The Invitation-Only Zone

Throughout the late 1970s and early '80s, dozens of Japanese citizens were abducted from coastal Japanese towns by North Korean commandos. In what proved to be part of a global project, North Korea attempted to reeducate the abductees and train them to spy on the state's behalf. When the project faltered, the abductees were hidden in guarded communities known as "Invitation-Only Zones"-the fiction being that these were exclusive enclaves, not prisons. In 2002, Kim Jong II admitted to kidnapping thirteen Japanese citizens and returned five of them (the other eight, he said, had died). From the moment that Robert S. Boynton first saw a photograph of these men and women, he became obsessed with the window their story provided into the vexed politics of Northeast Asia. In The lnvitation- Only Zone, he untangles the logic behind the kidnappings and shows why some Japanese citizens described them as "their 9/11." He tells the story of how dozens were abducted and reeducated; how they married and had children; and how they lived anonymously as North Korean citizens. He speaks with nationalists, diplomats, abductees, and even crab fishermen, unearthing bizarre North Korean propaganda tactics and the peculiar cultural interests of both counties. A deeply reported, thoroughly researched treatise on the power struggle of one of the most important areas in the global economy, Boynton's keen investigation is riveting and revelatory.

About the Author :
Robert S. Boynton's journalism has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine, and other publications. He is the author of The New New Journalism and directs the Literary Reportage program at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University.

Review :

"Boynton . . . gives us a riveting portrait of these bizarre kidnappings . . . His musings about Japan's reaction to the abductions, 'Japan's 9/11, ' and the sudden realization 'that the world was more dangerous than it had thought' are cogent. His study of the ordeal that the abductees went through is moving." --Sheila Miyoshi Jager, The New York Times Book Review

"Boynton has done his homework well, converting the suffering inflicted on a few dozen individuals into an eye-opening and surprisingly moving narrative." --Publishers Weekly

"A thorough investigative report into the systematic abduction of Japanese citizens by the North Korean intelligence network over many decades. . . . More than anecdotal stories, [Boynton's] work zeroes in on the deeply uneasy makeup of the Korean-Japanese relationship. Engaging reading, surreal in some of the Orwellian detail." --Kirkus Reviews

"An excellent work that is an optimal choice for both North Korea and Japan watchers." --Joshua Wallace, Library Journals Review (starred review)