The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean GulagKang Chol-Hwan is the first survivor of a North Korean concentration camp to escape the 'hermit kingdom' and tell his story to the world. This memoir reveals the human suffering in his camp, with its forced labour, frequent public executions and near-starvation rations. Kang eventually escaped to South Korea via China to give testimony to the hardships and atrocities that constitute the lives of the thousands of people still detained in the gulags today. Part horror story, part historical document, part memoir, part political tract, this story of one young man's personal suffering finally gives eye-witness proof to this neglected chapter of modern history. |
Contents
A Happy Childhood in Pyongyang | 1 |
Money and the Revolution Can Get Along | 11 |
Next Year in Pyongyang | 21 |
Copyright | |
19 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag Chol-hwan Kang,Pierre Rigoulot Limited preview - 2005 |
The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag Chol-hwan Kang,Pierre Rigoulot Limited preview - 2005 |
The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag Chol-hwan Kang,Pierre Rigoulot Limited preview - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
An-hyuk aquarium AQUARIUMS OF PYONGYANG arrived asked assigned began called camp's Cheju China Chinese Chosen Soren clothes Communist concentration camps corn death detainees eventually eyes face family's father feeling felt fish former Japanese residents friends gave girl grandfather grandfather's grandmother grandparents guards gulag hand hard head irredeemables Japan Japanese Communist Party Kang Chol-hwan keep kids Kim Il-sung Kim Jong-il knew Korean Kyoto labor later learned lived look Mi-ho mother Mount Kumgang mountains move Nampo neighbors never night North Korea official once ordered parents Party pellagra police political prisoners punishment Pyongyang rabbits regime Rodong Sinmun security agents Security Force seemed sent Seoul sister snitch sometimes soon South stay stopped sweatbox teacher thing thought tion told took tried truck turned uncle village walked wanted Wild Boar Yodok