Nothing to Envy

“They don’t stop to think that in the middle of this black hole, in this bleak, dark country where millions have died of starvation, there is also love.” 

The author emphasizes that current discussions of North Korea often leave out the stories of the many citizens who live there. When only its government or propaganda or darkness are discussed, it is easy to forget that the citizens of this nation navigate the same emotions and situations as all other humans.

“In the futuristic dystopia imagined in 1984, George Orwell wrote of a world where the only color to be found was in the propaganda posters. Such is the case in North Korea. Images of Kim Il-sung are depicted in the vivid poster colors favored by the Socialist Realism style of painting.” 

This passage explicitly describes North Korea as a dystopia: something out of science fiction. It thus sets the scene for most of the novel’s action. We imagine Chongjin as a city street drained of color and activity, brightened only by splashes of red and yellow.

“Some movies were deemed too risqué for children, such as the 1985 film Oh My Love in which it was suggested that a man and a woman kissed.” 

This quotation highlights the prudishness of North Korean society. The man and the woman in this film do not actually kiss, yet the meresuggestion of a kiss is enough to draw censorship under a highly-oppressive regime.

“For the 1,300 years prior to the Japanese occupation, Korea had been a unified country governed by the Chosun dynasty, one of the longest-lived monarchies in the world history…[t]he bifurcation between north and south was an entirely foreign creation, cooked up in Washington and stamped on the Koreans without any input from them.” 

This passage stresses the arbitrariness of the line between North and South Korea. The country, united for hundreds of years, was abruptly divided with no geographic or economic rational. This implies that the U.S. failed to take account of the effect its division would have on the lives of real people.

“Mrs. Song believed what she said. All those years of sleep deprivation, all those lectures and self-criticisms—the very same tools used in brainwashing or interrogations—had wiped out any possibility of resistance.” 

Mrs. Song confesses in her “self-criticism” group that she believes she is not working hard enough, even though she barely sleeps. The language here suggests that Mrs. Song underwent a version of brainwashing simply by living her day-to-day life. Although it was not meant as torture to require hard work from citizens, the effect was the lowering of their psychological defenses against propaganda.

“Kim Il-sung’s goal wasn’t merely to build a new country; he wanted to build better people…to that end, he creates his own philosophical system, juche, which is commonly translated as ‘self-reliance.’” 

This passage details some of the underpinnings of the Worker’s Party philosophy. The goal of Kim Il-sung’s government was not merely to manage the lives of citizens, but to transform the citizens themselves. The concept of juche served the purpose of teaching personal responsibility—which opened leeway for the government to blame its own failures on citizens during the famine.

“Kim Il-sung didn’t want to be Joseph Stalin; he wanted to be Santa Claus.” 

This passage characterizes Kim Il-sung’s particular brand of propaganda. In addition to focusing on power, strength, and intelligence—the traits we might expect dictators and politicians to highlight—Kim Il-sung attempted to project a benevolent, friendly, even cartoonish image. This strategy was meant to foster love, rather than fear, and, as reactions to his death revealed, it was successful. 

“North Korea invites parody…[b]ut consider that indoctrination began in infancy, during the fourteen-hour days spent in factory day-care centers; that for the subsequent fifty years, every song, film, newspaper article, and billboard was designed to deify Kim Il-sung; that the country was hermetically sealed…[w]ho could possibly resist?” 

North Korea’s propaganda and homogeneity is frequently parodied in Western media. This passage asks readers to take a less judgmental view of those who live under the regime and believe in the benevolence of their leaders. Stressing once again the ubiquity of propaganda and the lack of outside information, the author asks her audience if they believe they could resist. 

“Merely to feed the population in a region with a long history of famine was an accomplishment, all the more so given that the crude partition of the peninsula had left all the better farmland on the other side of the divide.” 

The 1970s and 1980s were fairly prosperous for North Korea, further inspiring loyalty among the population. Here, the author details the rations that were provided to families despite the lack of arable farmland.

“Lies were built upon lies, all the way to the top, so it is in fact conceivable that Kim Il-sung himself didn’t know when the economy crashed.” 

While it is well known that citizens received rations for some time, the moment at which the economic failure began is difficult to discern because of the omnipresence of propaganda. This passage suggests that propaganda was so widespread and far-reaching that it is possible no one in North Korea had a holistic understanding of the impending economic collapse.

“Kim Jong-il realized that the Cold War was over, but he didn’t seem to grasp that his old Communist patrons were more interested in making money than bankrolling an anachronistic dictatorship with nuclear ambitions.” 

After the fall of the Soviet Union, diplomatic relationships between Russia and South Korea were resumed. While all the signs pointed to a breakdown in old alliances, Kim Jong-il’s fascination with nuclear weapons grew, leading to the increasing isolation of the regime and a downturn in foreign aid.

“When the foreign press reported on food shortages in the North in 1993, North Korean news service was indignant. ‘The state supplies the people with food at a cheap price so that people do not know how much rice costs…[a]ll people live a happy life without any worries about food in our land.’” 

This propaganda excerpt once again highlights the Worker’s Party’s unwillingness to acknowledge its failures—its “lies upon lies” even in the face of widespread famine. It remains unclear whether this press release was meant to persuade foreigners, or North Koreans.

“The truth was that they enjoyed deceiving their parents. The secrecy was not merely necessary, it was fun. It injected a frisson of the illicit and gave them a shared psychic space in a society where privacy didn’t exist.” 

Connecting to one of the book’s central themes, this passage highlights the immense value and lure of privacy in a society where it is difficult to share one’s true thoughts without the risk of punishment. Mi-ran and Jun-sang continue to see each other, and their secrecy keeps their romance alive across the distance between Pyongyang and Chongjin. 

“He wasn’t merely the father of their country, their George Washington, their Mao, he was their God.” 

North Koreans feel Kim Il-sung’s death immensely, because he is more than just a president. His propaganda is so successful that he is seen not just as a politician, but as a personal savior to each citizen. 

“What was wrong with him? Why wasn’t he sad that Kim Il-sung was dead? Didn’t he love Kim Il-sung?” 

When Jun-sang realizes that he isn’t crying at the news of Kim Il-sung’s death, he questions himself. This is one of the first moments when he realizes that his fidelity to his country is not as deep as other people’s seems to be—he discovers that he harbors real doubts. More, he realizes that he must now pretend to fit in.

“Could it be that her father was telling her to leave the fatherland for China? Her loyal father who had fled China himself and then schooled her at his knee in the life of Kim Il-sung? Could he be a traitor?”

Dr. Kim keeps the list of her father’s relatives in China. He says they will help her. This list leads her to question his faithfulness to the regime. Even though many North Koreans are starving to death, she is still faithful to the regime and confused by his words.

“As far as the content of what she was teaching, she didn’t pause to contemplate whether it was right or wrong. She didn’t know education could be any different.”

Mi-ran begins teaching kindergarten; her class is made up of the children of miners. She plays the accordion and leads the children through propaganda songs. She enjoys her job, and does not question the early indoctrination of the studentsbecause that is the only method of education she has experienced.

“Reading primers told stories of children who were beaten, bayoneted, burned, splashed with acid, or thrown into wells by villains who were invariably Christian missionaries, Japanese bastards, or American imperialist bastards.”

This passage further specifies the lessons Mi-ran taught to her kindergarteners. The examples here show the vehemence and frequency of propaganda addressed at children, and are intended to shock the reader.

“Nobody told people what to do—the North Korean government didn’t want to admit to the extent of the food shortage—so they fended for themselves.”

As the government continues to stay silent on the food shortage, its citizens must adapt to their new realities. Although much of the activity that will ensure survival is technically illegal, citizens feel that they have no recourse.

“Why was there rice in sacks with the flags of North Korea’s most dreaded enemy?” 

As the black market booms, Mrs. Song notices that rice sacks have the U.S. flag on them, and that many other products bear foreign flags as well. Mrs. Song hears a rumor that it has been captured by the military, but soon realizes that it is humanitarian aid being sold for a profit.

“The result was that the face of the new economy was increasingly female. The men were stuck in the unpaying jobs; women were making the money.” 

As the black market expands, women like Mrs. Song open stalls and restaurants. Although North Korean society traditionally restricts women, the famine makes it necessary for women to support themselves and their families through black-market businesses. 

“He knew that only a few miles away from the orphanage, just on the other side of a ridge of squat hills visible from his dormitory window, was a slender gray ribbon of water—the Tumen River—that ran as far as you could see. And on the other side of the river, there was a place where the trees still had bark, and the cornfields weren’t guarded by guns. The place was called China.” 

Written from Hyuck’s perspective, this passage describes his knowledge of China. Its style suggests that China is, compared to North Korea, a natural paradise—a place of plentiful food separated from his hungry reality by only a “slender ribbon.” Its nearness tempts him, and soon he begins to cross over.

“North Koreans have multiple words for prison in much the same way the Inuit do for snow.”

This fact about the Korean language suggests that just as snow is everywhere in Inuit culture, jails—and the threat of jail—are everywhere in North Korea.