Without You, There Is No Us

Suki Kim’s nonfiction work, Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea’s Elite (2014), is an account of Kim’s time working in North Korea and teaching the sons of North Korea’s elite ruling class. Though the book has been praised for its rare glimpse into life in this mysterious country, Kim was met with backlash from various sources for publishing the work at all. Kim is also the author of the bestselling novel, The Interpreter, for which she worked as an interpreter for a brief time to better understand the role.

What is unusual about Kim’s account is the level of society she’s depicting. Most portrayals of life in North Korea come from defectors who are ordinary citizens. They have no idea how the royal class lives, and they are kept ignorant on purpose. On the other hand, we get the rare state-sanctioned accounts of high society life in North Korea, but they are naturally biased and unreliable.

Kim begins the book with a prologue depicting life at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) in 2011. PUST is North Korea’s only privately funded university; only elite men are educated there. The teachers are all foreign. Teaching English, Kim finds it a claustrophobic and depressing place to be. Everything is the same, no matter what day it is. The routine is so regimented life becomes a matter of nothing more than existing each day. The only contact Kim has is with the people who work and study at the school; outside contact is prohibited. Guards patrol the grounds and supervise the classes.

Kim discusses the criticism she has received from both the school and Christian missionaries who taught on campus. They criticize her for leaking this information after she promised to never speak of her experiences. Nevertheless, Kim doesn’t apologize for writing the book; exposing the dystopian North Korean world is more important than making or breaking promises.

What is most surprising to Kim is that she is allowed into the country to teach in the first place. She doesn’t use a fake name or an assumed identity. Anyone can search for her on the Internet and see that she is a writer and journalist. That no student or teacher realized who she was, is evidence of a major problem in North Korea—everyone is accessing a limited, state-sanctioned version of the Internet. Most search engines and results are hidden to them.

Although Kim bonds with her students, she also finds them unnerving. They look out for each other as brothers do, and they are prepared to lie for each other about the smallest things, such as missing homework. They are so afraid of severe repercussions, they do whatever it takes to keep each other safe. This makes Kim feel like an outsider, that she can never fully trust them.

Kim covers her life at PUST in some detail. She describes singing songs dedicated to the leader at the time, Kim Jong-il, and hiding her notes and photographs so that she isn’t exposed as a journalist. Censors first read any letters she sends out, and she is under strict orders to reveal nothing about the outside world to her students. As a South Korean, Kim finds it difficult to hide the truth about the world from the boys, but she knows that her safety depends on it.

Occasionally, Kim can’t help but divulge vague information about the world at large. She speaks of democracy, and the freedom to move around without telling anyone where you’re going. The boys are fascinated, but their curiosity ends there. When the leader dies, the boys are heart-broken. At this point, Kim realizes it might never be possible to bridge the gap between our world and theirs.

During her time in North Korea, Kim never feels part of the teaching staff. Since they are Christian missionaries, and she is not, they do not involve her in their daily lives; she feels like an outsider even among the faculty. She cannot survive in North Korea forever; it is too lonely and isolating.

Although most of the book focuses on the notes Kim gathers from PUST and the fear of reprisals. She talks about leaving the school and going on excursions around the country. These excursions are strictly educational in nature and pre-approved. The guards, or minders, watch everyone, and they will harass anyone who doesn’t conform to expectations. The experience is draining and exhausting.

Kim’s main point is that it is very difficult to educate students and, particularly, to teach them English, without comparing North Korea to any other country in the world. Any questions that can lead to a critique of North Korea, or making another country seem better, are shut down. That’s no way to learn. Combined with how the young people feel about their leader, Kim feels we may never be able to reunite North Korea with the rest of the world.