Without You, There Is No Us: Undercover Among the Sons of North Korea's Elite 

A haunting account of teaching English to the sons of North Korea's ruling class during the last six months of Kim Jong-il's reign

Every day, three times daily, the students march in perfect lines, singing praises to Kim Jong-il and the country: “Without you, there is no motherland. Without you, there is no us.” The scene is chilling, yet gradually Suki Kim finds herself humming along. It is 2011, and North Korea has shut down all universities for a year, sending students to construction fields—except for 270 students at the all-male Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST). This walled compound, adorned with portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, is where Suki goes undercover as a missionary and teacher, attempting to educate her students in English under the ever-watchful eye of the regime.

Life at PUST is lonely and claustrophobic. Suki’s letters are censored, and she must hide notes and photographs from both her minders and her colleagues—fellow missionaries unaware that Suki does not share their faith. Over weeks, she grows uneasy with how easily her students lie and their extreme obedience to the regime, while glimpsing their private selves: boyish curiosity, eagerness to please, and fleeting moments of genuine emotion. Suki subtly introduces ideas of the world beyond their walls—surfing the Internet, traveling freely, and even concepts like electoral democracy—all forbidden in a country where defectors face torture or execution.

When Kim Jong-il dies, the boys she has come to care for appear devastated, leaving Suki to ponder whether the gulf between her world and theirs can ever truly be bridged.

Without You, There Is No Us offers an incredibly rare and moving insight into life in one of the world's most secretive nations, and the lives of the privileged young men she calls “soldiers and slaves.”