Currently Reading: Without You, There Is No Us

I am far further into Without You, There Is No Us by Suki Kim than I typically find myself in a book when pausing to write a “currently reading.” This is the final of the three memoirs that I had planned to read, and after the indulgences of My Salinger Year and Not That Kind of Girl, I was eager to read a book offering heavier things. Kim is originally from Seoul and living in New York when she pursues a teaching position at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology in North Korea, a school strangely funded by donations from evangelical churches worldwide. PUST is a school attended only by the sons of North Korea’s most privileged and elite. Kim spends six months not only teaching English at PUST, but also secretly taking notes for what will become this memoir. “Without You, There Is No Us” is in reference to one of North Korea’s many military-style songs, with “you” referring to Kim Jong-il.

Kim’s account of her time with her North Korean students reveals how thoroughly restricted and deprived their lives are, yet despite how many details tumble from the pages, each one feels newly sad and shocking. But every moment of shock involves the inevitable reminder that these are the sons of the most powerful men in North Korea. These are the 19 and 20-year-old boys who attend the only university in North Korea that remains open during a time when all others have been mysteriously shut down, with those students sent to “construction sites.” It is strange to feel haunted by life at PUST, only to think that these are some of the country’s most fortunate. There are no human rights in North Korea, and Kim’s examination of the country’s elite unexpectedly brings that reality into sharp focus.

Author Suki Kim talks about her time in North Korea in the video below: