Book Review: Nothing To Envy

Ten years have passed since Nothing to Envy was published. But I wonder how much has changed for the people whose lives we read about in this non-fiction book by journalist Barbara Demick (2009).

In South Korea there are TV chat shows and documentaries on life in the North. And there’s drama too. Crash Landing on You 2019 (the second highest-rated drama in Korean cable TV history – after Sky Castle) offers a romanticised view of North Korea. The drama was praised for its realistic portrayal of life in the North. But in the drama, life doesn’t seem too bad, really. The biggest issues are that the electricity is often cut off, there’s only a modest amount of food, and a lack of freedom that other countries take for granted.

However, the people covered in Nothing to Envy endure far more difficult lives in North Korea. The book includes a lot of background history and the writer assumes that the reader knows nothing about the Korean peninsula. So it’s informative. But for me, it’s the personal stories of the ordinary people which makes this book so appealing.

NOTHING TO ENVY

It’s the 90s in the gritty polluted and industrial city of Chongjin in the far north east. (People who committed crimes were sent here into exile from Seoul during the Joseon period.)

North Korea is facing challenges and decline after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Once richer than the South, the North is now lagging behind. Famine is killing many citizens. Discontent and suffering is particularly strong in Chongjin as it was one of the worst affected areas by the famine.

THE STORIES

The journalist interviews six North Koreans from different backgrounds including a doctor, a young couple, and a proud believer who had no wish to defect.

It’s tempting to imagine that everyone in the North wants to get out, but that’s not true.

Even people at the bottom of the North Korean hierarchy – like those with connections to South Korea or Japan – often believe that their life is still better than others. The title of the book comes from a phrase from a song ‘Nothing to Envy‘ which children learn and is part of propaganda signs around the country reminding everyone that there is nothing to envy about other countries. And people believe this.

Details of the realities of life in North Korea are poignant

If someone puts out a cigarette, someone else picks it up to get the last bit of tobacco to roll up in newspaper. Worried parents take their children to the doctors with symptoms they can’t explain – the children are malnourished. White rice is precious but virtually impossible to find in Chongjin. But across the border in China, a defector is startled to see a bowl of rice mixed with meat in someone’s garden and she realises that it’s for the DOG.

So dogs eat better in China than the people do in North Korea.

But not everything is terrible. Love and romance blossoms in the darkness when the power is cut off at night. And waiting weeks for a handwritten letter keeps innocent hearts fluttering for years.

DEATH OF KIM IL SUNG

One of the most fascinating parts of the book is the response to the death of Kim Il Sung in 1994 and the psychological impact it has on the people. Everyone can remember where they were when they heard the news of his death.

Some don’t know what to make of the realisation that the Supreme Leader is actually mortal. In Chongjin, the people flock to the statue of the Leader to mourn and pay their respects.

But some mourners collapse in the heat and need medical attention. At the nearest hospital, electricity and medicine supplies are low. Ironically, electricity cuts have been put in place so that the statue can stay lit up 24 hours a day!

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The Supreme Leader’s death also comes as the famine begins.

Up until this point, defectors had been few and far between. But by the end of the 90s more people were questioning the regime.

SETTLING IN THE SOUTH

So ten years have passed this this book was published. In the late 90s defectors thought that the North Korean leadership would soon collapse and they would be able to go back to their homes and see their families.

But obviously that hasn’t been the case.

Since the publication of the book, Kim Jung Un has taken over and Pyongyang has been developed even more. The rest of the country still remains a mystery though, to the outside world.

In the drama Crash Landing on You there are humorous scenes as the characters cross the border and try to get used to life on the other side.

Nothing to Envy touches on the difficulties that the defectors face after entering South Korea.

There are different values to contend with as well as discrimination against defectors. It would be interesting to read an update now ten years later to see how those first defectors have settled in South Korea.

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