In 1948, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is founded by General Kim Il-sung.
In 1978, North Korea celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of its founding, and Kim Jong-il, who at the time is the head of the Propaganda and Agitation Department, orders the kidnapping of the greatest South Korean movie star, the actress Madame Choi, and her ex-husband, the famous film director Shin Sang-ok.
In 2008, North Korea celebrates its sixtieth anniversary, and Magnus Bärtås and Fredrik Ekman take a bizarre, heavily guided tour to the world’s most isolated country.
In All Monster Must Die, authors Magnus Bärtås and Fredrik Ekman weave together these three stories to create a mosaic of North Korea, past and present: from the Japanese occupation to the demarcation of the border at the 38th parallel and the Korean War, the development of North Korean Juche ideology, the establishment of the Kim dynasty’s cult of personality, and the aggressive manufacturing of political propaganda, which motivated the kidnapping of South Korea’s most famous film couple. Intelligent and shocking, this book offers a rare and fascinating window into the “hermit kingdom,” and includes an updated chapter on the passing of Kim Jong-il and the declaration of his son, Kim Jong-un, as supreme leader.
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Magnus Bärtås teaches at the University College of Arts and Crafts in Stockholm and has also published an anthology of texts about the borderland between literature and the visual arts.
He has recently participated in group shows at the Zendai Museum of Modern Art in Shanghai, the Museum on the Seam in Jerusalem, the Miroslav Kraljevic Gallery in Zagreb, and the Seoul Photo Fair.
Fredrik Ekman is a writer, librettist, and editor based in Stockholm. His musical works have toured Europe
The translation was fantastic
Thrown Books
Fully absorbing and successful
Publishers Weekly Starred Review
…as the visitors venture farther and farther north, the book grows more fascinating, the trip more bizarre, the other members of the tour group odder and odder, the tour guides more beleaguered.
Minneapolis Star Tribune