'A propulsive investigation into the wild adventures of a man determined to bring down the
North Korean regime . . . Deeply reported and novelistic. I flew through it' Ed Caesar author
of The Moth and the Mountain 'The engrossing inside story of two recent events that are jaw
dropping even for North Korea and the obsessive man behind them . . . A terrific piece of
up-close reportage that reads like a spy thriller but is all too real' Anna Fifield author of
The Great Successor: The Secret Rise and Rule of Kim Jong Un The wild story of a college
activist's high-stakes attempt to topple the North Korean regime and change the world. In the
early 2000s Adrian Hong was a soft-spoken Yale undergraduate looking for his place in the
world. After reading a harrowing account of life inside North Korea he realized he had found a
cause so pressing that he was ready to devote his life to it. What began as a trip down the
safe and well-worn path of organizing soon morphed into something more dangerous. Hong
journeyed to China outwitting Chinese security services as he helped ferry asylum-seeking
North Korean escapees to safety. Meanwhile Hong's secret organization Cheollima Civil Defense
(later renamed Free Joseon) began tracking the North Korean government's activities and its
volatile third-generation ruler Kim Jong Un. Free Joseon targeted North Korean diplomats who
might be persuaded to defect while drawing up plans for a government-in-exile. After the
shocking broad-daylight assassination in 2017 of Kim Jong Nam the dictator's older brother
Hong along with Marine veteran Christopher Ahn helped ferry Nam's family to safety. Then Hong
took the group a step further. He initiated a series of high-stakes direct actions culminating
in an armed raid at the North Korean embassy in Madrid-an act that would put Ahn behind bars
and turn Hong into one of the world's most unlikely fugitives. In the tradition of Jon
Krakauer's Into the Wild The Rebel and the Kingdom is an exhilarating account of a man who
turns his back on the status quo-to instead live boldly by his principles. Acclaimed journalist
and bestselling author Bradley Hope-who broke numerous details of Hong's operations in The Wall
Street Journal-now reveals the full contours of this remarkable story of idealism and insanity
hubris and heroism all set within the secret battle for the future of the world's most
mysterious and unsettling nation.
