The Two Koreas: a Contemporary History by Don Oberdorfer, Addison-Wesley Troubled Tiger: the Unauthorised Biography of Korea, Inc by Mark L Clifford, Butterworth-Heinemann Asia A study of the history of the two Koreas is rather like those controversial studies of identical twins separated at birth, which seek to determine whether genetic or environmental forces are more important in shaping destiny.
North Korea is now a starving nightmare of economic collapse. But South Korea's economic crash is just as astonishing, given that it was probably the most miraculous of the Asian miracle economies.
Until now it has been a reliable rule of thumb for publishers that books about the Korean peninsula do not sell. One hopes that both these books will mark a turning point. The story of the two Koreas makes for an exciting and thought-provoking read about the limits of obsessive determination. Both books are packed with great details and anecdotes which bring the whole extraordinary saga to life.
Both explain the similar reasons behind both the successes and enormous failures of the two countries which emerged from the division of the peninsula after Japan's defeat in World War II.
Washington Post veteran foreign correspondent Don Oberdorfer starts his book The Two Koreas with his horrified impressions of Korea's poverty and misery when he arrived there as a US Army Lieutenant in 1953. A few weeks earlier, the terrible three-year Korean war had ended with an uneasy armistice.
Oberdorfer mixes fresh interviews with his earlier work, in which he reported how South Korea entered a race towards industrialisation lagging behind the North, but emerged victorious to become a member of the OECD club of developed nations.