A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea
It was strictly forbidden for us to leave the reception center. So there we were—the beneficiaries of smug humanitarianism—prisoners in paradise on earth.
Masaji Ishikawa • A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea
Couple this moment with the moment the author experiences from Chinese and Japanese facilities at the end of the book. An interesting comparison.
After Kim Il-sung’s statement, the General Association of Korean Residents started a mass repatriation campaign in the guise of humanitarianism. The following year, 1959, the Japanese Red Cross Society and the Korean Red Cross Society secretly negotiated a “Return Agreement” in Calcutta. Four months later, the first shipload of returnees left the J
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We were constantly monitored by the goons of the State Security of North Korea and the secret police. I guess we posed a double threat. We’d brought some dangerous items with us from Japan when we moved—things like bicycles and electrical appliances and half-decent clothes. What if the local villagers came to realize that their standard of living w
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We rarely witnessed or experienced any real humanity or warmth in our daily life. Everyone was always thinking of themselves—how to get ahead, pretending to care about the party, watching their own backs, scrambling for food, and using cigarettes and alcohol as bribes to get in with people who had power. To be fair, it was the only way to survive.
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A powerful thought in the midst of a complete system of dehumanization.
it came from party officials, who drilled the same messages into them day after day after day. “The dictator of South Korea started the Korean War! He was a pro-American imperialist! The leader of a puppet government! A poodle!” As a result, the militarization of the nation was entirely justified in their eyes. They were the only bulwark against im
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It didn’t matter how much effort you put into your independent plot or how much food you actually produced, because the party simply took it. No matter how carefully you’d tended your crop, your overall annual allocation remained the same. What kind of motivation does that provide?
Masaji Ishikawa • A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea
When you find yourself caught in a crazy system dreamed up by dangerous lunatics, you just do what you’re told.
Masaji Ishikawa • A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea
I've seen this at play, on a much more minor scale, in the workplace a couple times throughout my career. Strong executive personalities can create their own mind-warping reality.
In the end, all that mattered was whether our loyalty toward Kim Il-sung appeared credible. So we became masters at faking it. Everyone did. To do anything else could have gotten us killed.