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Hyeonseo Lee's Top Book Recommendations

Want to know what books Hyeonseo Lee recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Hyeonseo Lee's favorite book recommendations of all time.

1
North Korea  is a country  that continues  to make headlines—arousing curiosity and fear in equal measure.  The world’s most secretive nuclear power, it is a nation that still has Gulag-style prison camps, no internet, and bans its people from talking to foreigners without official approval. In this remarkable and eye-opening book, bestselling author Paul French takes the reader inside the world’s most secretive country. He examines the history and politics of North Korea, Pyongyang’s complex relations with South Korea, Japan, and America. As China begins to tire of its unruly ally, what are... more
Recommended by Hyeonseo Lee, and 1 others.

Hyeonseo LeeAn excellent introduction to the history and politics of North Korea, including its complex relations with South Korea, Japan and the USA. (Source)

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2
For decades, North Korea denied any part in the disappearance of dozens of Japanese citizens from Japan’s coastal towns and cities in the late 1970s. But in 2002, with his country on the brink of collapse, Kim Jong-il admitted to the kidnapping of thirteen people and returned five of them in hopes of receiving Japanese aid. As part of a global espionage project, the regime had attempted to reeducate these abductees and make them spy on its behalf. When the scheme faltered, the captives were forced to teach Japanese to North Korean spies and make lives for themselves, marrying, having... more
Recommended by Hyeonseo Lee, and 1 others.

Hyeonseo LeeA frightening portrait of North Korea’s abductions of Japanese citizens, and efforts to use them to train spies. (Source)

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3
Kim Jong-il has been the subject of intense interest and fear in recent months. He has been demonised as 'Dr Evil' for his nuclear programme which puts Korea on a collision course with the US. For this reason, the world has a stake in understanding this man and his little-known country. This account aims to tell the compelling story of Kim Jong-il and the country he leads, exploring the pressing question of how he manages to hold onto power in a country that is ravaged by famine and poverty. Unravelling the myths, mysteries, and fallacies that surround this small, desperate country, this... more
Recommended by Hyeonseo Lee, and 1 others.

Hyeonseo LeeI hope this book is smuggled in, to give the people a sense of the true nature of their ‘Dear Leader’. (Source)

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4
**Named one of the best books of 2015 by The Economist**

Private Markets, Fashion Trends, Prison Camps, Dissenters and Defectors.


North Korea is one of the most troubled societies on earth. The country's 24 million people live under a violent dictatorship led by a single family, which relentlessly pursues the development of nuclear arms, which periodically incites risky military clashes with the larger, richer, liberal South, and which forces each and every person to play a role in the "theater state" even as it pays little more than lip service to the...
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Recommended by Hyeonseo Lee, and 1 others.

Hyeonseo LeeSome of the information is revelatory, especially about black market trade with China – foreign films and books have been smuggled in. (Source)

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5

Nothing to Envy

Ordinary Lives in North Korea

Nothing to Envy follows the lives of six North Koreans over fifteen years—a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung, the unchallenged rise to power of his son Kim Jong-il, and the devastation of a far-ranging famine that killed one-fifth of the population.

Taking us into a landscape most of us have never before seen, award-winning journalist Barbara Demick brings to life what it means to be living under the most repressive totalitarian regime today—an Orwellian world that is by choice not connected to the Internet, in which radio and television dials are welded to...
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Recommended by Hyeonseo Lee, and 1 others.

Hyeonseo LeeShe includes great details that show everyday life in North Korea. (Source)

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