Barbara Demick

Those who write in accordance with the party’s intention are heroes,” Kim Jong-il proclaimed.

apartment buildings were equipped with loudspeakers in the individual units to broadcast community notices.

Visitors to Pyongyang in the 1990s reported that the stores sometimes put plastic fruit and vegetables on display for foreign window-shoppers.

Hairdressers were all state employees who worked for an agency called the Convenience Bureau. It was also responsible for bicycle and shoe repairmen

Like other occasional visitors to Pyongyang, I am reluctant to make pronouncements about the state of the nation based on my observations because the government goes to such extraordinary lengths to choreograph what foreigners see of their country.