The Son of the Master of Orphans

North Korea at the beginning of the 21st century. In a country where the cult of personality of Kim Jong Il reigns, poverty, corruption, and the brutality of power towards its own people, who are deprived of basic human rights, thrive. Public executions, concentration camps and prison mines, slavery, kidnappings of Japanese and South Koreans, round-the-clock propaganda, and a ban on all foreign influences — such is the reality of the existence of people whom the state machinery turns into zombies.
The main character of the novel, a boy from an orphanage, becomes a soldier at the age of 14, trained to fight in dark tunnels dug in the demilitarized zone, and a few years later becomes a ruthless kidnapper. As a reward for his "achievements," he is sent as a radio operator on a fishing vessel that actually spies on foreign ships. Later, after a brutal "check-up," he ends up in America as a translator for a diplomatic delegation, where by chance he is mistaken for the minister of prison mines.
This gripping story of his incredible, bordering on absurdity, adventures is full of tragedy and sacrificial love, blind submission to the ideology of Juche, and a sense of duty towards his loved ones. The author deliberately intensifies the colors, making this novel akin to "a bomb exploding in clear skies" in civilized society.