Nothing to Envy

Some educated North Koreans describe themselves as “frogs in the well,” meaning that they see the circle of light above their heads, but nothing else of the outside world. This image echoes the literal darkness of North Korea. It also indicates the population’s awareness of their ignorance about the rest of the world.

Frogs also occur appear in the book during the famine: characters turn to eating frogs, before the population is decimated due to overhunting. In this context, the unpleasant amphibian is a symbol of the depths to which North Koreans sink in order to feed themselves—a depth that they must go beyond when the frogs become difficult to find.

The pairing of these two contexts suggests that North Koreans are not only isolated from information, but also vulnerable because of that isolation, like the hunted frogs.

North Korea’s darkness is a respite from the constant social surveillance, an opportunity for lovers to meet—or for defectors to leave the troubled country. However, it also represents the condition of ignorance—they are “in the dark” about the rest of the world.

Light and electricity thus become aspirational. When foreign journalists visit Pyongyang, the city is lit up with lights to hide the country’s actual poverty.