Kim Il Sung

This book is especially important now with Kim Il Sung's death, the ending of the nuclear crisis between North Korea and the United States, and the obscured emergence of a successor regime ostensibly headed by Kim Il Jong, Sung's son. Suh's book investigates the impact of Kim Il Sung on the history and politics of North Korea and what his death will mean for the future of the country and its relations with the rest of the world.

Concentrating on the years 1953-64, this history describes how North Korea became more despotic even as other Communist countries underwent de-Stalinization. The author’s principal new source is the Hungarian diplomatic archives, which contain extensive reporting on Kim Il Sung and North Korea, thoroughly informed by research on the period in the Soviet and Eastern European archives and by recently published scholarship.

Much of the story surrounds Kim Il Sung: his Korean nationalism and eagerness for Korean autarky; his efforts to balance the need for foreign aid and his hope for an independent foreign policy; and what seems to be his good sense of timing in doing in internal rivals without attracting Soviet retaliation. Through a series of comparisons not only with the USSR but also with Albania, Romania, Yugoslavia, China, and Vietnam, the author highlights unique features of North Korean communism during the period. Szalontai covers ongoing effects of Japanese colonization, the experiences of diverse Korean factions during World War II, and the weakness of the Communist Party in South Korea.

In this memoir, Won Tai Sohn recollects the unusually harsh Japanese treatment of Korean people in Korea, Manchuria, China and Japan, and remembers his close relationship with North Korean president Kim Il Sung from their boyhood to President Kim's sudden death in 1994. According to Dr. Sohn, President Kim devoted his entire life to the liberation of Korea, starting with fighting against the Japanese stationed in North Korea and China. He became the first premier of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea when it was established in 1948, and led his nation in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. In 1993, President Kim's nuclear program and defense policy became a great concern for the United States when intelligence analysis estimated that North Korea was less than two years away from being able to strike South Korea and Japan with nuclear missiles. President Kim died two months after talks with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter about ending North Korea's nuclear program.

If your primary interest regarding this book is how the Koreans dealt with the Japanese occupation, then "Kim Il Sung and Korea's Struggle" is well-teamed with Richard Kim's "Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood." On the other hand, if your interest lies primarily in Dr. Sohn's first-hand knowledge of Kim Il-song as a youth, then the book is best teamed with Professor Dae Sook Suh's definitive biography of Kim Il-song.

History's Villains - Kim Il Sung (History's Villains)

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History's Villains - Kim Il Sung (History's Villains)
Scott Ingram
Manufacturer: Blackbirch Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Board book

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ASIN: 1410302598

History's Villains takes a two-sided look at some of history's most influential villains; the series explores simultaneously the influences and experiences that shaped the figure, but does so in the context of the time. What emerges is a unique story about a world that changed a person and a person that changed the world.

A distinguished group of international scholars debates the state of change or continuity in North Korea's post--Kim II Sung regime--shedding light on one of the world's most closed societies, its potential to adapt to post--cold war realities, and the prospects for a peaceful and stable Korean peninsula.</p>

Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il (Major World Leaders)

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Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il (Major World Leaders)
Rachel A. Koestler-Grack
Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0791076482

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KIM IL SUNG
BAIK BONG
Manufacturer: MIRAISHA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000RWDUU8