North of the DMZ by Lankov, Andrei -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Table of Contents North of the DMZ

Essays on Daily Life in North Korea

ANDREI LANKOV

Preface

PART 1

Leaders Dear and Great...

The Sacral Badges Names for the Earthly God Carved in Rock Written in Stone Taking a Leaf from His Father’s Book Museums of Merit The Big Picture Learning to Be a Loyal Soldier of the Dear Leader What’s in a Name? PART 2

In Times of Propaganda

In the Land of Meetings Self-Criticism National Symbols The Kim Family Tree Great Song and Dance Making History The American Dream (North Korean Edition) PART 3

The Arts and the Media

Radio Days Cable Radio The Face Value of Nodong Sinmun Bringing Home the ... Television The Newscast The Reel Thing PART 4

The Workers’ Paradise? The Social Structure of the DPRK

A Rank System A Family Tradition A Woman’s Place... Women at the Top PART 5

Pyongyang

The Mythic Capital Thanks for the Memorials Go To, Let Us Build Us a City and a Tower, Whose Top May Reach Unto Heaven... (Genesis 11:4) Harmonica Houses Haute Cuisine, Kim Il Sung Style On Ondols and Moon Villages PART 6

Daily Lives

Bathed in Socialism Crime and Other Misadventures Strong Spirits Communication Breakdown The Northern Drawback Keeping Up with the Kims Uniform Trends PART 7

Recreation and Fashion

Fashion, After a Fashion Time for a Holiday Having Fun PART 8

Family Matters

For Brokers or for Worse Love and Propaganda Marriage Lore The Main Event Kisaeng It All Good-Bye? PART 9

All Things Which Move

Letting the Bicycle Ride A Fleeting Industry Hot Air Rises at a Snail’s Pace Not So Airborne The Beaten Track The Marble Underground All Down the Line Nostalgia for Trolley-Buses PART 10

Big Brother Is Watching

A Peep-Hole into North Korea Forget the Predators, Remember the Victims Grannies in Charge Guess Who’s Coming After Dinner... Personal Identification: It’s on the Cards... Gullible Travels Go South, Young Man The Ideal World PART 11

How Does the System Work?

Treated Like Mushrooms Boot Camp, Forever! The Health of Totalitarianism The Party Game Belt-Tightening Belonging North Korea’s Missionary Position Honoring the Order of Medals PART 12

Schools

Schools Both Great and Small The Studied Life PART 13

It’s Economics...

A Tenderly Legal Currency Show Me the Color of (North Korea’s) Money The North Korean “Salaryman” On Cheeses and Other Matters Rason Sez: A Good Bet The Currency of Currency Currency Reforms PART 14

Foreign Affairs

Keeping an Eye on the Foreigners Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It... Family Allowance Money Grows on Trees A School of Thought PART 15

On Spying, Smuggling and Kidnapping

Cigarettes, and Whiskey, and Wild, Wild ... Diplomats The Secrets of Room 39 Intelligence Quotient in North Korea? High! Of Disappearing Maidens and Fisherfolk Piano, Piano Kidnapping 101 Almost Brought the House Down Red Faces in Rangoon Still Waters Run Deep Of Midgets and Fish-Nets PART 16

North Koreans Overseas, Foreigners in North Korea

International Relations To Take a Wife ... (And Not Return Her) A Sea Change PART 17

Defectors

Trade Across the Water A New Life: Fully Furnished The Fate of Defectors The Plane Truth Still Waiting for the Japanese Communist Revolution Death of a Runaway Prince Leaving—With Much to Be Desired? Part 18

The Unnoticed Death of North Korean Stalinism

The Failure of Juche Agriculture North Korea Dances to a Southern Tune To Market, to Market... The Nouveau Riche of North Korea Women’s Market

In Lieu of Conclusion: With a Bang, or with a Whimper? Further Reading