Under the Same Sky

Inside the secretive and mysterious world of North Korea, Joseph Kim
lived a young boy’s normal life. But when he was five, disaster struck:
the first wave of the Great Famine killed millions, including his
father, and forced the rest of his family to desperate escape routes
into China. Alone in the streets, he had nothing but his street-hardened
instincts for survival.

But through the eventual support of an
underground network of activists who kept him hidden from authorities,
Kim eventually made his way through the American consulate in Shenyang
and became one of just a handful of North Koreans brought to the U.S. as
refugees.

Joseph Kim’s Under the Same Sky: From Starvation in North Korea to Salvation in America provides
a vivid narrative of resilience. In a country where most have never
heard of Facebook or Google and where details of social and cultural
life are largely unknown, the book serves as an important first-hand
account of atrocities committed within North Korea and hidden from the
West and most of the rest of the world.

We talked with Joseph Kim on his journey across new countries and
cultures and on the political and economic realities in North Korea that
continue to thwart the potential for open dialogue and diplomacy with
the rest of the world.