Many people contributed to the creation of this book. I thank the North Koreans who worked with me in Seoul and Tokyo. Without their generosity and strength of spirit, this work would not exist. Thank you for sharing your homes, offices, and inner worlds with me. Two academic institutions gave this book a home. I am indebted to the Korean Studies Institute (KSI) at the University of Southern California (USC)—in particular, David C. Kang for his excellent guidance to young scholars—for granting me a postdoctoral fellowship during which I wrote this book. The generous support of the Sejong Society provided additional time to focus on revising the writing. Thank you, Peter Y. S. Kim and Chul Lee. I also wish to thank Elaine Kim, Linda Kim, and Timothy Lee for their warm encouragement throughout those years and for making the Ahn House an intellectual home.
My book’s first reviewers, Stephan Haggard and Suk-Young Kim, identified crucial areas for improvement during the manuscript review, again hosted and supported by the KSI at USC. For their time reading and critiquing the early drafts of the book, I am honored and grateful. Prior to my stay in Los Angeles, Valérie Gelézeau at the Centre de recherches sur la Corée (EHESS) in Paris provided much needed encouragement as I began the earliest writing of this book from its roots as a dissertation, supported by the Korea Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship. My dissertation research, which formed the earliest beginnings of this book, was supported by the Korea Foundation and supervised by the two best advisors a doctoral student could ask for, Johan Pottier and Keith Howard at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at The School of Oriental and African Studies. I thank them for believing in the original questions that drove this work.
I am also indebted to my family—my mother and father for always encouraging my education and my sisters for putting up with me—and friends who helped with research and personal support: Hyun-soo Kim, Soohyun Kim, Eunyoung Lee; thanks also for the kindness, encouragement, and help of Lucia Melito, Sangbum Kim, and June Lee, and a special thank you to Carol Dussere. Thanks also to Pastor Kim, Elizabeth Batha, the team of North Koreans at the Democracy Network Against the North Korean Gulag in Seoul, and Kato Hiroshi at Life Funds for North Korean Refugees in Tokyo. To my two first Korean teachers, many years ago, Mr. Ham and Mrs. Oh, I am grateful for your endurance!
I also extend a personal thank you to the following people: Aleesa Cohene, Noreen O’Sullivan, Bill McCarthy, Radha Upadhyaya, Atef Alshaer, Amaia Sanchez Cacicedo, Hildi Kang, Danielle L. Chubb, and Peer and Geraldine Fiss. To those at the very start of all this—Daniel Zanth, Tony Banks, Gerald Bullock, Richard Teleky, Rinaldo Walcott, and the late Bob Casto—deepest thanks.
The final touches on this manuscript were completed as I joined Sophia University in 2013, a collegial and supportive environment for my continuing research. I am thankful to my colleagues for their warmth, humor, and smarts. My thanks also go to Columbia University Press for encouraging this publication, in particular Anne Routon, and to the copyediting staff for polishing and improving this book. I am grateful to the anonymous reviewers who read an earlier manifestation of this manuscript, providing valuable feedback. While so many people contributed to this book, any shortcomings are of course my own.