The Tears of My Soul

The Tears of My Soul (Korean: 이제 여자가 되고 싶어요 – 내영혼의 눈물; lit. Now, I wish to become a woman – My soul's tears) is the memoir of Kim Hyon-hui, a former North Korean agent known for planting the bomb on board Korean Air Flight 858. This book recounts one of North Korean state-sponsored acts of terror.

The Tears of My Soul

Author	Kim Hyon-hui
Subject	Autobiography
Publisher	William Morrow and Co.
ISBN	0-688-12833-5

Kim tells the story of how she was trained as a spy and assigned a mission given by Kim Jong-il to blow up a South Korean airliner. The book details her early training and life as a party member in Macau, Hainan, and across Europe; her terrorist act; and her consequent trial, reprieve, and integration into South Korean society.

The book has been translated into a number of languages, including German.^[1]

On page 3 of the book Kim writes:

This book is dedicated to the families of the victims of Flight 858. All proceeds deriving from the book will be donated to them.^[2]

Rémi Kauffer, in The Black Book of Communism, has some reservations about the truthfulness of The Tears of My Soul, writing in 1997: "It is still too soon to determine how much of the book is fabrication".^[3]

References

1. Die Tränen meiner Seele, Brunnen-Verlag GmbH; 1999
2. The Tears of My Soul, Kim Hyon Hui, William Morrow and Co., 1993, page 3
3. Kauffer, Rémi (1999). "Communism and Terrorism". The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repressions. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. p. 359. ISBN 978-0-674-07608-2.