would-prefer-not-to

1) Thanks for doing this. What are your thoughts on international sanctions against trade with NK? I saw Katharina Zellweger give a talk where she decried them, saying that they punish the people for having an odious government and achieve little.

2) I read "Nothing to Envy" and it was one of the best non-fiction books I've ever come across. It read like a thriller with some romance thrown in. It would make an incredible movie. How did you source and fact check those stories?

edit: threw in Amazon link.

One of the most shocking things in the book was the NK doctor who crossed into China to discover that dogs at so much better than she did. Unbelievable.

It isn't their fault they were brainwashed and have no access to competing views.

I think you should really read that book, maybe follow up with Shin Dong-hyuk's account of being born into a concentration camp and escaping. This book by a British diplomat there gives a less terrifying view, but long story short, yes, it is bad in NK. Just what we know is enough to safely say that NK is the worst place on earth for humans to live.

Good question. Do you recommend that book? One thing that I hate about trying to learn more about NK is that there is so little that we can learn about the place and every book I read has at least some overlap with others because its so hard to report from there.