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Nothing To Envy
''Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea'' is a 2009 nonfiction book by ''Los Angeles Times'' journalist Barbara Demick, based on interviews with North Korean refugees from the city of Chongjin who had escaped North Korea. In 2010, the book was awarded the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction. It was also a nonfiction finalist for the National Book Award in 2010. The title comes from the children's theme song of the 1970 North Korean film '' We Have Nothing to Envy in the World'' (). Demick interviewed more than 100 defectors and chose to focus on Chongjin because it is likely to be more representative than the capital Pyongyang. Demick briefly discusses the examination of one of the female interviewees into a position of Kippumjo. The events covered include the famine of the 1990s, with the final chapters describing the route that the main subjects of the book took in order to reach Seoul, South Korea, followed by an epilogue describing the effects of the Novem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barbara Demick
Barbara Demick is an American journalist. She was the Beijing bureau chief of the ''Los Angeles Times''. She is the author of ''Logavina Street: Life and Death in a Sarajevo Neighborhood'' (Andrews & McMeel, 1996). Her second book, '' Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea,'' was published by Spiegel & Grau/Random House in December 2009 and Granta Books in 2010. An animated feature film based on the book and sharing the same title was planned to be directed by Andy Glynne. The project launched in 2012 and a pilot was released in 2015. Its status is not clear. Biography Demick grew up in Ridgewood, New Jersey. She attended Yale University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economic history. Derrick was a correspondent for ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' in Eastern Europe from 1993 to 1997. Along with photographer John Costello, she produced a series of articles that ran 1994-1996 following life on one Sarajevo street over the course of the war in Bosnia. The series won t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Songbun
''Songbun'' (), formally chulsin-songbun (, from Sino-Korean 出身, "origin" and 成分, "constituent"), is the system of ascribed status used in North Korea. Based on the political, social, and economic background of one's direct ancestors as well as the behavior of their relatives, ''songbun'' is used to classify North Korean citizens into three primary castes, core, wavering and hostile, in addition to approximately fifty sub-classifications, and determine whether an individual is trusted with responsibilities, is given opportunities within North Korea, or even receives adequate food. ''Songbun'' affects access to educational and employment opportunities and it particularly determines whether a person is eligible to join North Korea's ruling party, the Workers' Party of Korea. History The Korean Workers' Party Politburo passed a decree in 1957 entitled "On the Transformation of the Struggle with Counterrevolutionary Elements into an All-People All-Party Movement", which es ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chongori Concentration Camp
Chongori concentration camp (also spelled Jungeori, Jongori or Jeonger-ri) is a reeducation camp in North Korea. The official name of the camp is Kyo-hwa-so No. 12 (Reeducation camp no. 12). Location The camp is located near Chongori, a little village in Musan- ri (), Hoeryong county, at the road and railroad almost halfway between Hoeryong and Chongjin, North Hamgyong province in North Korea. Chongori camp is situated at the end of a small valley southeast from the main valley in Pungsan-ri () and Chongori. Description Chongori concentration camp is a large prison compound, around long and wide. The main section is surrounded by a high wall, while the branch offices are surrounded by barbed wire and an electrified fence. In 2005 the camp contained around 2000 prisoners, mostly non-political criminals, but they were often forced to serve their sentences there as punishment for desperate offences such as stealing food. They are guarded by around 300 prison guards, all of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kwalliso
North Korea's political penal labor colonies, transliterated ''kwalliso'' or ''kwan-ri-so'', constitute one of three forms of political imprisonment in the country, the other two being what David Hawk translated as "short-term detention/forced-labor centers" and "long-term prison labor camps", for misdemeanor and felony offenses respectively. In total, there are an estimated 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners. Durations of imprisonment are variable, however, many are condemned to labor for life. Forced labor duties within ''kwalliso'' typically include forced labor in mines (known examples including coal, gold, and iron ore), tree felling, timber cutting, or agricultural duties. Furthermore, camps contain state run prison farms, furniture manufacturing, etc. Estimates suggest that at the start of 2007, a total of six ''kwalliso'' camps were operating within the country. Despite fourteen ''kwalliso'' camps originally operating within North Korea, these later merged or wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chongjin Concentration Camp
Chongjin concentration camp (Chosŏn'gŭl: , also spelled Ch'ŏngjin) is a labour camp in North Korea for political prisoners. The official name is Kwan-li-so (Penal-labour colony) No. 25. Satellite images show a major expansion of the camp after 2010. Location The camp is located in the city of Chongjin in the North Hamgyong province of North Korea. It is situated in Suseong district (Susŏng-dong) of Songpyong-guyok, around northwest of the city center and west of Susŏng River (Susŏngch'on). Description Chongjin camp is a lifetime prison. Like the other political prison camps it is controlled by the state security agency. But while the other camps include many vast prison-labour colonies in remote mountain valleys, Chongjin camp is only one big prison building complex similar to the reeducation camps. The camp is around 500 m (1500 ft) long and 500 m (1500 ft) wide, surrounded by high walls and fences, and equipped with guard towers. The number o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Potemkin Village
In politics and economics, a Potemkin village (russian: link=no, потёмкинские деревни, translit=potyómkinskiye derévni}) is any construction (literal or figurative) whose sole purpose is to provide an external façade to a country that is faring poorly, making people believe that the country is faring better. The term comes from stories of a fake portable village built by Grigory Potemkin, former lover of Empress Catherine II, solely to impress the Empress during her journey to Crimea in 1787. Modern historians agree that accounts of this portable village are exaggerated. The original story was that Potemkin erected phony portable settlements along the banks of the Dnipro River in order to impress the Russian Empress and foreign guests. The structures would be disassembled after she passed, and re-assembled farther along her route to be viewed again as if another example. Origin Grigory Potemkin was a minister and lover of the Russian Empress Catherine II. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kotchebi
Kotjebi, kotchebi, or ggotjebi () is a Korean term denoting North Korean homesless people. The term was originally used to describe homeless children. The term literally means "flowering swallows (꽃 제비)", given because of the kotjebi's constant search for food and shelter. The kotjebi are not officially recognized in North Korea, with any mention of the term being prohibited in state publications and documents. Origins and status The orphaned kotjebi first appeared ''en masse'' in the mid-1990s in the wake of the North Korean famine, which collapsed the food distribution system. In an effort to "stabilize the livelihood of vagrants throughout the country", the North Korean government established special "Children's Detention Camps" in 1995, which were effectively rundown apartments. Because of poor conditions in the detention camps, children have died of malnutrition. Elderly people are known as ''noin kotjebi''. Livelihood The kotjebi are constantly forced to seek food ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eastern border is defined by the Sea of Japan. South Korea claims to be the sole legitimate government of the entire peninsula and List of islands of South Korea, adjacent islands. It has a Demographics of South Korea, population of 51.75 million, of which roughly half live in the Seoul Capital Area, the List of metropolitan areas by population, fourth most populous metropolitan area in the world. Other major cities include Incheon, Busan, and Daegu. The Korean Peninsula was inhabited as early as the Lower Paleolithic period. Its Gojoseon, first kingdom was noted in Chinese records in the early 7th century BCE. Following the unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea into Unified Silla, Silla and Balhae in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Koreans In Japan
comprise ethnic Koreans who have permanent residency status in Japan or who have become Japanese citizens, and whose immigration to Japan originated before 1945, or who are descendants of those immigrants. They are a group distinct from South Korean nationals who have emigrated to Japan after the end of World War II and the division of Korea. They currently constitute the second largest ethnic minority group in Japan after Chinese immigrants, due to many Koreans assimilating into the general Japanese population. The majority of Koreans in Japan are , often known simply as , who are ethnic Korean permanent residents of Japan. The term Zainichi Korean refers only to long-term Korean residents of Japan who trace their roots to Korea under Japanese rule, distinguishing them from the later wave of Korean migrants who came mostly in the 1980s, and from pre-modern immigrants dating back to antiquity who may themselves be the ancestors of the Japanese people. The Japanese word "Zainic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Korean POWs Detained In North Korea
Tens of thousands of South Korean soldiers were captured by North Korean and Chinese forces during the Korean War (1950–1953) but were not returned during the prisoner exchanges under the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement. Most are presumed dead, but the South Korean government estimated in 2007 that some 560 South Korean prisoners of war (POWs) still survived in North Korea.2007 Ministry of Defense Report to the National Assembly (2007년 국방부 국정 감사 자료). Ministry of Defense, Republic of Korea. 2007. The issue of unaccounted South Korean POWs from the Korean War has been in dispute since the 1953 armistice. North Korea continues to deny that it holds these South Korean POWs. Interest in the issue has been renewed since 1994, when Cho Chang-ho, a former South Korean soldier presumed to have been killed in the war, escaped from North Korea. As of 2008, 79 former South Korean soldiers had escaped from North Korea. There have also been reports that several hundred US ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaolin
Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral sheet of alumina () octahedra. Rocks that are rich in kaolinite are known as kaolin () or china clay. Kaolin is occasionally referred to by the antiquated term lithomarge, from the Ancient Greek ''litho-'' and Latin ''marga'', meaning 'stone of marl'. Presently the name lithomarge can refer to a compacted, massive form of kaolin. The name ''kaolin'' is derived from Gaoling (), a Chinese village near Jingdezhen in southeastern China's Jiangxi Province. The name entered English in 1727 from the French version of the word: , following François Xavier d'Entrecolles's reports on the making of Jingdezhen porcelain. Kaolinite has a low shrink–swell capacity and a low cation-exchange capacity (1–15 meq/100 g). It is a soft, earthy, usu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
