Thanks to the testimonies of North Koreans who have escaped their prison of a homeland in the past 25 years, the world is aware of the Kim-family regime’s atrocities against its own people. A chilling United Nations report a few years ago observed that North Korea’s crimes against humanity “do not have any parallel in the contemporary world.”
It is one thing to hear pronouncements from investigating organizations about the everyday horrors of life in North Korea. It is quite another to read personal accounts. “The Hard Road Out” by Jihyun Park and Seh-lynn Chai is the latest in a series of searing memoirs by North Koreans who beat the odds and reached safety in free countries. Ms. Park and her South Korean co-author relate Ms. Park’s awful story in clear-eyed, unsentimental prose. It is a gripping read.