Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
Encyclopedia
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea is a part-novelization (2009) of interviews with refugees from Chongjin
, North Korea, written by Los Angeles Times
journalist Barbara Demick
. In 2010 the book was awarded the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction. It was also a nonfiction finalist for the National Book Award in 2010.
The title comes from the children's theme song of the 1970 North Korean film We Have Nothing to Envy in the World (Korean: Sesang-e burom opsora 세상에 부럼 없어라).
Demick interviewed more than 100 defectors
but chose to focus on Chongjin because it is likely to be more representative than the capital Pyongyang
. The events covered include the famine of the 1990s
, with the final chapters describing the route the main characters took to Seoul
and then an epilogue describing the effects of the November 30th 2009 currency reform.
The six main characters/interviewees of the book are:
Chongjin
Ch'ŏngjin is the capital of North Korea's North Hamgyŏng Province and the country's third largest city. From 1960 to 1967 and again from 1977 to 1985, Ch'ŏngjin was administered separately from North Hamgyŏng as a Directly Governed City...
, North Korea, written by Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
journalist Barbara Demick
Barbara Demick
Barbara Demick is an American journalist. She is currently Beijing bureau chief of the Los Angeles Times. She is the author of Logavina Street: Life and Death in a Sarajevo Neighborhood...
. In 2010 the book was awarded the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction. It was also a nonfiction finalist for the National Book Award in 2010.
The title comes from the children's theme song of the 1970 North Korean film We Have Nothing to Envy in the World (Korean: Sesang-e burom opsora 세상에 부럼 없어라).
Demick interviewed more than 100 defectors
North Korean defectors
A number of individuals have defected from North Korea. Since the division of Korea after World War II and the end of the Korean War , many people have defected from North Korea, mainly for political, ideological, religious and economic reasons...
but chose to focus on Chongjin because it is likely to be more representative than the capital Pyongyang
Pyongyang
Pyongyang is the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea, and the largest city in the country. Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River and, according to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, has a population of 3,255,388. The city was...
. The events covered include the famine of the 1990s
North Korean famine
'The North Korean famine was a famine in North Korea which began in the early 1990s...
, with the final chapters describing the route the main characters took to Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
and then an epilogue describing the effects of the November 30th 2009 currency reform.
The six main characters/interviewees of the book are:
- Mrs Song - a pro-regime housewife, head of the block's inminban
- Oak-Hee - Mrs Song's rebellious, yet eventually enterprising, daughter
- Mi-ran - daughter of a kaolin miner, a South Korean POW, so with bad songbun disqualifying her from advancement
- Jun-sang - a student with Zainichi KoreanZainichi KoreanKoreans in Japan are the ethnic Korean residents of Japan. They currently constitute the second largest ethnic minority group in Japan. The majority of Koreans in Japan are Zainichi Koreans, also often known as Zainichi for short, who are the permanent ethnic Korean residents of Japan...
ancestry and Mi-Ran's boyfriend in North Korea - Kim Hyuck - a street-kid whose father commits him to an orphanage
- Dr Kim - a doctor with relatives in China