The Reluctant Communist cover art

The Reluctant Communist

My Desertion, Court-Martial, and Forty-Year Imprisonment in North Korea

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The Reluctant Communist

By: Charles Robert Jenkins, Jim Fredrick
Narrated by: John McLain
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About this listen

In January of 1965, 24-year-old US Army sergeant Charles Robert Jenkins abandoned his post in South Korea, walked across the DMZ, and surrendered to communist North Korean soldiers standing sentry along the world's most heavily militarized border. He believed his action would get him back to the States and a short jail sentence.

Instead he found himself in another sort of prison, where for 40 years he suffered under one of the most brutal and repressive regimes the world has known. This fast-paced, harrowing tale, told plainly and simply by Jenkins (with journalist Jim Frederick), takes the listener behind the North Korean curtain and reveals the inner workings of its isolated society while offering a powerful testament to the human spirit.

©2008 The Regents of the University of California; Foreword copyright 2008 by Jim Frederick (P)2018 Tantor Americas Asia Politicians Politics & Activism United States World Solider Imperial Japan North Korea

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Been waiting ages for this to come out as an audio book. It was worth the wait.

Brilliant

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it's crazy how one bad decision can impact your life. this book gives a unique insight into a America's love in NK

Really intreasting book

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This is a great story but genuinely letdown by the narrator who constantly mispronounces 'Pyongyang'. Then there is the heavy accent which doesn't work effectively.
Redo the narration and this would be an amazing listen.

Annoying narrator

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I have read many books on North Korea, most of them very involving but this one is not. Not sure how the jurnalist author managed to make such a fascinating subject so boring.

A bit boring

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