In this historically grounded, richly empirical study of social and economic transformation in North Korea, Hazel Smith evaluates the 'marketization from below' that followed the devastating famine of the early 1990s, estimated to be the cause of nearly one million fatalities. Smith shows how the end of the Cold War in Europe and the famine brought radical social change to all of North Korean society. This major new study analyses how marketization transformed the interests, expectations and values of the entire society, including Party members, the military, women and men, the young and the elderly. Smith shows how the daily life of North Koreans has become alienated from the daily pronouncements of the North Korean government. Challenging stereotypes of twenty-five million North Koreans as mere bystanders in history, Smith argues that North Koreans are 'neither victims nor villains' but active agents of their own destiny.

Winner, 2017 IBP Teaching Tool Accolade in Humanities, International Convention of Asia Scholars

‘Hazel Smith's data-driven tour de force convincingly demolishes the cartoonish image of North Korea held by most outsiders, including senior policymakers in the West.’

Robert M. Hathaway - Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington DC

'A timely and insightful analysis of the post-Cold War transformation of the North Korean society.  This book challenges the stereotypes of many outside observers of North Korean affairs and provides important policy implications.'

Yoon Young-Kwan - Seoul National University, and former Foreign Minister of Republic of Korea

'As an antidote to demonization the powerful impact of Hazel Smith’s thought forces one to look at North Korea not as a pariah, but as a country struggling to pull itself out of international isolation.'

Donald P. Gregg - former US Ambassador to South Korea and Chairman Emeritus of The Korea Society in New York

'North Korea is a no-nonsense book. The wealth of documents and statistics does much tobuttress the analysis, and it is as good as any English-language book in providing an overview ofcontemporary North Korea. Smith’s analysis of the pre-famine, Kim Ilsungist period is wellgrounded and clear sighted as she pays due attention to the historical, organizational, andideological factors that molded the robust system.'

John Lie Source: Cross-Currents