Inside North Korea [Hardcover]

Mark Edward Harris (Author), Bruce Cumings (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 8, 2007

All but closed to outside visitors and influence, its public posture guarded and combative, we see almost nothing from inside North Korea. Award-winning photographer Mark Edward Harris has had rare access to this reclusive country, traveling within its borders as well as documenting life along its northern border with China and the highly militarized DMZ dividing North and South Korea. His images are amazing: the monumental architecture and empty streets of the capital; tightly controlled zones of economic and tourist trade with South Korea; mass games featuring 100,000 choreographed participants. Short essays, extended captions, and a foreword by North Korea expert Bruce Cumings further illuminate a country increasingly at the center of international politics.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mark Edward Harris has traveled and photographed in more than 70 countries. He lives in Los Angeles.

Bruce Cumings is the author of North Korea: Another Country and Korea's Place in the Sun, and the two-volume Origins of the Korean War, and is a professor of history at the University of Chicago.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (March 8, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811857514
• ISBN-13: 978-0811857512
• Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 9.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #347,799 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #6 in Books > Travel > Asia > North Korea

More About the Author

Mark Edward Harris has traveled and photographed in 80 countries. His awards include a CLIO Award and an Aurora Gold Award for his photographic work and an ACE Award for television directing. His books include Faces of the Twentieth Century: Master Photographers and Their Work which won the prestigious New York Book Show Photography Book of the Year and Best of Show awards; The Way of the Japanese Bath, winner of a Premier Print Award; Wanderlust which led to him being named Photographer of the Year at the 2004 Black and White Spider Awards and the book itself being named the people/photography book of the year at the International Photography Awards and the Prix del la Photographie Paris; in 2007 Chronicle Books published Inside North Korea and in 2008 Inside Iran; in 2009 an expanded 2nd edition of The Way of the Japanese Bath was released.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A propaganda paradise, April 30, 2007

By 

Robin Benson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inside North Korea (Hardcover)

I recently reviewed Philippe Chancel's excellent photographic book North Korea and Mark Harris in his book has filled in more of the jigsaw. The Chancel book essentially covered the capitol Pyongyang and Harris contributes twenty general shots, too. Additional capitol coverage includes the amazing Arirang Mass Games, the Children's Palace, the Korean film studio and five shots of the USS Pueblo.

The strength of this book is the coverage outside of the capitol. No doubt under strict supervision Harris visited Kaesong, Geumgangsen, Sinuiju, Paektusan and the Tumen River along the northeast border region. The photos show the countryside and rather bleak looking cities and towns. Everywhere bikes seem the principal means of transport and everywhere there are the slogans of good cheer to inspire the masses. On page 135 there is photo of a hillside above the town of Sanbong with huge letters spelling out: 'Bravo Mr Kim who is the Greatest Sunshine of the 21st Century!' No doubt it keeps hillside typographers busy.

The last section covers the countryside along the Demilitarised Zone with its two and a half mile wide strip of land 151 miles long. The photos here are a mixture of military presence and agricultural folk existing (on either side) in this volatile flashpoint. One photo shows the world's tallest flagpole, 525 feet high, towering above the village of Kichong-dong (wouldn't such a structure make a super espionage something or other?).

I liked the book with its mixture of travel and politics (SS Pueblo, DMZ and Panmunjeom) presented in slightly raw, gutsy photos whereas Chancel's style is photographically softer and his book is the more elegant of the two. Both books are certainly worth a look if you want see a little bit of a forbidden country and you'll most likely see more of it than many of the people who live there.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for any collection seeking a solid introduction., August 8, 2007

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inside North Korea (Hardcover)

North Korea's always in the news and so a book like INSIDE NORTH KOREA is essential not just to college-level holdings with books on North Korea, but to general-interest collections as well. The public library will especially appreciate this book's format: an oversized photo exhibit which pairs well-researched essays and commentary by North Korea experts with images of North Korean peoples and places. Perfect for any collection seeking a solid introduction.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Coffee Table Picture Book by a Skilled Photographer in a Reclusive Country, December 17, 2009

By 

Richard L. Fuller (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Inside North Korea (Hardcover)

When I purchased this book, I envisioned a narrative of life in North Korea, however, I quickly discovered this book WAS NOT what I had expected. Pleasantly surprised, I opened the book to see dozens of high-resolution photographs of North Korean cultural sites, monuments, Pyongyang, the DMZ, towns and farms, and Koreans. It shocked me to see these photographs, which were no-doubt screened before leaving the country, of a reclusive nation with a rich historical background.

The book is large, full of photographs, and sparse on narrative. The photographer teamed with noted American author and Korean Historian Bruce Cumings for the forward.

Photographs include: Mass Games, Pyongyang, The Monument to the Workers' Party, the Juche Tower, trolleys and subways, the Mansudae Grand Monument on Mansu Hill, the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum, Arch of Triumph, the Reunification Arch, the DMZ, murals, soldiers in uniform, children, farmers, and small towns.