Ask a North Korean

Defectors Talk About Their Lives Inside the World's Most Secretive Nation

By: Daniel Tudor, Andrei Lankov - foreword

Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan, Greta Jung

Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Understanding North Korea Through the Eyes of Defectors

The weekly column Ask a North Korean, published by NK News, invites readers from around the world to pose questions to North Korean defectors. By way of these fascinating interviews, the North Koreans themselves provide authentic firsthand testimonies about what is happening inside the "Hermit Kingdom."

North Korean contributors to this book include:

• "Seong" who came to South Korea after dropping out during his final year of his university. He is now training to be an elementary school teacher.
• "Kang" who left North Korea in 2005. He now lives in London, England.
• "Cheol" who was from South Hamgyeong in North Korea and is now a second-year university student in Seoul.
• "Park" worked and studied in Pyongyang before defecting to the U.S. in 2011. He is now studying at a U.S. college.

This book sheds critical light on all aspects of North Korean politics and society and shows that even in the world's most authoritarian regime, life goes on in ways that are very different from what you may think.

©2017 Daniel Tudor & NK Consulting, Inc. (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Dry delivery from the male narrator, great stories

Great look inside the daily life of North Korea from the 60s-early 2010s. Some of it is repeated, and some of the essays seem lifted from Lankov. Great listen in chunks, but wouldnt sit through it all in one day. Male narrator is a little dry, but the female narrator does a great job.

Brilliant Narration on the unknown perspective

A unique perspective about the lifestyle of the N.Korean. This book offers a unique look on the people that common outsiders like us are not known about.

Endlessly Fascinating

Fascinating accounts of life in North Korea by the people who lived it. Well-written, comprehensive questions, and intriguing answers. Twice I listened well past midnight and even backed up a few chapters to listen again…it was that interesting. And throughout, one never gets the feeling that those who answered the questions embellished any of their tales…very authentic from start to finish.

The only drawback of this production is that Greta Jung, the female narrator, has a lisp. While a speech impediment is certainly not the fault of the one who suffers it, one would think this defect would preclude employment as a narrator. Some may find it endearing; some might not notice it. For me it was incredibly distracting.

Very interesting!

Very interesting to hear North Koreans tell their stories about every day life of North Korea. it is amazing what you take for granted when you hear these stories. This is a must for anyone interested in North Korean life. Feels very genuine since the stories depicted in this book are very nuanced. The male narrator felt very stale to me at first but a few hours in I got used to it.

An amazing look at North Korea

This book was a series of essays by North Korean defectors about a variety of topics, mostly involving day-to-day life in North Korea. They ranged from medical care to education to cosmetics and was an absolutely fascinating look at the world’s most secretive country.