Can you change the country without changing the regime, asks David Alton
Talking to North Korea
by Glyn Ford, Pluto Press, 320pp, £14.99
There’s no doubting that Glyn Ford has spent much of his life trying to understand North Korea – he has been there 50 times. However, given that entry to the country is severely restricted, and visitors only see what their minders permit them to see, multiple North Korean visa stamps are of strictly limited worth.
In reading Ford’s book, subtitled “Ending the Nuclear Standoff”, I began with an inbuilt bias as I have long thought that many visitors, due to the restrictions, can come close to sounding like apologists for the regime. Ford claims to have a more “nuanced appreciation” but, while we both believe in “critical engagement”, I cannot understand why he does not devote more space to the atrocities committed by this appalling regime – and passionately denounce them.
