As a mid 20s grad student who was on the cusp of entering into this exact field, I don't feel so bad about getting rejected from an NK watching organization a few days ago after reading this article.
My favorite things about NK are the absence of skyglow at night and the secure borders (much better for the protection of natural resources). Stop Light Pollution! Conserve Nature! Make America the NK of NA! 🌲🌌🌲
I think your wish is coming true, Trump's America is starting to look a lot like Juche in some ways. Fortress America, throwing tantrums, global scam crimes, threatening neighbors but never actually doing anything, etc.
Thanks for the plug for my second book, Jeff! Nuclear Blues didn't take 13 years to write the way Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader did. I intended NB as a fiction sequel to the original nonfiction book. For a long while, I accumulated research materials and kept alive the possibility of doing a nonfiction sequel, but Pyongyang has not let me into the country since 2007 – and, anyhow, who needs a book saying that very little has changed? It's time to toss a truckload of mildewed papers out of my basement storage room.
LOL. Unqualified as I was in terms of training, I took up NK watching when hardly anyone else was doing it. Maybe 20 people? The Vietnam-era revisionists had the training but they argued, essentially, that the North should not be subjected to critical analysis: It was the '70s and '80s South, with its American associations, that was evil. As a journalist, I saw the difference between authoritarian and totalitarian, watched the South's democracy movement progress from places such as Gwangju and, finally, in 1991, decided to plow ahead with concentrated reporting and research on NK. I worked on my book for 13 years before I was able to publish it. Since I had to make a living to support a family during that time, it wasn't a full-time commitment; let's say I put six or seven years total into the effort. Revisionists I knew turned against me – although, surprisingly, after it was published I I got a mostly favorable review in the LBR from Bruce Cumings. Now I'm old, and there are plenty of you younger people watching NK. So, although I have not retired from journalism – I still work every day – I've more or less retired from NK watching. You're right, Jeffrey, that it seems almost nothing has changed in North Korea. Meanwhile, everything changes so fast in my own country that I spend an average of four hours perusing the news each morning before starting my editing work. That news addiction is dangerous for my health. What's happening makes me so tense and angry that I must stop frequently to play a game of FreeCell – my calming-down substitute for the cigarettes that I chain-smoked back in my reckless youth. Sometimes, I suspect that I'm missing something important by absenting myself from NK watching. Today was such a day: I read this WaPo article (paywall removed so you can read it): https://wapo.st/4kjzYVW
Hi Brad, as I've said before I reckon your book is well worth a read! Feel free to put up some links here so others can find it. If anyone interested in the topic wants a fun read that shows a North Korea Watchers turn to creativity - this is it! [Bradley K. Martin, Nuclear Blues, ISBN 9781543916355 (Kindle Edition).]
As a mid 20s grad student who was on the cusp of entering into this exact field, I don't feel so bad about getting rejected from an NK watching organization a few days ago after reading this article.
Keep trying Chris! Lots of space for creative thinkers!
My favorite things about NK are the absence of skyglow at night and the secure borders (much better for the protection of natural resources). Stop Light Pollution! Conserve Nature! Make America the NK of NA! 🌲🌌🌲
I think your wish is coming true, Trump's America is starting to look a lot like Juche in some ways. Fortress America, throwing tantrums, global scam crimes, threatening neighbors but never actually doing anything, etc.
Thanks for the plug for my second book, Jeff! Nuclear Blues didn't take 13 years to write the way Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader did. I intended NB as a fiction sequel to the original nonfiction book. For a long while, I accumulated research materials and kept alive the possibility of doing a nonfiction sequel, but Pyongyang has not let me into the country since 2007 – and, anyhow, who needs a book saying that very little has changed? It's time to toss a truckload of mildewed papers out of my basement storage room.
LOL. Unqualified as I was in terms of training, I took up NK watching when hardly anyone else was doing it. Maybe 20 people? The Vietnam-era revisionists had the training but they argued, essentially, that the North should not be subjected to critical analysis: It was the '70s and '80s South, with its American associations, that was evil. As a journalist, I saw the difference between authoritarian and totalitarian, watched the South's democracy movement progress from places such as Gwangju and, finally, in 1991, decided to plow ahead with concentrated reporting and research on NK. I worked on my book for 13 years before I was able to publish it. Since I had to make a living to support a family during that time, it wasn't a full-time commitment; let's say I put six or seven years total into the effort. Revisionists I knew turned against me – although, surprisingly, after it was published I I got a mostly favorable review in the LBR from Bruce Cumings. Now I'm old, and there are plenty of you younger people watching NK. So, although I have not retired from journalism – I still work every day – I've more or less retired from NK watching. You're right, Jeffrey, that it seems almost nothing has changed in North Korea. Meanwhile, everything changes so fast in my own country that I spend an average of four hours perusing the news each morning before starting my editing work. That news addiction is dangerous for my health. What's happening makes me so tense and angry that I must stop frequently to play a game of FreeCell – my calming-down substitute for the cigarettes that I chain-smoked back in my reckless youth. Sometimes, I suspect that I'm missing something important by absenting myself from NK watching. Today was such a day: I read this WaPo article (paywall removed so you can read it): https://wapo.st/4kjzYVW
Hi Brad, as I've said before I reckon your book is well worth a read! Feel free to put up some links here so others can find it. If anyone interested in the topic wants a fun read that shows a North Korea Watchers turn to creativity - this is it! [Bradley K. Martin, Nuclear Blues, ISBN 9781543916355 (Kindle Edition).]