Helen-Louise Hunter, _Kim Il-Song's North Korea_ (Praeger: 1999) is pretty good.
Of course, there are *problems* in getting evidence of what is really going on in North Korea. But those problems in getting evidence tend to make one fear the worst...
Brad DeLong
Pyongyang, May 11 (KCNA) -- South Korean Ri Ki Won, 54, came over to the North Korea a few days ago via a third country.... Asked what was the motive of his defection, Ri answered he could no longer live in the South Korean society where the fate of a human being is swayed by money. Describing the South Korean society as a place where have-nots can not survive, he said that even his family was compelled to break up. Unable to make ends meet. He termed the South Korean society a cursed one bereft of justice and humanity and an unequal one where the rich become richer and the poor poorer. The South Korean people's longing for the north is growing stronger, he said, stressing: It is their feeling today that South Korea should pursue politics, economy, culture and diplomacy the way leader Kim Jong Il does and he should be president of a unified state...