A RIVER IN DARKNESS: ONE MAN'S ESCAPE FROM NORTH KOREA BY MASAJI ISHIKAWA (2000) (TRANSLATED BY RISA KOBAYASHI)

Half-Korean, half-Japanese, Masaji Ishikawa or Do Chan Sun has spent his whole life feeling like a man without a country. This feeling only deepened when his family moved from Japan to North Korea when Ishikawa was just thirteen years old and unwittingly became members of the lowest social caste. His father, himself a Korean national, was lured to the new Communist country by promises of abundant work, education for his children, and a higher station in society. But the reality of their new life was far from utopian. In this memoir translated from the original Japanese, Ishikawa candidly recounts his tumultuous upbringing and the brutal thirty-six years he spent living under a crushing totalitarian regime, as well as the challenges he faced repatriating to Japan after barely escaping North Korea with his life. A River in Darkness is not only a shocking portrait of life inside the country but also a testament to the dignity—and indomitable nature—of the human spirit.

Now, while the subtitle of the novel mentions that this is a tale of a man's escape from North Korea, that's only 20% of the story. 'A River In Darkness' is more about the plight of a man torn between two nationalities by blood and being forced to live at the bottom of the barrel in an unforgiving totalitarian society. Most people believe that if they work hard enough, they'll be able to find some respite from their difficult life. Mr Ishikawa believed the same when he was bullied by his Korean classmates for being a 'Japanese bastard.' But unfortunately, if you are living in a country like North Korea, then merit alone cannot help you.

Growing up, Masaji Ishikawa led a difficult life, with an abusive father who harassed his mother on a regular basis and three younger sisters who were sent to live with their relatives to lessen the burden on their parents. When the General Association of Korean Residents was disbanded in Japan after being deemed a terrorist group, a new body with the name 'League of Koreans' took its place. This was the beginning of a bleak future for the family, as his father's fearful presence as the man with brawn who would use his physical strength to bully people had come to an end. After this change, his father started losing job prospects as a public street fighter like him was no longer needed. Around the same time he was being enticed by the promises of a "paradise on Earth" in North Korea. The mass repatriation became a major event in 1959 when the Japanese and Korean Red Cross Societies negotiated a return agreement as part of an humanitarian effort. But the reality was that North Korea needed labourers for the Cholima movement to gain momentum to ensure economic growth after the Korean War. Ishikawa and his family became six of the 70,000 people who crossed the border to North Korea. Once they arrived, their lives were only filled with discrimination and poverty.

"The mass repatriation was great news for both governments, the perfect win-win situation for everyone except the real human beings involved" (19)

Ishikawa's criticism of political systems is clear throughout the memoir, as the narrative emphasizes the human experience of a man striving to represent those who were treated as disposable tools and workers, used to advance the goals of two opportunistic governments that exploited repatriation as an excuse for further manipulation.

The harsh reality of Ishikawa's new life did not take long to hit the family as they were nothing but the beneficiaries of smug humanitarianism and prisoners of paradise on Earth. The family's life was no less than hell on earth as Ishikawa describes every misfortune faced by them in agonising detail. From their house burning down to discrimination at school, envious neighbours, starvation, fear, cruely and brainwashing, this memoir is an unfiltered memoir of sorrow and perseverance driven by the need to survive for the well-being of family. While there are man memoirs and accounts by North Koreans who address their escape from the country, Ishikawa's story provides a unique perspective as his bloodline ties him to both Japan and Korea. He struggled to foster a sense of belonging anywhere he went as he was always made to feel like an outsider. I am not goint to touch upon everything he experienced in North Korea, but I'd like to recommend this book only if you are comfortable with graphic descriptions of abuse, disease, starvation, childbirth and death along with striking political commentary. If you want to learn about the lifestyle of poor North Koreans driven to the fringes of society through a deeply personal account, then this book is for you.

Thought-provoking, raw and anger-inducing, I would like to give this book a rating of 5 out of 5.