Suffering and Smiling - (Asian Voices) by Byung-Ho Chung (Hardcover)
About this item
Highlights
- Suffering and Smiling presents a glimpse inside everyday North Korea.
- About the Author: Byung-Ho Chung is professor emeritus at Hanyang University, South Korea.
- 244 Pages
- Political Science, World
- Series Name: Asian Voices
Description
About the Book
Suffering and Smiling presents a glimpse inside everyday North Korea. Educator and hunger activist, Byung-Ho Chung, illustrates his interactions with the citizenry both inside the border and as refugees in South Korea.Book Synopsis
Suffering and Smiling presents a glimpse inside everyday North Korea. Educator and hunger activist, Byung-Ho Chung, illustrates his interactions with the citizenry both inside the border and as refugees in South Korea.
Review Quotes
Anthropologist, educator, humanitarian and activist, Byung-Ho Chung has written a book distilling decades of close observation of, and deep empathy for, the evident suffering and the enigmatic smiles of the North Korean people. Suffering and Smiling: Daily Life in North Korea examines the lives of North Korean refugees in China, those who have resettled in South Korea, and those inside the still isolated country, bearing witness to their protracted march through hardship and famine and their powerful will to survive and draw pleasure where they can find it. In a divided world and across the divided Koreas, Byung-Ho Chung's book seeks to build a bridge of understanding.
This remarkable, insightful and intimate account of North Korea breaks through the stereotypes to reveal the complexity and contradictions of North Korean life. Byung-Ho Chung's sensitive analysis of North Korea's cultural politics is a poignant reminder of the continuing tragedy of the division of Korea along Cold War lines, and is essential reading for anyone who seeks to make sense of that tragedy.
About the Author
Byung-Ho Chung is professor emeritus at Hanyang University, South Korea. He was president of the Korean Society for Cultural Anthropology. He has visited North Korea as well as China's borders with North Korea on numerous occasions for humanitarian purposes. As a public intellectual and action anthropologist, he is the founder or co-founder of seven organizations for equality and multiculturalism, and was a special advisor to the president of Korean Red Cross. He is the co-author of North Korea: Beyond Charismatic Politics, R&L, 2012.
