Reviews for The Reluctant Communist: My Desertion, Court-Martial, and Forty-Year Imprisonment in North Korea

The average rating for The Reluctant Communist: My Desertion, Court-Martial, and Forty-Year Imprisonment in North Korea based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-01-05 00:00:00 Duane Cummings I so enjoyed this book. I think Jim Frederick, the journalist who wrote the memoir for the soldier Charles R Jenkins, deserves a lot of the credit. It is a sixty year story of one giant mistake and lots of strange and real events. An average person, an American soldier, decided in a moment of cowardice to leave his unit and cross the border from South Korea to North Korea, remained hostage there for 40 years until he and his family were released to Japan. I am sure Jenkins is in some ways a difficult person and I have no doubt that this story could have been unflattering or difficult to read had there not been a skilled writer at the task, but the book isn't aggrandizing or obsessed with the personality of the protagonist. It just focuses on a series of fascinating and true events in very plain first person language. It helps that Jenkins apologizes, justifies himself but doesn't fall over himself in begging forgiveness for his dessertion. The book is funny and heartwarming (the parts about his marriage made me cry}, plus quite informative about North Korea, the army, diplomacy and such. Perfect for the summer. I recommend it to all of my friends. --- PS: the part about the Korean requirement of regular self-criticism (a confession of sorts) is a hoot and had me in stiches. Jenkins and his buddies would in all seriousness look for things they can do wrong, minor things, so they can record the mandatory self-criticism. Jenkins says: "We would do something we knew we weren't supposed to, like steal some peaches, and we'd say 'that's one for the sum up [self-criticism] book'". Crackup! Needing to sin so you can confess to your sins, how twisted can the logic be? I think I'll start my own sum up book now. It just goes to show how anything important to our lives, like introspection or self criticism, becomes such a hilarious joke when forced.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-07-17 00:00:00 Richard E. Sabatine Charles Robert Jenkins's The Reluctant Communist is the story of the defection to, virtual imprisonment in, and return from North Korea. As a young Sergeant in the US Army, Jenkins crossed in mid-1950s the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that separated US-friendly South Korea from the Communist North Korea of Kim Il-Sung. Once "over", Jenkins found himself a trophy for the North Korean government, the rare American who decided North Korea was the better deal. For forty years, Jenkins has to live under the "guidance" (read: mandatory orders) of the cadres, semi-anonymous officials of the repressive regime. His escape is bound to his getting married with a Japanese woman who was abducted by the North Koreans, presumably to educate spies in Japanese culture. In the early 2000s, the Japanese prime-minister Koizumi pressured North Korea into admitting the abductions and in returning the abducted Japanese; his success was extended to the families of these Japanese, and thus to Jenkins. The story told by Jenkins is interesting. We get a glimpse of the life in North Korea, including some insider information about the evolution of conditions, the worsening of public and social services (as experienced by someone behind a golden fence), the growth of corruption and endemic theft. We get to understand the extent of indoctrination (the daily or weekly chores of learning the words of The Great Leader, the periodic self-criticism), all under the supervision of house and regional leaders. We get a few glimpses of the double-speak and general insubordination permeating the society. I am, however, unable to really appreciate this story. There are many question marks about the details described by Jenkins; among them, the explanation about crossing the DMZ, the claim of almost no cooperation with the party, the claim of a detached mind (of not being at all involved, just living through the motions); how could Jenkins build a trade in honey without the officials finding out about it? etc. There is little of what we did not know about the internals of North Korea; the story gives me the feeling that Jenkins want to avoid burning the bridges back to North Korea. Some of the text feels like vague confirmation (read:what the West wants to hear): claims of seeing political homicides, claims of seeing the workings of labor camps, an alleged (and extremely improbable) confession of homicidal crimes by a party leader, etc. Overall, a non-informative book from a shady character. The only interesting element is North Korea.