North Korea's Hidden Revolution

In the last two decades, North Korea has gone through dramatic changes, largely because the old system of self-isolation began to crumble. In vivid detail, Jieun Baek's book shows this hidden transformation and how it changed the lives of North Koreans. A truly interesting read for all people interested in North Korea. -Andrei Lankov, author of The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia -- Andrei Lankov For those befuddled by the Hermit Kingdom's antics and frustrated by our apparent impotence in addressing its challenge, Jieun Baek's North Korea's Hidden Revolution provides a powerful beacon of light. -Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kenendy School -- Graham Allison A fascinating and intelligent overview of the ways that information is liberating North Koreans' minds. --Robert S. Boynton, author of The Invitation-Only Zone: The True Story of North Korea's Abduction Project -- Robert S. Boynton Drawing on deeply personal and thoughtful interviews with North Korean defectors from all walks of life, Jieun Baek's North Korea's Hidden Revolution sheds invaluable light on North Korea's information underground. It is a fascinating, important, and vivid account of how unofficial information is increasingly seeping into the North and chipping away at the regime's myths--and hence its control of North Korean society. --Sue Mi Terry, former CIA analyst and senior research scholar at the Weatherhead East Asia Institute, Columbia University -- Sue Mi Terry North Korea's Hidden Revolution humanizes a dark part of our world, gives agency and voice to North Koreans, and underscores the power of information in a uniquely closed society. A must-read. --Wael Ghonim, Egyptian human rights activist -- Wael Ghonim Our usual image of North Korea is of an isolated society cut off from the outside world and trapped in another time. But Jieun Baek shows that this is far from the case. Through detailed observation, exhaustive research, and extensive interviews with defectors, she reveals a society undergoing tremendous change and becoming connected to the world as never before. Despite the best efforts of the regime to control information flows into and out of North Korea, the country is undergoing an information revolution with far-reaching and unpredictable effects. --Charles K. Armstrong, Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Studies in the Social Sciences, Columbia University -- Charles K. Armstrong This insightful, well-written and disturbing book adds depth and texture to what we think life inside North Korea must be like. --Ambassador Robert Gallucci -- Robert Gallucci [A] timely and cogent book. -Stephen J. Gallas, The Los Angeles Review of Books -- Stephen J. Gallas The Los Angeles Review of Books