Author Blaine Harden tackles North Korea in his latest book, The Great Leader and The Fighter Pilot, but it was his previous one that established him as one of the most prominent voices on the country.

Escape from Camp 14, recounting Shin Dong-hyuk’s harrowing tale of escaping one of the country’s most notorious prison camps, became an international bestseller and was translated into more than 27 languages.

In January the book reentered headlines, albeit for the wrong reasons: Shin had admitted to lying about elements of his story, confessing that he had spent much of his time in a