Without you, there is no us

Every day, three times a day, the students march in two straight lines, singing praises to Kim Jong-il and North Korea--"without you there is no motherland. Without you, there is no us." Suki Kim has come to North Korea to teach English but it is 2011 and all the universities have been shut down for an entire year, the students sent to construction fields--all except for the 270 students of the all-male Pyongyang University of Science and Technology. As the weeks pass, Suki is mystified at how easily her students lie and how devoted they are to the regime. As she begins to hint at the life outside of North Korea, her students offer glimpses of their private selves--proving that all their curiosity has not yet been extinguished. Then Kim Jong-il dies and the students are devastated. She wonders whether the gulf between their world and hers can ever be bridged. Suki Kim was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea and now lives in New York.