This brave young man’s experience seems to mirror that of Kang Chol-Hwan, author of ‘The Aquariums of Pyongyang’. After former President George W. Bush read his book, he invited Kang Chol-Hwan to visit with him in the White House, where they spent over half an hour (a substantial time considering how busy the President is) discussing the plight of the North Korean people and what could be done to help them.
After their meeting in June 2005, and after the on-again, off-again ‘Six Party Talks’ (which GWB was convinced would lead to an agreement with North Korea to end their nuclear program), Bush finally figured out in late 2008 that the best way he could help the North Korean people was to sell them up the river, by taking North Korea OFF the list of terrorist supporting nations maintained by the State Department, which was no doubt appreciated by the late Dear Leader Kim Jong Il.
What did the North Korean people get for such a grandiose act of appeasement?
The same thing the rest of the world received from Pyongyang, i.e., ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
“This brave young man’s experience seems to mirror that of Kang Chol-Hwan, author of ‘The Aquariums of Pyongyang’”
I read that book. As I recall, Kang’s family lived in Japan and his grandmother was a dedicated communist. It was she that lead the family to move to north Korea, thinking she was leading them to paradise. It wasn’t long after their arrival that the family were all put away into a concentration camp. At first the grandmother thought that this was some sort of mistake that would soon be rectified. It took a couple years of imprisonment in the camp before she finally became disillusioned with communism. Afterwards she was racked with guilt for being the one primarily responsible for where her family was.