This unique book, now fully updated, provides a comprehensive overview of all aspects of life in North Korea today. Drawing on decades of experience, noted experts Ralph Hassig and Kongdan Oh explore a world few outsiders can imagine. In vivid detail, the authors describe how the secretive and authoritarian government of Kim Jong-un shapes every aspect of its citizens' lives, how the command socialist economy has utterly failed, and how ordinary individuals struggle to survive through small-scale capitalism. Weighing the very limited individual rights allowed, the authors illustrate how the political class system and the legal system serve solely as tools of the regime.

Introduction: land of illusions -- The country of the three Kims -- The struggling national economy -- The emerging people's economy -- Propaganda, news, and South Korean soap operas -- Public declarations and private thoughts -- The human rights deficit -- Silent defectors -- Faint light at the end of the tunnel.