Suki Kim: This is what it's like to go undercover in North Korea
Suki Kim: Så här är det att undervisa i Nordkorea
Suki Kim's investigation, "Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite," chronicles her six months undercover in Pyongyang during Kim Jong-Il's final six months. She worked as a teacher and a missionary in a university for future leaders -- all while writing her book. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
of Kim Jong-Il's life,
av Kim Jong-IIs liv,
i Sydkorea, deras fiende.
in South Korea, their enemy.
North Korea a few times.
Nordkorea några gånger.
that to write about it with any meaning,
skriva något meningsfullt om det,
beyond the regime's propaganda,
bortom regimens propaganda,
att fullständigt ge sig hän.
lärare och missionär
of Science and Technology
vetenskap och teknik
who cooperate with the regime
som samarbetade med regimen
of the North Korean elite,
den nordkoreanska elitens söner,
which is a capital crime there.
belagt med dödsstraff där.
expected to be the future leaders
som förväntades bli framtida ledare
diktaturen som finns.
dictatorship in existence.
of North Korea's original Great Leader,
av Nordkoreas ursprungliga ledare,
shut down all universities,
stängde regimen alla universitet,
och mest välmående nation.
and prosperous nation.
spared from that fate.
som slapp detta öde.
som utger sig för att vara en nation.
is about the Great Leader.
varje sång, varje TV program --
every song, every TV program --
med den Store Ledaren på.
of the Great Leader at all times.
with the birth of Kim Il-Sung.
börjar med Kim Il-Sungs födelse.
prison, posing as a campus.
som utgav sig för att vara ett campus.
accompanied by an official minder.
i sällskap av en officiell vakt.
to sanctioned national monuments
till sanktionerade nationella monument
to leave the campus,
and any free time they had
och den fritid de hade
deras Stora Ledare.
their Great Leader.
of North Korean staff,
godkännas av den nordkoreanska personalen,
varje rum var buggat,
every room was bugged,
portraits of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il,
Kim Il-Sung och Kim Jong-Il,
to discuss the outside world.
världen utanför.
many of them were computer majors
var mångas huvudämne datorteknik,
internet existerade.
the existence of the Internet.
of Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs.
Mark Zuckerberg eller Steve Jobs.
would have meant a thing.
saker hade betytt något.
when an entire nation's ideology,
när en hel nations ideologi,
at the universities,
på universitetet,
on the chalkboard,
en mening på tavlan,
China last year on vacation,"
Kina förra året på semestern,"
att lämna landet.
to leave the country.
kräver ett resepass.
requires a travel pass.
some truth about my students,
något av sanningen om mina studenter,
accomplishments of their Great Leader,
mytomspunna prestationer,
en kanin i femte klass.
a rabbit as fifth graders.
seemed at times hazy to them.
verkade ibland otydlig för dem.
att förstå de olika typerna av lögner;
the different types of lies;
from the world,
sitt system från världen,
och bara upprepade dem.
and were just regurgitating them.
har varit lögner,
ska vara annorlunda?
nearly impossible.
one's own thesis,
att komma fram till egna teser,
argument to prove it.
med evidensbaserad argumentation.
simply told what to think,
tillsagda vad de skulle tänka,
was not allowed.
var kritiskt tänkande inte tillåtet.
of writing a personal letter,
att skriva ett personligt brev,
some of them began to write
började några av dem att skriva
their girlfriends.
sina flickvänner.
tilltänkte mottagare,
their intended recipients,
att avslöja sina inre känslor.
their true feelings in them.
up with the sameness of everything.
på likformigheten i allt.
mentioned their Great Leader.
sällan sin Store Ledare.
with these young men.
med dessa unga män.
played basketball together.
spelade basket tillsammans.
which made them giggle.
vilket fick dem att fnissa.
even in the tiniest of ways,
ens det minsta lilla,
of living in their world,
som jag levde i deras värld,
faktiskt skulle förbättra deras liv.
in fact, improve their lives.
sanningen för dem,
their rotten regime inside out,
och ner på sina ruttna regimer,
sammankopplade genom internet,
connected through the world wide web,
när allt kommer omkring.
I was putting them at risk --
satte jag dem i riskzonen --
anything in the open,
någonting öppet,
what is unspoken.
det som är osagt.
a student wrote that he understood
skrev en student att han förstod
to be gentle in life, he said.
att de skulle vara vara varsamma i livet.
tillkännagavs,
utan ett ordentligt avsked.
how sad I was for them.
jag var för dem.
a student said to me,
sa en student till mig,
som att du är annorlunda än oss.
as being different from us.
men du är precis som vi.
but you're the same as us.
tänker på dig som att du är som vi."
think of you as being the same."
to my students with a letter of my own,
mina elever med ett eget brev,
sist träffade er.
since I last saw you.
kanske till och med så gamla som 23.
maybe even as old as 23.
if there was anything you wanted.
om det fanns någonting ni vill ha.
the only thing you ever asked of me
det enda ni någonsin bad mig om
vi tillbringade tillsammans,
to share that bond of our mother tongue.
den samhörighet som vårt modersmål ger.
i Kim Jong-Uns skoningslösa Nordkorea,
in Kim Jong-Un's merciless North Korea
ska leda en revolution --
encourage or even expect
eller till och med förvänta sig
gör något farligt,
someone is always watching.
är det alltid någon som bevakar.
what might happen to you.
kunna hända er.
inspired something new in you,
lockat fram något nytt i er,
and live long, safe lives.
och lev långa trygga liv.
your city of Pyongyang was beautiful,
att er stad Pyongyang var vacker,
sanningsenligt då.
to hear that I, your teacher,
att höra att jag, er lärare,
som är förbjuden för er,
that you are forbidden from,
your lives there a bit more bearable,
göra era liv mer uthärdliga,
your capital beautiful.
er huvudstad är vacker.
och full av betong,
the rest of the country,
så jag kan inte hata det.
my lovely young gentlemen,
mina underbara unga gentlemän,
att göra den vacker.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Suki Kim - WriterSuki Kim's investigation, "Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite," chronicles her six months undercover in Pyongyang during Kim Jong-Il's final six months. She worked as a teacher and a missionary in a university for future leaders -- all while writing her book.
Why you should listen
Suki Kim is the only writer to ever go undercover into North Korea to write a book from the inside. Since 2002, South Korean-born Kim travelled to North Korea, witnessing both Kim Jong-Il's 60th birthday celebration and his death at age 69 in 2011.
Her work sheds a new light on the understanding of the North Korean society by delving into its day-to-day life and provides unprecedented insights into the psychology of its ruling class, about whom the world knows very little.
Kim's novel, The Interpreter, was a finalist for a PEN Hemingway Prize, and her nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, Harper's and The New York Review of Books. She is the author of the investigation Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite.
Suki Kim | Speaker | TED.com