Buy Now, Pay Later
As low as
$6
/ mo
Learn more
- – 4-month term
- – No impact on credit to apply
- – Instant approval decision
- – Secure and straightforward checkout
Ready to go? Add this product to your cart and select a plan during checkout.
Payment plans are offered through our trusted finance partners Klarna, Affirm, Afterpay, Apple Pay, and PayTomorrow. No-credit-needed leasing options through Acima may also be available at checkout.
Learn more about financing & leasing here.
Free shipping on this product
30-day returns
Learn more
This item is eligible for return within 30 days of receipt
To qualify for a full refund, items must be returned in their original, unused condition. If an item is returned in a used, damaged, or materially different state, you may be granted a partial refund.
To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.
View our full returns policy here.
Availability:
20 left in stock
Arrives
May 21 – May 23
Recently Viewed
Description
"Destined to become a classic" (Iris Chang, author of The Rape of Nanking), this harrowing memoir of life inside North Korea was the first account to emerge from the notoriously secretive country -- and it remains one of the most terrifying. Amid escalating nuclear tensions, Kim Jong-un and North Korea's other leaders have kept a tight grasp on their one-party state, quashing any nascent opposition movements and sending all suspected dissidents to its brutal concentration camps for "re-education." Kang Chol-Hwan is the first survivor of one of these camps to escape and tell his story to the world, documenting the extreme conditions in these gulags and providing a personal insight into life in North Korea. Sent to the notorious labor camp Yodok when he was nine years old, Kang observed frequent public executions and endured forced labor and near-starvation rations for ten years. In 1992, he escaped to South Korea, where he found God and now advocates for human rights in North Korea. Part horror story, part historical document, part memoir, part political tract, this book brings together unassailable firsthand experience, setting one young man's personal suffering in the wider context of modern history, giving eyewitness proof to the abuses perpetrated by the North Korean regime. Read more
Frequently asked questions
If you place your order now, the estimated arrival date for this product is:
May 21 – May 23
Yes, absolutely! You may return this product for a full refund within 30 days of receiving it.
To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.
View our full returns policy here.
To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.
View our full returns policy here.
- Klarna Financing
- Affirm Pay in 4
- Affirm Financing
- Afterpay Financing
- PayTomorrow Financing
- Financing through Apple Pay
Learn more about financing & leasing here.
Top Amazon Reviews
This account of a child taken away to a hard labor camp when he was only 10 years old (or 9 if you count in the Korean way) is quite extraordinary. The depth to which a person will sink in order to survive as well as the barbarism of the North Korean soldiers is something I will not soon forget. After all that we in the U.S. have read about political prisoners in China and human rights abuses there, a stark reality of North Korean under Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il, and now, his son is drawn when the author of this book escapes to China and feels all this amazing freedom of speech, freedom of information, and freedom to go to clubs, etc. I still cannot get out of my head that things like salamanders and worms were eaten for nourishment, not to mention rats being a major source of meat. In any case, this is a book that every South Korean and American should read. It certainly opened my eyes and convinced me that we really need to bring far more pressure on the North Korean regime because hundreds of thousands of people are dying as a result of the barbaric communist regime there. The closest parallels that I can imagine for the portrait drawn in this book are the Soviet Union under Stalin and Germany under Hitler. Ironically, the author had started out in North Korea in a fairly comfortable fashion with his grandparents being connected to the North Korean communist party and his grandfather tied into a position that enabled his family to have more of everything than others around them, not to mention the original wealth of his grandfather.
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2012 by M. E. Nunn
I work in the travel industry and have seen and worked with people from all over the world. One day it occured to me that I had never once met someone born in North Korea, this piqued my interest so I decided to do some research. I am in no way an expert on politics or foreign affairs or civil rights. I'm just a regular shmo who was curious about life in North Korea. Reading this book opened my eyes to a country I knew virtually nothing about. I ignorantly thought North Korea and it's leaders were just a bunch of punch lines to insensitive jokes. This book really gives the reader a glimpse into the everyday people of a nation utterly isolated from the rest of the world and denied everyday experiences many of us take for granted. The book centers on one man born in North Korea to an affluent family with ties to Japan. He is a rare breed in the country as most North Koreans know only poverty and struggle. The book follows his early years, his families decline in favor and his ultimate imprisonment in one of North Korea's many horrifying prison camps. The majority of his young life and early adulthood is spent in one of these forced labor camps reserved for family members of citizens imprisoned in much stricter and terrifying conditions. His only crime was being related to someone the North Korean government deemed guilty of crimes against their great leader and country. This book is unique in many ways. I've read several biographies now on life in North Korea written by prior citizens of DPRK who ultimately defected to non communist countries. This particular biography is one of the most interesting to me for several reasons. It's a story of a boy who experienced both extremes of North Korean living. He was born into a rich family that was well taken care of and had many privledges the majority of the country did not. He had a television, ample food, a large house and nice clothing. Where most other families were lucky to have enough to eat each day. This early life gave him a unique perspective gave the reader a fleeting glimpse into what the elite lived like in this communist regime. At the age of 10 he and his family were sent to a forced labor camp thus hurling him into a life which was the polar opposite of everything he knew. His description of his time in the camp is heart breaking, graphic and surreal. At such a young age to be treated worse than anything I could imagine in conditions no living thing should ever experience he managed to survive at any cost. The book chronicles his life in the camp, his ultimate release, his life back in regular society during the infamous famine and his ultimate decision and journey to defect to the South. He also touches upon the difficulties of life in a westernized society and his experience transitioning to a country that viewed him not as an equal of Korean heritage but as a lesser version. Overall a bittersweet escape. Mr. Kang has seen both extremes, the privledge and the horror of his birth country's communist regime. He experienced how fragile life, favor, and status can be in such a government. His tale is one of deep saddness, bravery and an infallible will to survive. While reading this book it's difficult to remember and keep in perspective that these events are true, that such a country exists that it isn't some made up cautionary fairy tale but rather a real life hunger games. These people lived this horror, they still live it today and we and the rest of the world barely even know about it. I finished this book and instantly wanted to learn more and see what other people experienced and most of the books I've read are very similar. All the defectors are incredibly brave people who fought for their lives and their families and decided to escape and create new lives in a world they knew nothing about. In my opinion everyone should read this book, everyone should be made aware of the living conditions and the grotesque human rights violations that is their reality. Kim Jong Il, his father and his son, none of them are just silly little men ripe for parody. They are real monsters and they are causing suffering on a level I never could have imagined before reading this book. No country is perfect but it does put into perspective our lives and the way in which we live. I've read many reviews on this book and several other biographies written by DPRK defectors and some concerns from readers are that details may have been exaggerated or embellished from these people's lives to make a more compelling biography. Perhaps they have, but even if only 25% of the horrors this book and other's like it describe are true than that's more than anything I can imagine. All of these people have experienced hardships we as westerners will most likely never know and they are brave enough to tell their stories in great detail. This book is an eye opener, it makes you appreciate the life we have, the freedoms we take for granted daily and the opportunities we are given everyday that others may only dream of. I recommend reading this book, to take the time to learn a bit about a country that so desperately wants to remain a secret. It inspired me to be thankful for my life, my luck and my world and inspired me to become more involved in organizations that can help others maintain and achieve all the civil rights every human being deserves.
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2015 by J B
Format: Kindle
I couldn’t put this book down. It is one of the saddest books I’ve ever read and one of the most fascinating look at how incredibly evil and tragic living in North Korea is. The author writes elegantly, clearly and is thorough. It is at times very difficult to read without crying or feeling shocked. My hope is that many more people read this true account so that this awful country can be brought to justice.
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2023 by Birdie
This is an amazing book, very thorough and interesting from beginning to end. I had just recently finished reading "The Orphan Master's Son" which is an amazing amazing novel about life in North Korea which also has a character in the concentration camps, so although that book was rooted in some fact, it was a novel and I really wanted to read a factual account of someone who had been in the concentration camps in North Korea. This book is eye opening and should be read by every one! Maybe I am biased because I am fascinated by North Korea, but I would highly recommend reading The Orphan Master's Son which is one of the best novels I have ever read and is very much a fantasy, but covers a lot of different aspects of life in different places in North Korea; and then reading The Aquariums of Pyongyang to read about one man's actual experience. I think these books in the reverse order may make the Orphan Master's Son seem a little too far-fetched. I'm rambling now.. read this book! Read both books! Read any other books about the DPRK that you can get your hands on to spread awareness of the human rights atrocities being committed on a daily basis.
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2016 by HL