Bandi

This is a powerful, disquieting read. These short stories, written by a member of North Korea's official writer's association, but whose identity is unknown for his own protection, was smuggled out of North Korea at huge risk in 2013.

They tell the story of ordinary people from every social class, who live with the daily risk of political ruin from an unguarded remark, gesture or action. The status of these people is determined by the political correctness of their ancestors, their living relatives. A fall from grace means exile, hard labour, or worse.

Citizens do not only have to behave correctly, they have to be seen to do so. Parks and mountainsides were despoiled following Kim-il-Sung's death in 2014 as people were required to leave flowers commemorating the dictator's demise morning, noon and night, and faced ruin for not doing so.

One man fails to obtain the necessary travel permit to visit his dying mother. Another is banished from his family to work long hours developing a soybean farm, and is indicted for anti-revolutionary crimes when the crop fails. It's even a crime if your small son bursts into tears at the sight of those ubiquitous giant posters of Stalin and Kim-il-Sung.

The style of writing is rough, jagged, raw. This book is written by a man in the grip of powerful emotion. It's not a comfortable read. But it is enlightening.

… (mere)

The only book critical of the North Korean regime written by someone still living under that regime, making this collection of short stories one of the bravest books I have ever read.

These are stories of people with ordinary problems, living under a system with absolutely zero room for humanity — for making allowances for ordinary people with their ordinary problems. Toddlers who cry. Workers who want to visit dying mothers. Someone with a parent, uncle, or grandparent who once did something to offend the party.

These feel to me similar to other stories that have come out of Communist dictatorships, and I wonder if Bandi ever had access to any of those. What is remarkable about them to me is him. Someone who was a true believer, a party loyalist, then became disillusioned, not only in his own circumstance, but seeing how the regime crushes all those around him.

I hope for his continued safety.… (mere)