Perhaps no other nation in the world is more mysterious than North Korea. Since the end of World War II, North Korea has been ruled by three generations of the Kim family. An isolated, insular, and dictatorially governed nation, North Korea is almost completely closed off from the rest of the world. North Koreans rarely drive a car, have limited access to a tightly controlled Internet, face the harshest consequences for civil disobedience, often go without electricity, and have experienced periods of dire famine. At present it is estimated that at least 200,000 North Koreans are imprisoned or in labor camps due to being labeled as politically hostile to the government. Much of North Korea has been deforested with resulting landslides creating dangerous situations. The arts are tightly controlled by the North Korean government with little or no freedom of expression allowed. It is this isolated and oppressed nation that Liz Sonneborn describes in this title in the illustrated “Enchantment of the World” series. Sonneborn does a fine job of detailing the geography, history, patterns of governance, and socio-cultural elements of North Korea. Readers are given a look behind the curtain at a society that is as stringently controlled as any nation in the world. As the author of this informative and well-written book notes, North Korea is more akin to a medieval kingdom ruled by hereditary divine rights monarchs than a modern state. Perhaps the future will bring a release of some of these governmental controls but until then it is helpful for readers to have access to information about this hidden land. Liz Sonneborn’s informative book should help in the study of this aggressively isolationist country and its people. Reviewer: Greg M. Romaneck; Ages 10 up.
