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by fatbird 4900 days ago
I've read the book and it's an amazing read, both for details of what occurs in the camps, and for the issues Shin faces trying to assimilate in both South Korea and the U.S. Beyond symptoms much like PTSD, he has perverse difficulties with money and personal finance. At the same time as he expects to be cared for in a bare way (because the camp existed to give him a really shitty place to sleep and really shitty food), he's deeply suspicious of any largesse shown to him--it's either a bribe requiring action, or an unexpected windfall that he must consume immediately to avoid it being taken away from him by a stronger inmate, or the possession of which might be grounds for further punishment. He has trouble saving money or conceiving of budgeting his money. He has trouble planning beyond a few days in the future because, in the camps, nothing was in his control, so planning was not just immaterial, it was counterproductive and risky.
1 comments
cabalamat 4900 days ago
When Korea reunifies, the South is going to have to deal with 20 million people with similar symptoms (in most cases less severe).
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fatbird 4900 days ago
Yes, and not just those symptoms, but a generation raised in a truly bizarre educational system, who believe that total corruption is the norm, and who are so economically backwards that they'll be largely unable to meaningfully participate in a re-united economy.

I suspect that, if reunification occurs, NK will be held apart as a special zone for a generation or two in order to educate a following generation for real reunification.

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lostlogin 4899 days ago
It's been done before. Germany hasn't had a smooth transition, and there are still problems, but it has been done.
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nandemo 4899 days ago
The gap between the Koreas is far bigger than the gap between West and East Germany ever was. The latter was arguably ahead of the better parts of Third World (say Brazil or Mexico) in terms of education, health care, infra-structure, industrialization, etc. Compare to North Korea, which still uses mainly manual and animal labour for agriculture, and can barely feed its people.
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