Few attempts have been made to understand the internal logic of Kim Jong-un’s regime and why life in North Korea is so difficult.
 
This provocative insider’s account blasts apart the myths which paint North Korea as a rogue state run by a mad leader. Informed by extraordinary access to the country's leadership, Glyn Ford investigates the regime from the inside, providing game-changing insights. Acknowledging that North Korea is a deeply flawed and barbaric state, he nonetheless shows that sections of the leadership are desperate to modernize and end their isolation.
 
With chapters on recent developments including the Trump / Kim summit, Ford supports a dialogue between East and West and provides a road map to avert the looming threat of a war that would threaten the lives of millions.

Glyn Ford is director of the NGO Track2Asia, a member of the Labour Party’s International Committee, and an elected constituency representative on Labour’s National Policy Forum. He is the author of North Korea on the Brink, also published by Pluto Press. He has visited North Korea almost 50 times as an MEP amongst other professional capacities.
 

— William Ury, cofounder of the Harvard Negotiation Project

— Chung-in Moon, Distinguished University Professor, Yonsei University

— Jeffrey D. Feltman, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs

— Nicholas Bonner, Founder of Koryo Tours

— Andrei Lankov, author of The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia