North Korea Confidential Private Markets, Fashion Trends, Prison Camps, Dissenters and Defectors

Additional Reviews:

"Through a variety of sources, from the citizens of Pyongyang to defectors from different periods and regions, to former diplomats and NGOs with years of experience in the country, to cross-border traders from neighboring China, the book is an informative guide to real life in the isolated country." — Asia Society

"…a mix of street smarts and scholarly wisdom. It is a measured and balanced look at North Korea, one that doesn't shy away from the darkness or the light. Overall the authors' voice is refreshing, their storytelling is gripping, and their analysis is perspective." — DailyNK

"…it may be many years before declassified archives give us a full explanation, but in the meantime North Korea Confidential is a good start." — NK News

"James Pearson, who covers Korea for Reuters and is the author of North Korea Confidential, said the state formally 'espouses freedom of religion, but effectively bans it'". — BBC

"They open up a window into North Korea that goes beyond the stereotypes and into real life" — Forword

"Calling on first-hand accounts, these two British connoisseurs show how North Koreans survive in reality: via an underground market economy, tolerated by a regime unable to feed its population since the great famine of the nineties…" — Le Figaro

"North Korea is one of the cruelest dictatorships in the world. But in the country there are surprising trends of opening…A new book describes the amazing developments." — n-tv

"More generally, somewhat tolerated private markets have sprung up across the country to fill the gaps in the crumbling state distribution system, as cataloged in books like North Korea Confidential." — The Diplomat

"If you read just one book about North Korea, make it North Korea Confidential." — Andray Abrahamian, Chosun Exchange

"According to Daniel Tudor's and James Pearson's new book, North Korea Confidential, the country in effect has two economies: the 'official' one (where people work in state jobs and are paid a state salary) and a 'grey market', where people earn money in ways that aren't strictly legal, but widely tolerated." — Money Week

"The sub-title tells it all, 'Private Markets, Fashion Trends, Prison Camps, Dissenters and Defectors'. North Korea Confidential is a rare book about North Korea that is far closer to describing reality than the endlessly recycled narratives of a North Korea seemingly frozen by minds set in the late Kim Il Sung era." — Asia Review of Books

"The book is exactly what one would want from people who know a few of the country's secrets." — Real Clear World

"A fascinating look at the hard to access part of the Hermit Kingdom, definitely recommended and as far as I know this book has no close substitute." — Marginal Revolution

"A nicely done single-volume overview that provides a much better introduction to the country than our more focused-and turgid-monographs." — Peterson Institute for International Economics

"Daniel Tudor and James Pearson, who between them have a wealth of academic qualifications and journalistic experience, can understand why people would dismiss North Korea as a basket case or laughingstock, but they argue that the real story is much more complex." — The American Interest

"Documented through extensive travel in the country and interviews with North Korean defectors, this important book will appeal to anyone interested in Korean and East Asian affairs." — Library Journal

"By putting North Korea in its proper cultural, regional, and historical context, North Korea Confidential provides a vivid, concise, and useful account of a country that has generated much heated commentary but much less accurate reporting." — Los Angeles Review of Books

"Tudor and Pearson do a commendable job of looking beyond the North's nuclear stockpile and recent red herrings such as the basketball diplomacy circus to look at life and society in North Korea, which is certainly not as monolithic as often portrayed." — Japan Times

"If you are a North Korea watcher or simply curious about the country, it's definitely worth a read. Because what is really happening inside the country rarely makes the headlines." — Korea Herald

"'Today's North Korean economy is a messy and complicated combination of the official economy, within which people work state jobs, and the real economy, where true profit lies,' says James Pearson, coauthor of North Korea Confidential". — Forbes

"…especially recommended for relative newcomers to North Korean culture and politics, as it presents an overview of what life is like for ordinary North Koreans and uses interviews from diplomats, cross-border traders, and elite political party members alike in the course of tracing these lives." — Midwest Book Review

"One of the most informative and contemporary books to be released on North Korea…" — Asia Society

"'The idea that North Korea is an information black hole is simply not true anymore,' says James Pearson, reporter for Reuters in South Korea and co-author of the book, North Korea Confidential." — NPR, Morning Edition