Anchor: This year both the US and South Korea showed a lull in diplomatic movements without much dialogue with North Korea. However, the publication of books in English related to North Korea increased from last year. Reporter Kim So-young reports.
Free Asia Broadcasting (RFA) searched for’North Korea’ books on Amazon.com, a world-class online shopping site, and as a result, publications of related books increased significantly this year compared to the previous year.
North Korea-related books published in 2019 were counted as 12, mainly related to the North Korean regime, diplomacy, and North Korean defectors.
On the other hand, if you include books scheduled for publication by December this year, the number of North Korean-related books published this year has nearly quadrupled to 45.
Of these, only 25 books were published for three months from October to the end of the year, accounting for more than half of these.
These statistics are classified based on English books on North Korea as a single subject.
It is interesting to note that North Korea-related books have increased despite the fact that the US-North Korea and South-North Korea dialogue has virtually ceased this year and the world is focusing on Corona 19.
There were also 14 books scheduled to be published next year.
Among these are academic books, which are co-authored by Dr. Oh Gong-dan, an expert on the Korean peninsula, who has been studying North Korea for more than 40 years, covering all information related to North Korea in various fields, from North Korea’s history to economy, culture, and military.
In particular, it is remarkable that the topics and types of books related to North Korea that are about to be published in the future have also been greatly diversified.
Scotland-born music director Lindsey Miller, who lived in North Korea for two years from 2017, introduced the U.S.-North Korea summit meeting in North Korea in 2018 and 2019, as well as the experience of watching a fever ceremony held in commemoration of the founding day of the Labor Party. The format book’Inside North Korea’ is waiting for publication next year.
Two novels on the subject of North Korea will also be presented.
Director Ann Shin, who has produced many documentaries related to North Korea as a second-generation Korean American in Canada, introduced the book, “The Last Exiles,” a novel about the love story of two men and women from different backgrounds in North Korea. It was revealed that it vividly portrayed the lives of North Koreans suffering from hunger and the process of defecting in search of freedom.
Richard Lyntton, a British military native who settled in the United States and is also an actor, is a criminal novel about a British reporter who visited Russia to investigate the facts of a case and is involved in a spy case aimed at bombing a North Korean nuclear reactor. ‘North Korea deception’ is scheduled to be published early next year.
In a call with Free Asia Broadcasting (RFA) on the 6th, Mr. Linton revealed the reason for writing the novel, saying that the North Korean nuclear issue has continued for a long time, but with the 2018 and 2019 U.S.-North Korea summit meetings, the Kim Jong-un regime and interest in the North Korean issue increased.
Richard Lyntton: One of the main things in the book is how to deal with the threats from Kim Jong-un and North Korea. This problem has existed throughout my life and is still ongoing. I found this very interesting, and I consider it a very important issue.
In addition, various types of North Korean books have recently been released or will be released, such as books on the ever-increasing number of cyber attacks from North Korea, cosmetics in Pyongyang, books on fashion culture, and a photobook of North Korea by a French photographer.