family. The authors contend that a form of "double thinking" is emerging: many people no longer believe in socialism, even if they pretend to during the day to avoid being labeled as members of the "hostile class."

North Koreans, say Hassig and Oh, have begun to trade products in black markets...