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A book named Rimjin-gang--News from Inside North
Korea just became available. It's a compilation of years of
reporting by a group of about 12 North Koreans using video and still cameras to
record everyday life in North Korea. The title comes from the Rimjin River
(Imjin in English), which forms part of the Demilitarized Zone that separates
North and South Korea. Japanese and Korean readers have been able to read the Rimjin-gang magazine since 2007. I heard Ishimaru speak in October at New York University,
and his stories about how the material makes its way out of North Korea were
almost as fascinating as the videos and stills he showed. Surprisingly, video
and still cameras are not illegal in
The material is fascinating. There is a video of a woman berating a police officer for asking for a bribe so she could get onto a truck transporting people to a market; stills of prisoners in a "labor training" camp marching off to a job site, some with tools slung over their shoulders; and interviews with local people explaining how they manage to survive in the country's emerging black market, which is sporadically but increasingly tolerated by the government in the face of the failure of its own economic programs.
Ishimaru explained that the people doing the recording and photography are untrained, and that his goal is to increase their level of professionalism and to cautiously find others who want to join the team. For their own safety, the identities of the North Koreans are not know to each other--to protect them if they should fall into the hands of the police.
One caveat: The English-language, 500-page Rimjin-gang costs $120 with shipping from Japan. Ishimaru says he's trying to get Amazon to carry it, but for now you have to go through the Asia Press website.
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That is what North Korea says about the latest incident.
http://wp.me/p11mt3-NI
Here is an objective view on North Korea.
http://redkorea.wordpress.com/