nothing to envy - ordinary lives in north korea

《nothing to envy - ordinary lives in north korea》由会员上传分享，免费在线阅读，更多相关内容在学术论文-天天文库。

1、ForNicholas,Gladys,andEugeneAUTHOR’SNOTEIN2001IMOVEDTOSEOULASACORRESPONDENTFORTHELosAngelesTimes,coveringbothKoreas.Atthetime,itwasexceedinglydi-cultforanAmericanjournalisttovisitNorthKorea.EvenafterIsucceededingettingintothecountry,Ifoundthatreportingwasalmostimpossible.Wester

2、njournalistswereassigned“minders”whosejobitwastomakecertainthatnounauthorizedconversationstookplaceandvisitorshewedtoacarefullyselecteditineraryofmonuments.Therewasnocontactpermittedwithordinarycitizens.Inphotographsandontelevision,NorthKoreansappearedtobeautomatons,goose-stepp

3、inginformationatmilitaryparadesorperforminggymnasticsenmasseinhomagetotheleadership.Staringatthephotographs,I’dtrytodiscernwhatwasbehindthoseblankfaces.InSouthKorea,IbegantotalktoNorthKoreanswhohaddefected,escapingtoSouthKoreaorChina,andapictureofreallifeintheDemocraticPeople’s

4、RepublicofKoreabegantoemerge.IwroteaseriesofarticlesfortheLosAngelesTimesthatfocusedonformerresidentsofChongjin,acitylocatedinthenorthernmostreachesofthecountry.IbelievedthatIcouldverifyfactsmoreeasilyifIspoketonumerouspeopleaboutoneplace.Iwantedthatplacetobefarfromthewell-mani

5、curedsightsthattheNorthKoreangovernmentshowstoforeignvisitors—evenifitmeantIwouldbewritingaboutaplacethatwaso9limits.ChongjinisNorthKorea’sthird-largestcityandoneoftheplacesthatwerehardesthitbythefamineofthemid-1990s.Itisalsoalmostentirelyclosedtoforeigners.Ihadthegoodfortuneto

6、meetmanywonderfulpeoplefromChongjinwhowerebotharticulateandgenerouswiththeirtime.NothingtoEnvygrewoutofthatoriginalseriesofarticles.ThisbookisbasedonsevenyearsofconversationswithNorthKoreans.IhavealteredonlysomeofthenamestoprotectthosestilllivinginNorthKorea.Allofthedialogueisd

7、rawnfromtheaccountsofoneormorepeoplepresent.IhaveattemptedasbestIcantocorroboratethestoriesIwastoldandtomatchthemwithpubliclyreportedevents.ThedescriptionsofplacesthatIhaven’tvisitedpersonallycomefromdefectors,photographs,andvideos.SomuchaboutNorthKorearemainsimpenetrablethatit

8、wouldbefollytoclaimI’vegotteneverythingright.Myhopeist