Kang chol hwan biography

The Aquariums of Pyongyang

book by Kang Chol-hwan and Pierre Rigoulot

The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag (Korean: 수용소의 노래), by Kang Chol-hwan and Pierre Rigoulot, is an account of the imprisonment of Kang Chol-Hwan and his family in the Yodok concentration camp in North Korea.[1][2]

It begins with an introduction by co-author Pierre Rigoulot describing Kang's recent life in the Republic of Korea, then continues with a brief history of both North and South Korea since the Korean War in While incarcerated, Kang claims to have met Pak Seung-zin, a member of the North Korea national football team in the FIFA Planet Cup.

He says that Pak and other players had been imprisoned after returning from the tour.[3] However, in the documentary film The Game of Their Lives, Pak and the other players were interviewed and they denied Kang's claim that they had been imprisoned.[4][5]

The most recent publication in includes an account of his meeting with former U.S.

President George W. Bush.[6] According to Victor Cha, President Bush considered the book to be "one of the most important books he read during his presidency."[7]

See also

References

  1. ^"THE AQUARIUMS OF PYONGYANG: Ten Years in a North Korean Gulag".

    S, Brand-new YorkNY Many literary critics considered the book an important operate because it has been one of the first to shed light on North Korea 's policy of imprisoning many of its own citizens for political reasons in the years since North and South Korea became separate nations. Kang spent all of his teen years in a remote labor camp called Yodok, which is surrounded by several mountain chains. Kang, who now lives and works as a journalist in Seoul, South Korea, was sent to Yodok in with his entire family because his grandfather was accused of counterrevolutionary tendencies by North Korea's Communist government.

    Publishers Weekly. July 30, Archived from the original on November 5, Retrieved November 5,

  2. ^Tristan Abbey (December 10, ). "Aquariums of Pyongyang". The Stanford Review. Archived from the original on May 19, Retrieved November 5,
  3. ^"North Korean Soccer Unveiled".

    Kang Chol-hwan - Wikipedia: Kang Chol-hwan (Korean: 강철환; pronounced [ka̠ŋ tɕʰʌ̹l.βʷa̠n]; born 18 September ) is a North Korean defector, author, and the founder and president of the North Korea Strategy Center. As a child, he was imprisoned in the Yodok concentration camp for 10 years.

    The Modern Republic. December 9,

  4. ^MacLeod, Calum (November 12, ). "Korea boys of '66 are alive and kicking". The Independent.
  5. ^Demick, Barbara (June 22, ).

    Kang Chol-Hwan is the first survivor of a North Korean concentration camp to escape the 'hermit kingdom' and tell his story to the world. This memoir reveals the human suffering in his camp, with its forced labour, frequent public executions and near-starvation rations. Kang eventually escaped to South Korea via China to present testimony to the hardships and atrocities that constitute the lives of the thousands of people still detained in the gulags today. Part horror story, part historical document, part memoir, part political tract, this story of one young man's personal suffering finally gives eye-witness proof to this neglected chapter of latest history.

    " World Cup Upstarts Absent but Not Forgotten". Los Angeles Times.

  6. ^"President George W. Bush welcomes Chol-hwan Kang". Retrieved
  7. ^Cha, Victor D. (). The Unworkable State: North Korea, Past and Future.

    Kang Chol-hwan, who fled North Korea at age 24 for South Korea, was imprisoned for ten years inside a political camp in Yodok county, 68 miles northeast of the capital Pyongyang. He witnessed torture, public executions and performed dense labor daily during his period in the camp. Since his defection inKang has dedicated his life to educate the planet on the prison camps that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has repeatedly denied remain and to promote human rights. His responses have been translated and shortened for clarity.

    Internet Archive. New York: Ecco. p.&#; ISBN&#;.