North Korea Undercover
  • Published: 14 November 2013
  • ISBN: 9781448170944
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 400

North Korea Undercover

Formats & editions
EBook
14 Nov 2013
Paperback
1 Oct 2014
Paperback
1 Sep 2014
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A unique and timely account of life in North Korea

North Korea is like no other tyranny on earth. It is Orwell’s 1984 made reality.

The regime controls the flow of information to its citizens, pouring relentless propaganda through omnipresent loud speakers. Free speech is an illusion: one word out of line and the gulag awaits. State spies are everywhere, ready to punish disloyalty and the slightest sign of discontent.

You must bow to Kim Il Sung, the Eternal Leader and to his son, Generalissimo Kim Jong Il. Worship the dead and then hail the living, the Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.

North Koreans are told their home is the greatest nation on earth. Big Brother is always watching.

Posing as a university professor, award-winning BBC journalist John Sweeney travelled undercover to gain unprecedented access to the world’s most secret state. Drawing on his own experiences and his extensive interviews with defectors and other key witnesses, North Korea Undercover pulls back the curtain, providing a rare insight into life there today, examining the country’s troubled history and addressing important questions about its uncertain future.

Sweeney’s highly engaging, authoritative account illuminates the dark side of the Hermit Kingdom and challenges the West’s perception of this paranoid nationalist state.
  • Published: 14 November 2013
  • ISBN: 9781448170944
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 400
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About the author

John Sweeney

John Sweeney is a writer and journalist who, while working for the BBC, has challenged dictators, despots, cult leaders, con artists and crooked businessmen for many years. As a reporter, first for the Observer and then for the BBC, Sweeney has covered wars and chaos in more than eighty countries and been undercover to a number of tyrannies, including Chechnya, North Korea and Zimbabwe. Over the course of his career, John has won an Emmy, two Royal Television Society Awards, a Sony Gold Award, a What the Papers Say Journalist of the Year Award, an Amnesty International Award and the Paul Foot Award.

portrait photo of John Sweeney

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Praise for North Korea Undercover

This is a chilling book, but a timely one, written with both humour and compassion. Buy it, read it, and discuss it.

Solidarity

A tremendous piece of reporting. This book is one that we should all read and absorb.

Army Rumour Service

Sweeney's book is a spark in the dark of North Korea.

The Times

Harrowing... creepy and poignant; and, in turn, tragic and obscene. North Korea Undercover asserts that the West should be more concerned about labour camps than nuclear weapons.

Tom Farrell, Sunday Business Post

The recent UN report on North Korea under-lined the importance of Sweeney's book. There is much to learn from North Korea Undercover.

Literary Review

Explosive and entertaining... Sweeney provides a remarkably vivid look at this hidden country. An investigative must-read.

Booklist

Sweeney is a very good and honest journalist - he has an ability that is very rare in TV reporting to emotionally judge the truth of a situation.

Adam Curtis
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