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Talking sense about North Korea
Glyn Ford's book is a timely antidote to dangerous Western misconceptions about the country, says CARLOS MARTINEZ

Talking to North Korea: Ending the Nuclear Standoff
by Glyn Ford
(Pluto Press, £14.99)

GLYN FORD’S Talking to North Korea is that rarest of things, a helpful, sensible, balanced, interesting and informative book about the country.

[[{"fid":"9648","view_mode":"inlineright","fields":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false},"link_text":null,"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false}},"attributes":{"class":"media-element file-inlineright","data-delta":"1"}}]]Former Labour MEP Ford is an expert in international relations and has visited Pyongyang over a hundred times, toured the entire nation and met government officials at the highest level. He is therefore uniquely well placed to explain and contextualise North Korean politics and to give pragmatic and thoughtful suggestions as to how to move the peace process forward.

His book does an excellent job of presenting Korean history and politics to a Western audience used to thinking of North Korea as dangerous, unpredictable and unhinged.

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