In
this rare insider’s view into contemporary North Korea, a high-ranking
counterintelligence agent describes his life as a former poet laureate to Kim
Jong-il and his breathtaking escape to freedom.
“The general
will now enter the room.”
Everyone turns
to stone. Not moving my head, I direct my eyes to a point halfway up the
archway where Kim Jong-il’s face will soon appear…
As
North Korea’s state poet laureate, Jang Jin-sung led a charmed life. With food
provisions (even as the country suffered through its great famine), a travel
pass, access to strictly censored information, and audiences with Kim Jong-il
himself, his life in Pyongyang seemed safe and secure. But this privileged
existence was about to be shattered. When a strictly forbidden magazine he lent
to a friend goes missing, Jang Jin-sung must flee for his life.
Never
before has a member of the elite described the inner workings of this
totalitarian state and its propaganda machine. An astonishing exposé told
through the heart-stopping story of Jang Jin-sung’s escape to South Korea, Dear
Leader is a rare and unprecedented insight into the world’s most secretive
and repressive regime.
Download and start listening now!