Exodus to North Korea : shadows from Japan's Cold War / Tessa Morris-Suzuki.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Ranging from Geneva to Pyongyang, this remarkable book takes readers on an odyssey through one of the most extraordinary forgotten tragedies of the Cold War: the "return" of over 90,000 people, most of them ethnic Koreans, from Japan to North Korea from 1959 onward. Presented to the world as a humanitarian venture and conducted under the supervision of the International Red Cross, the scheme was actually the result of political intrigues involving the governments of Japan, North Korea, the Soviet Union, and the United States. The great majority of the Koreans who journeyed to North Korea in fact originated from the southern part of the Korean peninsula, and many had lived all their lives in Japan. Though most left willingly, persuaded by propaganda that a bright new life awaited them in North Korea, the author draws on recently declassified documents to reveal the covert pressures used to hasten the departure of this unwelcome ethnic minority. For most, their new home proved a place of poverty and hardship; for thousands, it was a place of persecution and death. In rediscovering their extraordinary personal stories, this book also casts new light on the politics of the Cold War and on present-day tensions between North Korea and the rest of the world.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Morris-Suzuki (Australian National Univ.) has written a remarkable and engaging book on some of the forgotten victims of the Cold War in East Asia, namely, about 90,000 Korean residents in Japan who were "repatriated" to North Korea from 1959 onward. Most were originally from South Korean cities but grew up in Japan. Why did they immigrate to much poorer North Korea in a decade characterized by Japan's economic recovery? Why would Japan's conservative politicians and mainstream media deceive with images about better life conditions in North Korea? By utilizing recently declassified documents and numerous interviews, the author brings to light not only the tragedies of this "repatriation," but also complex political intrigues involving the governments of Japan, North Korea, the USSR, and the US. The process of the repatriation and the plight of those who arrived in North Korea reveal all the paradoxes of decolonization during Cold War conflicts, while illustrating the historical significance of this episode for contemporary tensions in East Asia. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers and all academic libraries. C. Aydin University of North Carolina at Charlotte