Kim Jong-il: North Korea's Dear Leader

"The book gives readers unique insights into the personal life of North Korea’s second dictator. I hope it book is loaded onto the USBs that are smuggled into North Korea to give the people a sense of the true nature of their ‘Dear Leader’. In comparison with his father, Kim Jong-il was mostly disliked among the North Korean populace, but he was a cunning propagandist and political strategist who maintained power and ruled the country with an iron fist. Get the weekly Five Books newsletter Breen’s book helps us understand how he gradually rose to power, and deceived not only his own people but many in the international community as well. During a period of rapprochement between North and South Korea in the early 2000s, Kim Jong-il actually managed to convince some South Koreans that “I am not like a man with horns on the head”. After reading this book, one is likely to disagree. Just last year several such books were published. The publishing market has changed. In the past, foreign journalists were writing our stories but now we defectors are speaking for ourselves, which proves how the international community is giving us more attention. That frightens the regime, who think we are dangerous. It’s a trend that only started a few years ago, and it’s really encouraging, though often nerve-wracking. Now I’m hoping that real action for change will follow. Actually I hate it when people say that. I know the country has changed in some ways, but the fundamental things never change in North Korea and we have to focus on that. The regime hasn’t changed, the dictators haven’t changed, the public executions and political imprisonments haven’t changed. People are still oppressed, denied their human rights such as freedom of movement – in essence they are imprisoned within the country. Having a cell phone or a little bit of money from the private markets does not count as real change."