North Korea Undercover: Inside the World's Most Secret State.

• Author: Bellamy, Paul
• Position: Book review

NORTH KOREA UNDERCOVER: Inside the World's Most Secret State

Author: John Sweeney

Published by. Bantam Press, London, 2013, 306pp, 9.99 [pounds sterling].

NORTH KOREA: State of Paranoia

Author: Paul French

Published by. Zed Books, London, 2014, 462pp, 12.99 [pounds sterling].

The Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (the DPRK or North Korea) is frequently the focus of the worlds attention. Tensions on the Korean peninsula, nuclear tests, appalling human rights together with Kim Jong Un's succession and his moves to consolidate power have all helped shape this coverage. Moreover, a peaceful and stable peninsula should be a priority for the international community given the regions importance. It is against this backdrop that two relevant books of contrasting styles have been published.

North Korea Undercover is authored by award-winning BBC journalist John Sweeney. Posing as a history professor, Sweeney visited North Korea with the goal of making 'the world's most secretive state a little less unknown'. His working hypothesis is that 'Kim Jong Un's talk of nuclear war is a confidence trick, and that the Pyongyang bluff is blinding us to a human rights tragedy on an immense scale'. He also believes that the regime is 'not as strong as it looks'.

Sweeney's book revolves around his eight-day closely supervised tour of the North, so the back cover's reference to the author's 'unprecedented access' is somewhat of an exaggeration. He does though provide a vivid and colourful account of his group tour, and has sensibly supplemented this with a diverse range of insightful interviews. These range from talking to seven North Korean defectors, an IRA man trained in North Korea, two translators imprisoned by the regime, a former American soldier who lived there for 40 years, through to an Italian chef who worked for the regime's elite.

The book is certainly not an academic study. It is informally written, lacks a clear structure and includes some swearing and derogatory language, particularly with reference to the North Korean leadership. There are also some debatable and generalised statements, such as references to North Korean people being 'happy, joking, witty, full of fun' and the regime's popularity with the masses. The book contains photographs, mostly in colour, along with footnotes, including numerous references to more analytical work on the North. However, there is no bibliography, and a map of Sweeney's travel would have been useful.

Paul...