The aquariums of Pyongyang
As tensions between the US and North North Korea continue to escalate, stories of life inside our long-time opponent are more relevant than ever. North Korea's leaders have consistently kept a tight grasp on their one-party regime, quashing any nascent opposition movements and sending all suspected dissidents to its brutal concentration camps for "re-education." Kang Chol-Hwan is the first survivor of one of these camps to escape and tell his story to the world, documenting the extreme conditions in these gulags and providing a personal insight into life in North Korea. Part horror story, part historical document, part memoir, part political tract, this record of one man's suffering gives eyewitness proof to an ongoing sorrowful chapter of modern history.
Stats for nerds
3recommend
3mentions
3people
2013–2025years
100% recommend
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I have read The Aquariums of Pyongyang and Escape from Camp 14, both of which are very good. I think that Aquariums is a better overall book, as the author adds context and background throughout the narrative. Camp 14 is more straightforward and limited to his experience, which for a North Korean is quite limited. They are pretty dated at this point (2000 and 2012, respectively) so there are probably more timely options available now.
- Thank you for sharing your experience in a totalitarian regime.
I read The Aquariums Of Pyongyang [1] for a take on life and imprisonment in North Korea. Recommended read.
What is your take on Huawei giving 3G/4G technology to North Korea by proxy? Is North Korea technologically advanced enough to abuse technology to suppress its citizens?
Also, to get an idea of the amount of data collected nowadays [2]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aquariums_of_Pyongyang
[2] https://opendatacity.github.io/stasi-vs-nsa/frame_en.html
- This is not the same story, but this book is worth reading...
The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag [by Chol-hwan Kang]
http://www.amazon.com/Aquariums-Pyongyang-Years-North-Korean...
Author was nine years old when imprisoned at the Yodok camp in 1977. Inexplicably released in 1987, he states that the only lesson his imprisonment had "pounded into me was about man's limitless capacity to be vicious."
