This is the first part of a two-part series by Andrei Lankov looking at some of the most interesting revelations from the memoirs of Thae Yong-ho, one of the highest-ranking North Korean diplomats to ever defect. The book, “Cypher of the third-floor secretariat,” can be purchased here.

Books by defectors and refugees from North Korea do not sell well in the South. In spite of the professed belief in the glories of unification, the average South Korean does not normally care that much about the lives of their supposed "Northern brethren."