{"product_id":"my-friend-kim-jong-un","title":"My Friend Kim Jong Un","description":"\u003cp\u003eAward-winning cartoonist Keum Suk Gendry-Kim demystifies the inscrutable North Korean leader\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA woman falls over a thin black line, slicing her in two—half becoming North Korea, the other half becoming South. From the Island of Ganghwa, a seemingly idyllic rural paradise just an hour outside of Seoul, North Korea sits mere miles away, visible from cartoonist Keum Suk Gendry-Kim’s home and studio. It looms over her while she walks her dogs through the rice paddies. Artillery fire, helicopters, and sirens from a nearby military base paint her acoustic landscape. Gendry-Kim has written extensively about the pain and heartbreak experienced throughout Korea’s recent history in her award-winning books \u003cem\u003eGrass\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Waiting\u003c\/em\u003e. In \u003cem\u003eMy Friend Kim Jong-Un\u003c\/em\u003e, Gendry-Kim looks not to the past, but to the present—to the man currently responsible for upholding the national divide.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRetracing his rise to power and uncovering his human side, Gendry-Kim explores the life of the supreme leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea: from his birth to his international education, his tastes and hobbies, and his relationships. Gendry-Kim weaves her personal accounts from this process throughout the book, in her signature approach to personal nonfiction by including interviews with former South Korean president Moon Jae-in, North Korean defectors, researchers, journalists, Kim’s former chef, and a friend from his boarding school days in Switzerland.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMy Friend Kim Jong-Un\u003c\/em\u003e carries a message of peace and attempts to make sense of an awful chapter in Korean history. Translated by the award-winning Janet Hong, My Friend... is a cautionary tale and education on what makes a dictator, at a time when these lessons are more relevant in the West than ever.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003ePublish Date: 2026-02-03\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003ePage Count: 236\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Random House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67362409382129,"sku":"9781770468221","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0275\/9865\/1469\/files\/9781770468221.jpg?v=1793207790","url":"https:\/\/vaultofmidnight.shop\/products\/my-friend-kim-jong-un","provider":"Vault of Midnight","version":"1.0","type":"link"}