• Introduction: why these countries
• Cobbled and cut
• Militaries first, economies second
• Becoming pariah states
• Ideologies
• Propagation and control
• Sanctions
• Why Myanmar and not North Korea?
• Conclusion: what now?

North Korea and Myanmar (Burma) are Asia's most mysterious, tragic stories. They were the region's most militarized and repressed societies, sitting out the greatest wealth creation project in the history of the world, one that created a belt of middle classes, comfort and security from Singapore to Japan. They were self-isolating and under sanctions by the international community. How did Myanmar find its way out of this isolation? Why does North Korea remain stuck? Both states found themselves isolated and obsessed with their security threats during a tumultuous decolonization process. For Burma, this threat was the fracture of the country by rebellions. For North Korea, it was a hostile superpower-the United States-and eventually a far more successful rival state-South Korea-occupying half of the Korean peninsula. Over time, Myanmar defeated most of its enemies, giving it the space to explore a form of democratization and openness that has led to its reintegration into international society. Meanwhile, North Korea's leaders believe its nuclear and missile arsenals are vital for regime survival. Yet these weapons are the primary reason for North Korea's pariah status. Because of this overlap, North Korea is unable to sequence a solution the way the Myanmar leadership has. It remains Asia's last pariah.
(source: Nielsen Book Data) 9781476673707 20180403

North Korea is a country where everyone is thought to worship a power-crazed dictator, where disputes with neighboring South Korea frequently break out into violence, where nuclear bombs are detonated with alarming regularity, and where most people are assumed to be on the verge of starvation. But is this an accurate view of daily life in North Korea today? Read this book to find out. In seven fascinating chapters the authors explore what life is really like for ordinary North Koreans. They tap a broad variety of sources-from interviews with members of Pyongyang's ruling elite to defectors, diplomats, NGOs and cross-border traders, as well as written accounts in English, Korean and Chinese-to bring together a radically different view of North Korean society today. NORTH KOREA CONFIDENTIAL - North Korea sentences presidents and journalists at two South Korean newspapers to death .... Story is reported by The Associated Press, New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, Reuters, Foreign Policy, Daily Beast, NK News, and many other publications. "The North didn't directly threaten the British authors of North Korea Confidential: Private Markets, Fashion Trends, Prison Camps, Dissenters and Defectors, but said the book `viciously defamed and distorted' the country's realities." -New York Times (AP) "One of the most informative and contemporary books to be released on North Korea..." -Asia Society.
(source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780804844581 20180530

Follows the lives of six North Koreans over fifteen years, a chaotic period that saw the rise to power of Kim Jong Il and the devastation of a famine that killed one-fifth of the population, illustrating what it means to live under the most repressive totalitarian regime today.