Masaji Ishikawa Books
Masaji Ishikawa (born 1947) is a Japanese-Korean author who spent more than 30 years in North Korea after being taken there as a child. After escaping in 1996, he published his memoir detailing his experiences under the North Korean regime.
Known for: A River in Darkness: One Man’s Escape from North Korea
Books by Masaji Ishikawa
A River in Darkness: One Man’s Escape from North Korea
A River in Darkness is the harrowing memoir of Masaji Ishikawa, who was born in Japan to a Korean father and Japanese mother and was taken to North Korea as a child under a repatriation program. The book recounts his life under the brutal North Korean regime, his struggle to survive famine and oppression, and his desperate escape back to Japan after decades of hardship. It offers a rare firsthand account of life inside one of the world’s most secretive and repressive states.
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Early Life and the Journey to North Korea
I was born in 1947 in Japan, into a family that never fit neatly into any corner of that nation’s postwar identity. My father was Korean, among those who had come to Japan seeking work before the war, only to find themselves the target of bitter prejudice afterward. My mother was Japanese, a woman w...
From A River in Darkness: One Man’s Escape from North Korea
Life Under Surveillance and the Weight of Songbun
Soon, the machinery of control closed around us. Every household was assigned to work units; every mouth was counted and measured against quotas we could never meet. My family was sent to a collective farm. I still remember the numb exhaustion in my arms, the endless bent posture as I worked the fie...
From A River in Darkness: One Man’s Escape from North Korea
About Masaji Ishikawa
Masaji Ishikawa (born 1947) is a Japanese-Korean author who spent more than 30 years in North Korea after being taken there as a child. After escaping in 1996, he published his memoir detailing his experiences under the North Korean regime. His testimony has been widely cited in human rights discuss...
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Masaji Ishikawa (born 1947) is a Japanese-Korean author who spent more than 30 years in North Korea after being taken there as a child. After escaping in 1996, he published his memoir detailing his experiences under the North Korean regime. His testimony has been widely cited in human rights discuss...
Masaji Ishikawa (born 1947) is a Japanese-Korean author who spent more than 30 years in North Korea after being taken there as a child. After escaping in 1996, he published his memoir detailing his experiences under the North Korean regime. His testimony has been widely cited in human rights discussions about North Korea.
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Masaji Ishikawa (born 1947) is a Japanese-Korean author who spent more than 30 years in North Korea after being taken there as a child. After escaping in 1996, he published his memoir detailing his experiences under the North Korean regime.
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