Suki Kim Explained

Suki Kim
Birth Place:Seoul, South Korea
Nationality:American
Genre:novel, essay
Notableworks:The Interpreter, Without You, There is No Us
Awards:PEN Beyond Margins Award
Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award
Alma Mater:Barnard College "Educating the Elite", Barnard magazine, Winter 2015 issue. Accessed June 29, 2020

Suki Kim (born 1970) is a Korean American journalist and writer. She is the author of two books: the award-winning novel The Interpreter and a book of investigative journalism, Without You, There Is No Us: Undercover Among the Sons of North Korea's Elite. Kim is the only writer ever to have lived undercover in North Korea to conduct immersive journalism.[1] Kim is currently a contributing editor at The New Republic.

Early life

Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea, and immigrated to the United States with her family at thirteen.[2] Kim is a naturalized American citizen.

Kim graduated from Barnard College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. Kim also studied East Asian Literature at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. She has received a Fulbright Research Grant, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and an Open Society Foundations Fellowship. Kim was also a Ferris Journalism Fellow at Princeton University, where she was a visiting lecturer.[3] [4]

Work

The Interpreter

Kim's debut novel, The Interpreter, published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in 2003, is a murder mystery about a young Korean-American woman, Suzy Park, living in New York City and searching for answers as to why her shopkeeper parents were murdered. Kim took a short term job as an interpreter in New York City when working on the novel to look into the life of an interpreter.[5] The book received positive critic reviews[6] and won several awards. The Interpreter was translated into Dutch, French, Korean, Italian, and Japanese.

Visits to North Korea and second book

Kim visited North Korea in February 2002 to participate in the 60th birthday celebration of Kim Jong-il. She documented this experience in a February 2003 cover essay for The New York Review of Books.[7]

Kim accompanied the New York Philharmonic in February 2008, when they traveled to Pyongyang for the historical cultural visit to North Korea from the United States. Her article, "A Really Big Show: The New York Philharmonic's fantasia in North Korea," was published in Harper's Magazine in December 2008.[8]

Her second book, Without You, There Is No Us: Undercover Among the Sons of North Korea's Elite, is a work of investigative journalism about her three and a half months in Pyongyang, where she taught English at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology in 2011.[9]

The book has resulted in some controversy, with reviewers claiming that Kim brought harm on the students she wrote about, and that she caused tensions between the university and the North Korean government. The university staff accused Kim of making false claims about them.[10] However, Kim addressed her critics in a June 2016 essay in The New Republic. Kim mentioned the shortcomings of labelling her second book as a memoir and the irony in reviewers dismissing this work for containing the components typically praised in investigative journalism. Kim also described how racism and sexism influenced public views on her expertise.[11] Her publisher subsequently removed the label "memoir" from the cover of Without You, There Is No Us.

Latest work

In 2017, Suki Kim broke a sexual harassment scandal against John Hockenberry at WNYC in her article in The Cut.[12] Her investigation led to the firing of two longterm WNYC hosts, Leonard Lopate and Jonathan Schwartz,[13] as well as the eventual resignation of its CEO, Laura Walker,[14] and Chief Content officer, Dean Cappello.[15] Her article was voted as the Best Investigative Reporting of 2017 by Longreads.[16]

In 2020, Kim published an investigative feature in The New Yorker on Free Joseon, a group that has declared itself a provisional government for North Korea, and she was the first to interview the group's leader Adrian Hong while he was on the run from the Department of Justice.[17]

Bibliography

Books

!Year!Title
2003
2014Without You, There Is No Us; My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite

Anthologies

!Year!Title!Ref
2005New York Stories: The Best of the City Section of the New York Times
2017The Moth Presents All These Wonders[18]
2018The Best American Essays 2018[19]

Essays and op-eds

About North Korea and South Korea

!Year!Title!Publication!Ref
2003A Visit to North KoreaThe New York Review of Books[20]
2003Korea's New WaveThe New York Times[21]
2003Strange CentennialThe Boston Globe
2005Die Ahnen und die Wasser (The Anticipation of the Water)Neue Zurcher Zeitung[22]
2005Hwang, Drawn and Quartered?The Wall Street Journal[23]
2006Great LeadershipThe Wall Street Journal[24]
2007Asia's ApostlesThe Washington Post[25]
2007Globalizing GriefThe Wall Street Journal[26]
2008A Really Big Show: The New York Philharmonic’s Fantasia in North KoreaHarper's[27]
2009Notes from Another Credit Card CrisisThe New York Times[28]
2010The System of DefectingHarper's[29]
2010North Korean Fans Attend the World CupNewsweek[30]
2013The Shared Wound in KoreaThe New York Times[31]
2013The Dear Leader's Heinous ActThe New York Times[32]
2014The Good Student in North KoreaThe New York Times Magazine[33]
2014My Time at an Elite Pyongyang Boarding SchoolForeign Affairs[34]
2014Teaching Essay Writing in PyongyangSlate[35]
2014The Sony Hack Is North Korea's Biggest Victory in a Long TimeSlate[36]
2014Dear Leader's Great VictoryThe National Post[37]
2014The Secret Shame of North Korea's Slave WorkersNewsweek[38]
2015What ‘The Interview’ Gets Right and Wrong about US Policy Toward North KoreaThe Nation[39]
2016Is it Time to Intervene in North Korea?The New Republic[40]
2016Republic of Disappointment.Slate[41]
2016Across the Broken BridgeThe New Republic[42]
2016Korean Reporters Got Fired, Got Active, and Got The PresidentForeign Policy[43]
2017The Meaning of Kim Jong Nam's MurderThe Atlantic[44]
2017An Extraordinary Statement from a North Korean PrinceThe New Yorker[45]
2017Is Christian Evangelicals’ Money Helping to Prop Up North Korea’s Regime?The Washington Post[46]
2017Tourism to North Korea isn’t about engagement. It’s torture porn.The Washington Post[47]
2017My two messed-up countries: an immigrant’s dilemmaThe Guardian[48]
2017South Korea Is More Worried About Donald Trump Than Kim Jong UnForeign Policy[49]
2018The DealmakerThe New Republic[50]
2018Covering the North Korea Summit While Trapped in a Warehouse in SingaporeThe New Yorker[51]
2018North Korea’s Lipstick DiplomacyThe New York Times[52]
2020How South Korea Lost Control of Its Coronavirus OutbreakThe New Yorker[53]
2020The Underground Movement Trying To Topple the North Korean RegimeThe New Yorker[54]

Other work

!Year!Title!Publication!Ref
2003Translating Poverty and PainThe New York Times[55]
2003Marriage of Inconvenience?The New York Times[56]
2003North Ride HomeGourmet
2004Facing Poverty with a Rich Girl's HabitsThe New York Times[57]
2006Our Affair Was One Long Lesson in How to Break UpThe New York Times[58]
2010Forced from Home and Yet Never Free of itThe New York Times[59]
2015Love Stories: Why I Flew to Beijing in Search of the Perfect DressVogue[60]
2016Mr Rubio's NeighborhoodThe New Republic[61]
2016The Reluctant MemoiristThe New Republic[62]
2016What Happened in BrisbaneThe New Republic[63]
2017Land of DarknessLapham's Quarterly[64]
2017Public-Radio Icon John Hockenberry Accused of Harassing Female ColleaguesThe Cut[65]

Awards

!Year!Title!Notes!Ref
2003Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book AwardThe Interpreter, winner[66]
2004Ernest Hemingway Foundation AwardThe Interpreter, nominee[67]
2004PEN Openbook AwardThe Interpreter, winner[68]
2019Berlin PrizeWinner[69]

Fellowships

!Year!Title!Ref
1998Millay Colony for the Arts[70]
1998Ucross Foundation[71]
1999Ragdale Foundation[72]
1999The Edward F. Albee Foundation Fellowship[73]
2001MacDowell Fellowship[74]
2002MacDowell Fellowship
2003MacDowell Fellowship
2003Santa Maddalena Foundation Fellowship[75]
2005Ucross Foundation[76]
2006Guggenheim Fellowship[77]
2006MacDowell Fellowship
2007Bogliasco Foundation Fellowship[78]
2010MacDowell Fellowship
2012George Soros's Open Society Foundations Fellowship[79]
2014New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship[80]
2017Ferris Journalism Fellowship at Princeton University[81]
2018Ucross Foundation[82]
2019Arizona State Universitys Center on the Future of War Fellowship[83]
2019New America Foundation Fellowship
2019MacDowell Fellowship
2020Schloss Wiepersdorf Fellowship[84]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Undercover in North Korea: "All Paths Lead to Catastrophe". September 4, 2017 .
  2. Web site: Kim . Suki . 'Facing Poverty With a Rich Girl's Habits' . The New York Times . June 10, 2021 . November 21, 2004.
  3. Web site: The Moth The Art and Craft of Storytelling. November 24, 2020. The Moth. en-US.
  4. Web site: Suki Kim — Journalism. November 24, 2020. journalism.princeton.edu.
  5. News: Kim. Suki. March 2, 2003. NEW YORK OBSERVED: Translating Poverty and Pain. The New York Times. March 19, 2015.
  6. Web site: Yoon. Cindy. Suki Kim and 'The Interpreter'. Asia Society.
  7. News: Kim. Suki. February 13, 2003. A Visit to North Korea. The New York Review of Books.
  8. Szalai. Jennifer. December 3, 2008. Talking with Suki Kim. Harper's Magazine.
  9. Web site: October 15, 2014. Suki Kim: 'Without You, There Is No Us'. The Diane Rehm Show.
  10. News: Gladstone. Rick. November 30, 2014. Tales Told Out of School in Pyongyang Cause Stir. The New York Times. July 10, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20221130142059/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/30/world/tales-told-out-of-school-in-pyongyang-cause-stir.html. November 30, 2022.
  11. Kim. Suki. June 27, 2016. The Reluctant Memoirist. The New Republic.
  12. Web site: Kim. Suki. December 1, 2017. Public-Radio Icon John Hockenberry Accused of Harassing Female Colleagues. December 8, 2020. The Cut. en-us.
  13. Web site: New York Public Radio Fires Hosts Lopate and Schwartz WNYC New York Public Radio, Podcasts, Live Streaming Radio, News. December 8, 2020. WNYC. en.
  14. Web site: December 19, 2018. Embattled Head of New York Public Radio to Step Down (Published 2018). December 8, 2020. www.nytimes.com. en.
  15. Web site: Falk. Tyler. Reporter. Cappello leaves WNYC after more than 20 years. December 8, 2020. Current. June 18, 2018 . en-US.
  16. Web site: December 15, 2017. Longreads Best of 2017: Investigative Reporting. December 8, 2020. Longreads. en.
  17. Kim. Suki. The Underground Movement Trying to Topple the North Korean Regime. December 8, 2020. The New Yorker. November 13, 2020. en-us.
  18. News: The Moth: All These Wonders – stories from Dunnes Stores to North Korea. December 4, 2020. The Irish Times. en.
  19. Web site: Suki Kim. December 4, 2020. New America. en.
  20. March 5, 2016. A Visit to North Korea by Suki Kim The New York Review of Books. December 4, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20160305132412/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2003/02/13/a-visit-to-north-korea/. March 5, 2016. Kim. Suki.
  21. Web site: May 10, 2003. Opinion Korea's New Wave (Published 2003). December 10, 2020. www.nytimes.com. en.
  22. News: Kim. Suki. 2005. The anticipation of the water. Neue Zürcher Zeitung .
  23. News: Kim. Suki. December 29, 2005. Hwang, Drawn and Quartered?. en-US. Wall Street Journal. December 4, 2020. 0099-9660.
  24. News: Kim. Suki. October 16, 2006. Great Leadership. en-US. Wall Street Journal. December 4, 2020. 0099-9660.
  25. News: Kim. Suki. July 25, 2007. Suki Kim - Asia's Apostles. The Washington Post. en-US. December 4, 2020. 0190-8286.
  26. News: Kim. Suki. April 24, 2007. Globalizing Grief. en-US. Wall Street Journal. December 4, 2020. 0099-9660.
  27. Kim. Suki. 2008. A really big show. Harper's.
  28. Web site: May 18, 2009. Opinion Notes From Another Credit Card Crisis (Published 2009). December 10, 2020. www.nytimes.com. en.
  29. July 1, 2010. [Article] The system of defecting, By Suki Kim]. December 4, 2020. Harper's Magazine. en. Kim . Suki .
  30. Web site: EDT. Suki Kim On 6/25/10 at 8:45 AM. June 25, 2010. North Korean Fans Attend the World Cup. December 4, 2020. Newsweek. en.
  31. News: Kim. Suki. February 25, 2013. Opinion Shared Wounds in Korea (Published 2013). en-US. The New York Times. December 4, 2020. 0362-4331.
  32. News: Kim. Suki. December 16, 2013. Opinion The Dear Leader's Heinous Act (Published 2013). en-US. The New York Times. December 4, 2020. 0362-4331.
  33. News: Kim. Suki. October 31, 2014. The Good Student in North Korea (Published 2014). en-US. The New York Times. December 3, 2020. 0362-4331.
  34. News: Kim. Suki. September 17, 2015. North Korea's Real Hunger. Foreign Affairs: America and the World. en-US. December 4, 2020. 0015-7120.
  35. Web site: Kim. Suki. December 2, 2014. I Asked My North Korean Students to Write Critical Essays. They All Chose America as Their Topic.. December 4, 2020. Slate Magazine. en.
  36. Web site: Kim. Suki. December 22, 2014. The Sony Hack Is North Korea's Biggest Victory in a Long Time. December 4, 2020. Slate Magazine. en.
  37. News: Suki Kim: Dear Leader's great victory. December 4, 2020. National Post. December 29, 2014 . en-CA.
  38. Web site: EST. Suki Kim On 12/4/14 at 12:33 PM. December 4, 2014. The Secret Shame of North Korea's Slave Workers. December 4, 2020. Newsweek. en.
  39. News: Kim. Suki. January 16, 2015. What 'The Interview' Gets Right—and Wrong—About US Policy Toward North Korea. The Nation. en-US. December 4, 2020. 0027-8378.
  40. Kim. Suki. January 11, 2016. Is it Time to Intervene in North Korea?. The New Republic. December 4, 2020. 0028-6583.
  41. Web site: Kim. Suki. November 18, 2016. Why South Koreans Are So Enraged by Their President's Bizarre Scandal. December 4, 2020. Slate Magazine. en.
  42. Kim. Suki. May 9, 2016. Across the Broken Bridge. The New Republic. December 4, 2020. 0028-6583.
  43. Web site: Kim. Suki. Korean Reporters Got Fired, Got Active, and Got The President. December 4, 2020. Foreign Policy. December 21, 2016 . en-US.
  44. Web site: Kim. Suki. February 24, 2017. The Meaning of Kim Jong Nam's Murder. December 3, 2020. The Atlantic. en-US.
  45. Kim. Suki. An Extraordinary Statement from a North Korean Prince. December 4, 2020. The New Yorker. March 20, 2017. en-us.
  46. News: Kim. Suki. Opinion Is Christian evangelicals' money helping to prop up North Korea's regime?. en-US. Washington Post. December 4, 2020. 0190-8286.
  47. News: Kim. Suki. Opinion Tourism to North Korea isn't about engagement. It's torture porn.. en-US. Washington Post. December 4, 2020. 0190-8286.
  48. Web site: May 8, 2017. My two messed-up countries: an immigrant's dilemma. December 4, 2020. the Guardian. en.
  49. Web site: Kim. Suki. South Korea Is More Worried About Donald Trump Than Kim Jong Un. December 4, 2020. Foreign Policy. May 8, 2017 . en-US.
  50. Kim. Suki. October 22, 2018. The Dealmaker. The New Republic. December 4, 2020. 0028-6583.
  51. Kim. Suki. Covering the North Korea Summit While Trapped in a Warehouse in Singapore. December 4, 2020. The New Yorker. June 13, 2018. en-us.
  52. Web site: February 9, 2018. Opinion North Korea's Lipstick Diplomacy (Published 2018). December 4, 2020. www.nytimes.com. en.
  53. Kim. Suki. How South Korea Lost Control of Its Coronavirus Outbreak. December 4, 2020. The New Yorker. March 4, 2020. en-us.
  54. Kim. Suki. The Underground Movement Trying to Topple the North Korean Regime. December 4, 2020. The New Yorker. November 13, 2020. en-us.
  55. Web site: March 2, 2003. NEW YORK OBSERVED; Translating Poverty and Pain (Published 2003). December 10, 2020. www.nytimes.com. en.
  56. Web site: June 22, 2003. NEW YORK OBSERVED; Marriage of Inconvenience? (Published 2003). December 10, 2020. www.nytimes.com. en.
  57. Web site: November 21, 2004. 'Facing Poverty With a Rich Girl's Habits' (Published 2004). December 10, 2020. www.nytimes.com. en.
  58. News: Kim. Suki. September 24, 2006. Our Affair Was One Long Lesson in How to Break Up (Published 2006). en-US. The New York Times. December 4, 2020. 0362-4331.
  59. Web site: December 8, 2010. Forced From Home Yet Never Free of It (Published 2010). December 10, 2020. www.nytimes.com. en.
  60. Web site: Kim. Suki. Love Stories: Why I Flew to Beijing in Search of the Perfect Dress. December 4, 2020. Vogue. February 8, 2015. en-us.
  61. Kim. Suki. March 7, 2016. Mr. Rubio's Neighborhood. The New Republic. December 4, 2020. 0028-6583.
  62. Kim. Suki. June 27, 2016. The Reluctant Memoirist. The New Republic. December 3, 2020. 0028-6583.
  63. Kim. Suki. September 15, 2016. What Happened in Brisbane. The New Republic. December 4, 2020. 0028-6583.
  64. Web site: Land of Darkness Suki Kim. December 4, 2020. Lapham’s Quarterly. en.
  65. Web site: Kim. Suki. December 1, 2017. Public-Radio Icon John Hockenberry Accused of Harassing Female Colleagues. December 4, 2020. The Cut. en-us.
  66. Web site: Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award. December 3, 2020. web.mnstate.edu.
  67. Web site: List of PEN/Hemingway Winners The Hemingway Society. December 3, 2020. www.hemingwaysociety.org.
  68. Web site: April 29, 2016. PEN Open Book Award Winners. December 3, 2020. PEN America. en.
  69. Web site: Suki Kim. December 4, 2020. American Academy. en-US.
  70. Web site: ALUMNI. December 5, 2020. Millay Colony for the Arts. en-US.
  71. Web site: July 25, 2004. Ucross Foundation. December 5, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20040725032756/http://www.ucrossfoundation.org/alumni.html. July 25, 2004.
  72. Web site: Ragdale. https://web.archive.org/web/20140214201250/http://www.ragdale.org/fictionin. February 14, 2014.
  73. Web site: Former Fellows 1999. December 5, 2020. The Edward F. Albee Foundation. en.
  74. Web site: Suki Kim - Artist. December 4, 2020. MacDowell. en.
  75. Web site: Santa Maddalena Foundation The Fellows. December 5, 2020. Santa Maddalena Foundation. en-US.
  76. Web site: Ucross Foundation Newsletter.
  77. Web site: John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Suki Kim. December 4, 2020. en-US.
  78. Web site: Fellows News Bogliasco Foundation. December 5, 2020. www.bfny.org.
  79. Web site: Open Society Fellowship. December 4, 2020. www.opensocietyfoundations.org. en.
  80. Web site: January 23, 2015. NYFA Proudly Announces the 2014 Artists' Fellowships Awardees. December 4, 2020. NYFA. en-US.
  81. Web site: Suki Kim — Journalism. December 4, 2020. journalism.princeton.edu.
  82. Web site: Ucross Foundation - Literature Alumni. December 5, 2020. UCROSS. en.
  83. Web site: May 23, 2019. Center on the Future of War fellow Suki Kim wins prestigious Berlin Prize. December 4, 2020. ASU Now: Access, Excellence, Impact. en.
  84. Web site: Suki Kim - Schloss Wiepersdorf (en). December 4, 2020. www.schloss-wiepersdorf.de. en.

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