![]() ![]() The boys she teaches are college-aged, and it’s striking to compare them to any college-aged kid you may know (or remember yourself being). As she grows closer to her students and begins to feel some maternal affection for them, she’s torn between keeping them safe (protecting them from Western influence, since they could be punished for too much knowledge), or trying to open their minds to the world outside of North Korea. They are there to learn English, but she is under strict instructions from the counterparts (North Koreans who work at the campus whose job is to approve lesson plans and spy on the missionaries) not to teach them about Western culture. Suki’s students at the university are the creme de la creme of North Korean society, the sons of high ranking officials. The result is Without You, There is No Us, a chilling glimpse into a society that is almost completely closed off from the rest of the modern world. ![]() ![]() The school is run by Christian missionaries hoping to crack into the “evangelical Christian Holy nverting people would guarantee the missionaries a spot in heaven.” Suki’s not actually a missionary–she’s there to write an expose on North Korean culture. Suki Kim, a South Korean-American journalist, takes a job at a university in North Korea. Without You, There is No Us ranks right up there with the scariest books I’ve ever read. ![]()
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