‘Great ideology creates great times.’ Kim Jong-il (1942–2011)

Where to start with this mysterious, sometimes terrifying country? Perhaps with some hard facts - which are notoriously difficult to come by. Ruth Ann Monti teases out the truth about this dictatorship to provide an illuminating insight into a society that might just as well be in outer space for most in the West.

Did you know, for instance, that high school students are required to complete an 81-hour course on current leader Kim Jong-un? Or that everyone must wear a Kim badge at all times? Even Mao didn't demand that. How about the fact that Kim Jong-un's father and predecessor, Kim Jong-il, kidnapped two of South Korea's film industry giants and made seven films with them – including a Socialist version of Godzilla? The 100 facts don't all make grim reading: for instance, North Koreans like to relax with a favourite tipple - but make theirs from acorns. More importantly, in 2012 North Korean archaeologists discovered a unicorn lair…

This book highlights the hidden reality and strange truths about this much-misunderstood country.

• North Korea is a staple of international news every day - yet it still remains a mystery to most people.
• This book's fact-based approach separates truth from speculation and spin.
• Simply being poor isn't the worst thing in this system: the lowest of the nine categories of the 'hostile', unreliable class (25% of the population) are those descended from Japanese officials. Such definitions are essential to an understanding of the country.