Danielle and Kristine learned how to survive North Korea this week, and our friend J. Keith van Straaten joins us to talk about when he found himself in the wrong village in Northern Germany.

For some history of the world's most repressive regime and the last closed totalitarian state, Human Rights Watch (https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2022/country-chapters/north-korea)  is a great place to start.

 

To understand more about the Cult of Personality (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xxgRUyzgs0)  and Juche, Vox has a great explainer (https://www.vox.com/world/2018/6/18/17441296/north-korea-propaganda-ideology-juche) .

Here's an NPR piece (https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105218279)  that you can listen to or read. 

A Chilling Look Inside North Korean Prison Camps (https://www.businessinsider.com/life-in-north-korea-prison-camps-2014-12)

And if you can't get enough, some more about the gulags (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/north-korea/north-korean-gulags-terrible-or-even-worse-nazi-camps-auschwitz-n828751) .

First Story of Escape: Shin Dong-hyuk

 His story is famously told in the book Escape From Camp 14 (https://www.amazon.com/Escape-Camp-14-Remarkable-Odyssey/dp/0143122916)

If you want to read about the admitted inaccuracies in his report, this Washington Post piece is excellent. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/prominent-n-korean-defector-shin-dong-hyuk-admits-parts-of-story-are-inaccurate/2015/01/17/fc69278c-9dd5-11e4-bcfb-059ec7a93ddc_story.html)

Next Up: The Lover & The Despot (http://www.magpictures.com/profile.aspx?id=86c0a9e9-0b60-4b30-99d5-b5e352f6df33)

This is a crazy documentary (watch the trailer here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNRhk2Q5s4Q) ) that you can stream on Amazon Prime. This KPCC review (https://www.kpcc.org/programs/the-frame/2016/09/21/52247/the-lovers-and-the-despot-a-filmmaker-an-actress-a/)  has some fun pics, including the one below.

There wasn't time to get into this, but Assassins (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmyVSZ2yDeo)  looks insane. You can also hear the incredible story in podcast form. (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hit-and-run/id1606009390?i=1000557431312)

Check out J. Keith van Straaten (http://www.jkeith.net/) 's podcast! (https://gofactyourpod.com/)

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