A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea

Masaji Ishikawa recounts his thirty-six years living under the North Korean regime after his family migrated from Japan in 1960. As a child of a Korean father and a Japanese mother, Ishikawa identifies the "Paradise on Earth" propaganda as a deception that trapped his family in a rigid caste system. He details the specific mechanics of state-mandated starvation, the constant threat of the secret police, and the labor required to survive in a depleted agrarian landscape. The narrative culminates in his 1996 decision to cross the Yalu River into China, leaving his family behind to seek asylum.

Readers interested in the logistics of life within a closed totalitarian state will find a technical, first-person account of social hierarchy and survival. This memoir serves those who study the historical consequences of the repatriation movement between Japan and North Korea. A reader walks away with a grim understanding of how the Songbun system dictates an individual's caloric intake and career options. It provides a sobering look at the psychological toll of permanent surveillance and the desperate physical measures required to defect across the border.

Clear-cut; an easy read.

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