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Comrades and Strangers: Behind the Closed Doors of North Korea Paperback – July 30, 2004

by Michael Harrold (Author)

16 customer reviews

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In 1987 Michael Harrold went to North Korea to work as English language adviser on translations of the speeches of the late President Kim Il Sung (the Great Leader) and his son and heir Kim Jong Il (then Dear Leader and now head of state). For seven years he lived in Pyongyang enjoying privileged access to the ruling classes and enjoying the confidence of the country’s young elite. In this fascinating insight into the culture of North Korea he describes the hospitality of his hosts, how they were shaken by the Velvet Revolution of 1989 and many of the fascinating characters he met from South Korean and American GI defectors to his Korean minder and socialite friends. After seven years and having been caught passing South Korean music tapes to friends and going out without his minder to places forbidden to foreigners, he was asked to leave the country.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“… excellent book…”(British Association for Korean Studies, July 2004)

"North Koreans are too often portrayed as hapless droids; Harrold peels back the last Iron Curtain to reveal their humanity." (Daily Telegraph, 13^th November 2004)

“…sheds considering light…” (Far Eastern Economic Review, December 2004)

“..the most revealing glimpse yet of what passes for normal life in North Korea.” (Asian Wall Street Journal, 3^rd September 2004)

From the Back Cover

In 1986, as a young graduate looking for some adventure before settling down to life in the suburbs, Michael Harrold answered, on a whim, an advertisement to become the first Briton to live and work in North Korea. What he anticipated would be an exciting interlude in the world's most secretive country became seven years in which his initial scepticism, even cynicism, about the regime and society developed into growing empathy with the people around him. From among the ranks of the VIP guests at the major state occasions, to the paddy fields working alongside the farmers, he saw the country as no outsider has ever done. He loved, and lost, a young local girl, fell foul of the authorities and yet stood beside the people as they faced the mounting threat of US invasion.

This sensitive and entertaining memoir give a unique insight into life behind the closed doors of North Korea.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product details

Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (July 30, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0470869763
ISBN-13: 978-0470869765
Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 1.3 x 7.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 16 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,550,107 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #321 in Books > History > Asia > Korea > North
- #2421 in Books > Travel > Asia > General
- #6834 in Books > Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Writing > Travel

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3.6 out of 5 stars

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Interesting, but ...

ByC. RichardVINE VOICEon June 8, 2009

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is a book by Michael Harrold about his life during his almost seven years in North Korea where he worked as a translations adviser.

First, let me say that a main reason that I bought this book was because of a few comments in the amazon.com product description:

"For seven years he lived in Pyongyang enjoying privileged access to the ruling classes and enjoying the confidence of the country's young elite. In this fascinating insight into the culture of North Korea he describes ... and many of the fascinating characters he met ... socialite friends. After seven years and having been caught passing South Korean music tapes to friends and going out without his minder to places forbidden to foreigners, he was asked to leave the country."

I think this description was a bit exaggerated and/or misleading. I was expecting to gain some insight into how the elite lived and thought; the author had little if any contact with the elite, and there was not much insight given there. He did drink a lot of beer while having some light chats with some North Koreans who could speak English, but no heavy weights from what I could see; even these people seemed to keep him at arms length most of the time, but then he was a foreigner and that is a problem there. On his being asked to leave, the music tape thing described happened a long time before he left it seems, and I am not at all sure that went to any forbidden places at all. That fight he got into in front of a hotel not long before he left seems to have had much more to do with his departure. BUT, then again, he was later asked to return to his old job.

In any case, I still liked the book. Harrold does relate many interesting anecdotes and also explains how the scene there and internationally was viewed from inside North Korea - or at least how he thought it was viewed there, as the North Koreans were not big on sharing their innermost thoughts I gathered. It is written with some attention to chronological order, but is also a little stream of consciousness (disorganized) at the same time, so be warned. I did think that he spent way too much time talking about his beer drinking and not enough on (other) local color and what it was really really like to live there on a day to day basis throughout the year(s).

Harrold has gotten some criticism for being too sympathetic to the North Korean viewpoint, but then to be fair, he is clear that things there are far from OK. It is true, as he points out, that things in South Korea are not all freedom and prosperity for all either. The Kim regime in the north has done some good things for the people, but then again, the bad has out-weighted the good for many many years at least. It is instructive to hear how the North Koreans themselves probably see things. But then, is their viewpoint based on less than complete information?

It was a little sad to see how much it appeared to have hurt Harrold when he apparently reached the conclusion that he had never really been accepted there after almost seven years.

The book is rather long (about 400 pages), but is pretty entertaining and should keep a reader interested. Is it the best one could have hoped for from someone who spent so long there? Well maybe not.

0Comment 5 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Compelling, unique story, though author comes across as self centered

ByPaul Gon November 5, 2009

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This book was very easy to read, and the storyline fascinated me. It provides a unique perspective of a foreigner who had lived in North Korea for 7 years, and the author seems candid and forthright in his writing. I found it difficult to put this book down once I started reading it, this is why I give it 4 stars.

That said, there are aspects about the book which disturbed me quite a bit. The author worked as a editor of propaganda material for the NK regime. Considering the massive existence of political slave and death camps (as read through books such as The Aquariums of Pyongyang, The Eyes of the Tailess Animals, etc.), I suppose his job would be the equivalent of someone taking a job under Joseph Goebels during the regime of Nazi Germany. Though he doesn't seem malicious, I think he fails to grasp the nature of the true suffering which he was sheltered from. Also he seems to equate a certain degree of moral equivalences between the actions of the NK regime to the actions of the USA. While he does make some interesting and noteworthy points, I think his overall philosophy is deeply flawed. He was treated well by the regime (despite his adolescent complaining), so he thinks the regime will be forthright in political negotiations, etc. He is projecting his own experience and paradigm onto the world around him - when his own experienced was unique and not common amongst the people who live there.

Also, throughout the book, the author seems to look at everything from a completely self-centered and selfish point of view. When he criticizes others for their actions, such as when no one spoke up for him when he was being questioned by the police - he doesn't even consider the fact that if anyone did, they and their entire family would probably be sent to a gulag. Or when he takes offence as to why people won't answer the question "why", as if those people themselves formulate the policies of their government. I think this attitude, again, stemmed from his being sheltered from the reality that most people endure there. He was only exposed to the upper echelons of NK society, who wanted to put on their best face, and I don't think he had the desire to see the worst face of his employer.

I think he does do a good job, at articulating the personalities of the people that he met, as well as the thought process among many Koreans. I remember meeting in South Korea Korea a number of people who had deep seeded anti-American sentiments for the same reason the author writes among the North Koreans. Also, I know that many South Koreans share the same passionate desire to reunify with the North, and many blame the US for the conflict, etc. I felt some of the personalities the author was writing about from the North, could have easily been someone from the South. I thought the author did a good job at conveying the essense of this Korean thought process.

To sum up my observations from this book, the writer seems like some spoiled kid who went to NK from England to work as a propaganda editor for the NK regime. While the author is not a die hard communist, he has socialist tendancies and seems to conveniently overlook the true nature of his employer. In doing so, at times he seems to put the lives of others at risk, by projecting his own paradigm of the world onto others, without taking into consideration the full consequences they might have to endure as a result.

But I do admire the author for his candidness and honesty in his writing, and I am glad that he wrote this book and shared his experiences.

0Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

ByJanis Creasonon July 2, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

as advertised

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

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