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| kim jong il's official biography: Kim Jong-Il Michael Breen, 2004-01-29 Kim Jong-il has been the subject of intense interest and fear in recent months. He has been demonised as 'Dr Evil' for his nuclear programme which puts Korea on a collision course with the US. For this reason, the world has a stake in understanding this man and his little-known country. This account aims to tell the compelling story of Kim Jong-il and the country he leads, exploring the pressing question of how he manages to hold onto power in a country that is ravaged by famine and poverty. Unravelling the myths, mysteries, and fallacies that surround this small, desperate country, this fascinating story includes rare photos of Kim Jong-il and his brutal regime. |
| kim jong il's official biography: A Kim Jong-Il Production Paul Fischer, 2015-02-03 Before becoming the world's most notorious dictator, Kim Jong-Il ran North Korea's Ministry for Propaganda and its film studios. Conceiving every movie made, he acted as producer and screenwriter. Despite this control, he was underwhelmed by the available talent and took drastic steps, ordering the kidnapping of Choi Eun-Hee (Madam Choi)—South Korea's most famous actress—and her ex-husband Shin Sang-Ok, the country's most famous filmmaker.Madam Choi vanished first. When Shin went to Hong Kong to investigate, he was attacked and woke up wrapped in plastic sheeting aboard a ship bound for North Korea. Madam Choi lived in isolated luxury, allowed only to attend the Dear Leader's dinner parties. Shin, meanwhile, tried to escape, was sent to prison camp, and re-educated. After four years he cracked, pledging loyalty. Reunited with Choi at the first party he attends, it is announced that the couple will remarry and act as the Dear Leader's film advisors. Together they made seven films, in the process gaining Kim Jong-Il's trust. While pretending to research a film in Vienna, they flee to the U.S. embassy and are swept to safety.A nonfiction thriller packed with tension, passion, and politics, author Paul Fischer's A Kim Jong-Il Production offers a rare glimpse into a secretive world, illuminating a fascinating chapter of North Korea's history that helps explain how it became the hermetically sealed, intensely stage-managed country it remains today. |
| kim jong il's official biography: Kim Il Sung Dae-Sook Suh, 1988 Examines the rule of the Korean dictator who was premier, and then president, of North Korea until his death. |
| kim jong il's official biography: Dear Reader Michael Malice, 2014-01-25 No country is as misunderstood as North Korea, and no modern tyrant has remained more mysterious than the Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il. Now, celebrity ghostwriter Michael Malice pulls back the curtain to expose the life story of the Incarnation of Love and Morality. Taken directly from books spirited out of Pyongyang, DEAR READER is a carefully reconstructed first-person account of the man behind the mythology. From his miraculous rainbow-filled birth during the fiery conflict of World War II, Kim Jong Il watched as his beloved Korea finally earned its freedom from the cursed Japanese. Mere years later, the wicked US imperialists took their chance at conquering the liberated nation—with devastating results. But that's only the beginning of the Dear Leader's story. In DEAR READER, Kim Jong Il explains: *How he can shrink time *Why he despises the Mona Lisa *How he recreated the arts in Korea *Why the Juche idea is the greatest concept ever discovered by man *How he handled the crippling famine *Why Kim Jong Un was chosen as successor over his elder brothers With nothing left uncovered, drawing straight from dozens of books, hundreds of articles and thousands of years of Korean history, DEAR READER is both the definitive account of Kim Jong Il's life and the complete stranger-than-fiction history of the world's most unique country. |
| kim jong il's official biography: Kim Jong-il's Leadership of North Korea Jae-Cheon Lim, 2008-11-24 Kim Jong Il came to power after the death of his father Kim Il Sung in 1994. Contrary to expectations, he has succeeded in maintaining enough political stability to remain in power. Kim Jong Il's Leadership of North Korea is an examination of how political power has been developed, transmitted from father to son, and now operates in North Korea Using a variety of original North Korean sources as well as South Korean materials Jae-Cheon Lim pieces together the ostensibly contradictory and inconsistent facts into a conceptual coherent framework. This book considers Kim and his leadership through an analytical framework. composed of four main elements: i) Kim as a leader of a totalitarian society; ii) as a politician; iii) as a Korean; and iv) as an individual person. This illuminating account of what constitutes power and how it is used makes an important contribution to the understanding of an opaque and difficult regime. It will be of interest for upper level undergraduate, postgraduates and academics interested in North Korean politics, and also those in Political theory. |
| kim jong il's official biography: Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader Bradley K. Martin, 2004-10-15 Citing new material from archives in Moscow and Beijing, the first definitiveaccount of North Korea and the Kim Dynasty is offered by a top journalist andKorean expert. 16-page photo insert. |
| kim jong il's official biography: Becoming Kim Jong Un Jung H. Pak, 2021-04-06 A groundbreaking account of the rise of North Korea’s Kim Jong Un—from his nuclear ambitions to his summits with President Donald J. Trump—by a leading American expert “Shrewdly sheds light on the world’s most recognizable mysterious leader, his life and what’s really going on behind the curtain.”—Newsweek When Kim Jong Un became the leader of North Korea following his father's death in 2011, predictions about his imminent fall were rife. North Korea was isolated, poor, unable to feed its people, and clinging to its nuclear program for legitimacy. Surely this twentysomething with a bizarre haircut and no leadership experience would soon be usurped by his elders. Instead, the opposite happened. Now in his midthirties, Kim Jong Un has solidified his grip on his country and brought the United States and the region to the brink of war. Still, we know so little about him—or how he rules. Enter former CIA analyst Jung Pak, whose brilliant Brookings Institution essay “The Education of Kim Jong Un” cemented her status as the go-to authority on the calculating young leader. From the beginning of Kim’s reign, Pak has been at the forefront of shaping U.S. policy on North Korea and providing strategic assessments for leadership at the highest levels in the government. Now, in this masterly book, she traces and explains Kim’s ascent on the world stage, from his brutal power-consolidating purges to his abrupt pivot toward diplomatic engagement that led to his historic—and still poorly understood—summits with President Trump. She also sheds light on how a top intelligence analyst assesses thorny national security problems: avoiding biases, questioning assumptions, and identifying risks as well as opportunities. In piecing together Kim’s wholly unique life, Pak argues that his personality, perceptions, and preferences are underestimated by Washington policy wonks, who assume he sees the world as they do. As the North Korean nuclear threat grows, Becoming Kim Jong Un gives readers the first authoritative, behind-the-scenes look at Kim’s character and motivations, creating an insightful biography of the enigmatic man who could rule the hermit kingdom for decades—and has already left an indelible imprint on world history. |
| kim jong il's official biography: Kim Jong Il's North Korea Alison Behnke, 2007-09-01 Describes Kim Jong Il's rise to power in North Korea and how his strict policies have contributed to devastating famine, the slaughter of many North Koreans, and the isolation of North Korea from the world. |
| kim jong il's official biography: Kim Jong Il's North Korea, 2nd Edition Alison Behnke, 2012-08-01 Kim Jong Il, one of the world's most infamous dictators, rose to power in the mid-1990s in the small East Asian country of North Korea. He succeeded his father, Kim Il Sung, as that nation's leader. Kim Il Sung took power in North Korea—also known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK—in 1948, and eventually established a state governed by his own version of Communism. Today Kim Jong Il continues his father’s tactics of building a powerful cult of personality around himself, while crushing criticism and opposition to his rule. These practices by both Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il have largely cut off the DPRK from the outside world. The Kim leaders' harsh policies have led to tragedy within the nation, contributing to devastating famine and creating a network of labor camps in which many North Koreans are tortured and killed annually. Kim's secrecy and his strict control of information entering or leaving North Korea have also made the nation a largely mysterious place. In Kim Jong Il's North Korea, learn more about this inscrutable nation and its dictator. |
| kim jong il's official biography: The Great Successor Anna Fifield, 2019-06-11 The behind-the-scenes story of the rise and reign of the world's strangest and most elusive tyrant, Kim Jong Un, by the journalist with the best connections and insights into the bizarrely dangerous world of North Korea. Since his birth in 1984, Kim Jong Un has been swaddled in myth and propaganda, from the plainly silly -- he could supposedly drive a car at the age of three -- to the grimly bloody stories of family members who perished at his command. Anna Fifield reconstructs Kim's past and present with exclusive access to sources near him and brings her unique understanding to explain the dynastic mission of the Kim family in North Korea. The archaic notion of despotic family rule matches the almost medieval hardship the country has suffered under the Kims. Few people thought that a young, untested, unhealthy, Swiss-educated basketball fanatic could hold together a country that should have fallen apart years ago. But Kim Jong Un has not just survived, he has thrived, abetted by the approval of Donald Trump and diplomacy's weirdest bromance. Skeptical yet insightful, Fifield creates a captivating portrait of the oddest and most secretive political regime in the world -- one that is isolated yet internationally relevant, bankrupt yet in possession of nuclear weapons -- and its ruler, the self-proclaimed Beloved and Respected Leader, Kim Jong Un. |
| kim jong il's official biography: The Last Days of Kim Jong-il Bruce E. Bechtol, 2013 North Korea has remained a thorn in the side of the United States ever since its creation in the aftermath of the Korean conflict of 1950 - 1953. Crafting a foreign policy that effectively deals with North Korea, while still ensuring stability and security on the Korean Peninsula - and in Northeast Asia as a whole - has proved very challenging for successive American administrations. In the wake of ruler Kim Jong-il's death in December 2011, analysts and policymakers continue to speculate about the effect his last years as leader will have on the future of North Korea. Bruce Bechtol, Jr. conte. |
| kim jong il's official biography: With the Century Il-sŏng Kim, 1993 |
| kim jong il's official biography: Without You, There Is No Us Suki Kim, 2015-10-13 A haunting account of teaching English to the sons of North Korea's ruling class during the last six months of Kim Jong-il's reign Every day, three times a day, the students march in two straight lines, singing praises to Kim Jong-il and North Korea: Without you, there is no motherland. Without you, there is no us. It is a chilling scene, but gradually Suki Kim, too, learns the tune and, without noticing, begins to hum it. It is 2011, and all universities in North Korea have been shut down for an entire year, the students sent to construction fields—except for the 270 students at the all-male Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), a walled compound where portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il look on impassively from the walls of every room, and where Suki has gone undercover as a missionary and a teacher. Over the next six months, she will eat three meals a day with her young charges and struggle to teach them English, all under the watchful eye of the regime. Life at PUST is lonely and claustrophobic, especially for Suki, whose letters are read by censors and who must hide her notes and photographs not only from her minders but from her colleagues—evangelical Christian missionaries who don't know or choose to ignore that Suki doesn't share their faith. As the weeks pass, she is mystified by how easily her students lie, unnerved by their obedience to the regime. At the same time, they offer Suki tantalizing glimpses of their private selves—their boyish enthusiasm, their eagerness to please, the flashes of curiosity that have not yet been extinguished. She in turn begins to hint at the existence of a world beyond their own—at such exotic activities as surfing the Internet or traveling freely and, more dangerously, at electoral democracy and other ideas forbidden in a country where defectors risk torture and execution. But when Kim Jong-il dies, and the boys she has come to love appear devastated, she wonders whether the gulf between her world and theirs can ever be bridged. Without You, There Is No Us offers a moving and incalculably rare glimpse of life in the world's most unknowable country, and at the privileged young men she calls soldiers and slaves. |
| kim jong il's official biography: Kim Jong-il's Leadership of North Korea Jae-Cheon Lim, 2008-11-24 Kim Jong Il came to power after the death of his father Kim Il Sung in 1994. Contrary to expectations, he has succeeded in maintaining enough political stability to remain in power. Kim Jong Il's Leadership of North Korea is an examination of how political power has been developed, transmitted from father to son, and now operates in North Korea Using a variety of original North Korean sources as well as South Korean materials Jae-Cheon Lim pieces together the ostensibly contradictory and inconsistent facts into a conceptual coherent framework. This book considers Kim and his leadership through an analytical framework. composed of four main elements: i) Kim as a leader of a totalitarian society; ii) as a politician; iii) as a Korean; and iv) as an individual person. This illuminating account of what constitutes power and how it is used makes an important contribution to the understanding of an opaque and difficult regime. It will be of interest for upper level undergraduate, postgraduates and academics interested in North Korean politics, and also those in Political theory. |
| kim jong il's official biography: Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader Bradley K. Martin, 2007-04-01 Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader offers in-depth portraits of North Korea's two ruthless and bizarrely Orwellian leaders, Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il. Lifting North Korea's curtain of self-imposed isolation, this book will take readers inside a society, that to a Westerner, will appear to be from another planet. Subsisting on a diet short on food grains and long on lies, North Koreans have been indoctrinated from birth to follow unquestioningly a father-son team of megalomaniacs. To North Koreans, the Kims are more than just leaders. Kim Il-Sung is the country's leading novelist, philosopher, historian, educator, designer, literary critic, architect, general, farmer, and ping-pong trainer. Radios are made so they can only be tuned to the official state frequency. Newspapers are filled with endless columns of Kim speeches and propaganda. And instead of Christmas, North Koreans celebrate Kim's birthday--and he presents each child a present, just like Santa. The regime that the Kim Dynasty has built remains technically at war with the United States nearly a half century after the armistice that halted actual fighting in the Korean War. This fascinating and complete history takes full advantage of a great deal of source material that has only recently become available (some from archives in Moscow and Beijing), and brings the reader up to the tensions of the current day. For as this book will explain, North Korea appears more and more to be the greatest threat among the Axis of Evil countries--with some defector testimony warning that Kim Jong-Il has enough chemical weapons to wipe out the entire population of South Korea. |
| kim jong il's official biography: Kim Il-song's North Korea Helen-Louise Hunter, 1999-04-30 Hunter provides a glimpse inside North Korean society, detailing the everyday life of people living in perhaps the most isolated, secretive society of the 20th century. In this declassified CIA study, she describes the world's most extreme cult society under the charismatic totalitarian leader, Kim Il-song, who ruled his people for 45 years—longer than any other leader of the 20th century. Kim Il-song's totalitarian cult society comes closest to George Orwell's 1984 than any society yet contrived. Hunter brings to life what it is like to live in a thoroughly thought-controlled society—which also is the world's most class-conscious society. Based on all the sources available to the CIA at the time, this book is the most comprehensive look at North Korean life ever published. It is essential reading for foreign policy officials, Asian Studies scholars, and the general public interested in world affairs. |
| kim jong il's official biography: North Korea's Supreme Leaders The New York Times Editorial Staff, 2018-12-15 The 2018 summit meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un brought renewed international attention to North Korea and its leading dynasty. Ruled by three successive generations of the Kim family, North Korea is one of the most authoritarian states in the world. This collection of articles covers the history of their dynasty, including Kim Il-sung's assumption of power in the wake of World War II, the intense cult of personality surrounding him that followed, and the twice-over handoff of power from father to son, first to Kim Jong-il and later to Kim Jong-un. This in-depth coverage presents a tale of human rights abuses, famine, and nuclearization at the hands of three eccentric, unpredictable, and fiercely nationalistic dictators. |
| kim jong il's official biography: Every Falling Star Sungju Lee, Susan Elizabeth McClelland, 2016-09-13 Written for a young audience, this intense memoir explores the harsh realities of life on the streets in contemporary North Korea. Every Falling Star is the memoir of Sungju Lee, who at the age of twelve was forced to live on the streets of North Korea and fend for himself. To survive, Sungju creates a gang and lives by thieving, fighting, begging, and stealing rides on cargo trains. Sungju richly recreates his scabrous story, depicting what it was like for a boy alone to create a new family with his gang, “his brothers,” to daily be hungry and to fear arrest, imprisonment, and even execution. This riveting memoir allows young readers to learn about other cultures where freedoms they take for granted do not exist. |
| kim jong il's official biography: The Real North Korea Andrei Lankov, 2013-05-02 In The Real North Korea, Lankov substitutes cold, clear analysis for the overheated rhetoric surrounding this opaque police state. Based on vast expertise, this book reveals how average North Koreans live, how their leaders rule, and how both survive. |
| kim jong il's official biography: Kim Jong Il Looking at Things João Rocha, 2022-04-12 The cult classic photobook celebrating the North Korean leader's infinite capacity for looking at things Comical and bizarre, Kim Jong Il Looking at Things has become a cult classic among photobook connoisseurs since its publication in 2015. The book was based upon one of the most followed, shared and imitated monothematic Tumblr blogs in recent years. Created by João Rocha, an art director at an advertising firm in Lisbon, the blog is a collection of photographs which depict the former Dear Leader of North Korea, often accompanied by military personnel or senior advisers, engaged in the act of looking at things. Since the blog's creation in October 2010, Rocha has posted photographs appropriated from the North Korean Central News Agency, which he matches with deadpan captions: looking at cows; looking at blue rods; looking at pastry; looking at a metalworker; looking at a DVD labeling machine. Now available again after a long period of unavailability, this hilarious book includes an essay by visual culture writer Marco Bohr. |
| kim jong il's official biography: Leader Symbols and Personality Cult in North Korea Jae-Cheon Lim, 2015-03-24 The legitimacy of the North Korean state is based solely on the leaders’ personal legitimacy, and is maintained by the indoctrination of people with leader symbols and the enactment of leadership cults in daily life. It can thus be dubbed a leader state. The frequency of leader symbols and the richness and scale of leader-symbol-making in North Korea are simply unrivalled. Furthermore, the personality cults of North Korean leaders are central to people’s daily activity, critically affecting their minds and emotions. Both leader symbols and cult activities are profoundly entrenched in the institutions and daily life, and if separated and cancelled, the North Korean state would be transformed. This book analyses North Korea as a leader state, focusing on two elements, leader symbols and cult activities. It argues that these elements have been, and continue to be, the backbone of North Korea, shaping North Korean culture. To reveal the leader state character, the book specifically examines North Korea’s leadership cults, its use of leader symbols in these cults, and the nature of the symbolism involved. How has the North Korean state developed the cult of the Kim Il Sung family? How does the state use leader symbols to perpetuate this cult? How has the state developed myths and rituals that sustain the cult in daily life? What leader images has state propaganda manufactured? How does the state’s manipulation of leader symbols affect the symbolism that is assigned to the leader’s actions? In answering these questions, this book sheds new light on the strength and resilience of the North Korean state, and shows how it has been able to survive even the most difficult economic period of the mid-1990s. Leader Symbols and Personality Cult in North Korea will be essential reading for students and scholars of North Korea, Korean politics, Asian politics, political sociology and visual politics. |
| kim jong il's official biography: A Kim Jong-Il Production Paul Fischer, 2015-02-03 The true story of Kim Jong-Il's 1978 kidnapping of the golden couple of South Korean cinema, Choi Eun-Hee (Madame Choi) and Shin Sang-Ok, the propaganda movies, they were forced to make, and their daring escape eight years later |
| kim jong il's official biography: Rogue Regime Jasper Becker, 2005-05-01 What happens when a dictator wins absolute power and isolates a nation from the outside world? In a nightmare of political theory stretched to madness and come to life, North Korea's Kim Jong Il made himself into a living god, surrounded by lies and flattery and beyond criticism. As over two million of his subjects starved to death, Kim Jong Il roamed between palaces staffed by beautiful girls and stocked with expensive international delicacies. Outside, the steel mills shut down, the trains stopped running, the power went out, and the hospitals ran out of medicine. When the population threatened to revolt, Kim imposed a reign of terror, deceived the United Nations, and plundered the country's dwindling resources to become a nuclear power. Now this tiny bankrupt nation is using her nuclear capability to blackmail the United States. Veteran correspondent Jasper Becker takes us inside one of the most secretive countries in the world, exposing the internal chaos, blind faith, rampant corruption, and terrifying cruelty of its rulers. Becker details the vain efforts to change North Korea by actors inside and outside the country and the dangers this highly volatile country continues to pose. This unique land, ruled by one family's megalomania and paranoia, seems destined to survive and linger on, a menace to its own people and to the rest of the world. But should the nations of the world allow this regime to survive? That's the question with which this book concludes. |
| kim jong il's official biography: The Interpreter Suki Kim, 2004-01-01 A striking first novel about the dark side of the American Dream Suzy Park is a twenty-nine-year-old Korean American interpreter for the New York City court system. Young, attractive, and achingly alone, she makes a startling and ominous discovery during one court case that forever alters her family's history. Five years prior, her parents--hardworking greengrocers who forfeited personal happiness for their children's gain--were brutally murdered in an apparent robbery of their fruit and vegetable stand. Or so Suzy believed. But the glint of a new lead entices Suzy into the dangerous Korean underworld, and ultimately reveals the mystery of her parents' homicide. An auspicious debut about the myth of the model Asian citizen, The Interpreter traverses the distance between old worlds and new, poverty and privilege, language and understanding. |
| kim jong il's official biography: North Korea Paul French, 2015-08-15 North Korea continues to make headlines, arousing curiosity and fear in equal measure. The world’s most secretive nuclear power, it still has Gulag-style prison camps, allows no access to the Internet and bans its people from talking to foreigners without official approval. In this remarkable and eye-opening book, internationally best-selling author Paul French examines in forensic detail the history and politics of North Korea, Pyongyang’s complex relations with South Korea, Japan, China and America, and the implications of Kim Jong-un’s increasingly belligerent leadership following the death of his father, Kim Jong-il. As an already unstable North Korea grows ever more unpredictable, antagonizing enemies and allies alike, North Korea: State of Paranoia delivers a provocative and frightening account of a potentially explosive nuclear tripwire. |
| kim jong il's official biography: Accidental Tyrant Fyodor Tertitskiy, 2025-02-01 Kim Il-sung was the enigmatic architect of North Korea. His life is an extraordinary tale of improbable success: once a barely educated guerrilla fighter, he rose to lead the nation at the young age of 33. Against all odds, he established a horrifyingly stable dictatorial regime, one that still struggles to provide for its people, yet could obliterate Hollywood, Silicon Valley and much of East Asia in nuclear strikes. Based on extensive new sources in Korean, Russian, Chinese and Japanese, Fyodor Tertitskiy tells the unlikely story of one of the twentieth century's most brutal but little-known dictators, from his early life in Japanese Korea to the lasting repercussions of his autocratic rule today. Tertitskiy showcases Kim's political prowess in gaining autonomy from the USSR; explores how his inept economic policy led to catastrophic famine; and highlights how he implemented a system of hereditary rule, paving the way for today's 'Supreme Leader', Kim Jong-un, to assume power and continue his grandfather's vision. Accidental Tyrant serves as a stark cautionary tale, underscoring that the triumph of liberty is never guaranteed. Met with insufficient resistance, even the most unlikely leader can build a regime of repression and privation that long outlives its founder. |
| kim jong il's official biography: The Cleanest Race B.R. Myers, 2011-02-01 Understanding North Korea through its propaganda What do the North Koreans really believe? How do they see themselves and the world around them? Here B.R. Myers, a North Korea analyst and a contributing editor of The Atlantic, presents the first full-length study of the North Korean worldview. Drawing on extensive research into the regime’s domestic propaganda, including films, romance novels and other artifacts of the personality cult, Myers analyzes each of the country’s official myths in turn—from the notion of Koreans’ unique moral purity, to the myth of an America quaking in terror of “the Iron General.” In a concise but groundbreaking historical section, Myers also traces the origins of this official culture back to the Japanese fascist thought in which North Korea’s first ideologues were schooled. What emerges is a regime completely unlike the West’s perception of it. This is neither a bastion of Stalinism nor a Confucian patriarchy, but a paranoid nationalist, “military-first” state on the far right of the ideological spectrum. Since popular support for the North Korean regime now derives almost exclusively from pride in North Korean military might, Pyongyang can neither be cajoled nor bullied into giving up its nuclear program. The implications for US foreign policy—which has hitherto treated North Korea as the last outpost of the Cold War—are as obvious as they are troubling. With North Korea now calling for a “blood reckoning” with the “Yankee jackals,” Myers’s unprecedented analysis could not be more timely. |
| kim jong il's official biography: Kim Jong Il (EasyRead Super Large 24pt Edition) , |
| kim jong il's official biography: North Korea, 2009-2012 Ian Jeffries, 2013 North Korea continues to be a country of great concern internationally, where future developments are uncertain, especially as a result of the succession to the leadership of Kim Jong-un following the death of Kim Jong-il. It is also a country which is relatively unknown and relatively little studied. This book provides a comprehensive, detailed survey of economic and political developments in the last few years. As such it provides many insights into the current trends which are likely to shape the country’s future direction. |
| kim jong il's official biography: The Koreas Charles K. Armstrong, 2013-08-22 Presenting a succinct, historically informed introduction to North and South Korea, the second edition of The Koreas considers the radically different ways these countries have dealt with the growing challenges of globalization. Since the first edition’s publication, the economic, political, and social differences have only intensified, making evident the relevancy and importance of Armstrong’s work, in understanding the Koreas now and in the future. Ultimately, The Koreas is a crisp, engaging primer of Korea and the Korean people in the contemporary world. This book is ideal for many courses in a variety of disciplines, including politics, history, international business, and Asian studies. |
| kim jong il's official biography: The Guerilla Dynasty Adrian Buzo, 2018-02-19 Throughout the 1990s, North Korea has operated under a skeptical international eye, due largely to the countrys rigorous self-imposed isolation, its on-going confrontation with South Korea, a controversial nuclear arms program, and the near-total collapse of its economy. North Koreas leaders have chosen to face the world with its Stalinist political culture and ideological framework intact, for better or worseand by most reports, almost exclusively for the worst. How did this situation come to be, and what are its consequences? In The Guerilla Dynasty, Adrian Buzo gives us an accessible, up-to-date, and rigorously researched account of the political, economic, and foreign policy developments in North Korea since 1945. |
| kim jong il's official biography: Kim Jong Il (EasyRead Super Large 18pt Edition) , |
| kim jong il's official biography: Rivals Bill Emmott, 2008 Groundbreaking new take on the growing rivalry between China, India and Japan-- and what it means for America, the global economy and the twenty-first century. |
| kim jong il's official biography: The Hermit King Chung Min Lee, 2019-11-05 North Korea is poised at the crossroads of history. Which direction will its leader take? Throughout the world, oppressive regimes are being uprooted and replaced by budding democracies, but one exception remains: The People's Republic of North Korea. The Kim family has clung to power for three generations by silencing dissidents, ruling with an iron fist, and holding its neighbors hostage with threats of war. Under the leadership of Kim Jong Un, North Korea has come closer than ever to creating a viable nuclear arsenal, but widespread famine and growing resistance are weakening his regime's stability. In The Hermit King, Asian geopolitical expert Chung Min Lee tells the story of the rise of the Kim Dynasty and its atrocities, motivations, and diplomatic goals. He also discusses the possible outcomes of its aggressive standoff with the world superpowers. Kim Jong Un is not a crazed Rocket Man or a bumbling despot; he has been groomed since birth to take control of his country and stay in power at all costs. He is now at a fateful crossroads. Will he make good on decades of threats, liberalize North Korea and gain international legitimacy, or watch his regime crumble around him? Lee analyzes the likelihood and consequences of each of these possibilities, cautioning that in the end, a humanitarian crisis in the region is all but unavoidable. The Hermit King is a thoughtful and compelling look at the most complicated diplomatic situation on Earth. |
| kim jong il's official biography: Essential Juche Works Kim Jong Il, 2020-04 The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is guided in its activities by the Juche idea authored by President Kim Il Sung. The Juche idea means, in a nutshell, that the masters of the revolution and construction are the masses of the people and that they are also the motive force of the revolution and construction.The Juche idea is based on the philosophical principle that man is the master of everything and decides everything. It is the man-centered world outlook and also a political philosophy to materialize the independence of the popular masses, namely, a philosophy which elucidates the theoretical basis of politics that leads the development of society along the right path.The Government of the DPRK steadfastly maintains Juche in all realms of the revolution and construction.Establishing Juche means adopting the attitude of a master towards the revolution and construction of one's country. It means maintaining an independent and creative standpoint in finding solutions to the problems which arise in the revolution and construction. It implies solving those problems mainly by one's own efforts and in conformity with the actual conditions of one's own POLITICS country. The realization of independence in politics, self-sufficiency in the economy and self-reliance in national defense is a principle the Government maintains consistently. |
| kim jong il's official biography: MARX, HITLER, COMMUNISM, NAZISM Micky Barnetti, Lin Xun, Richard Cory, Karl Marx and Adolph Hitler are always trending on the internet. Their ideas are adored and repeated incessantly on social media and by the mainstream media (MSM). Their books were once considered too dangerous for the general public. But Mein Kampf was a bestseller as recently as 2017. Its popularity grows worldwide. It has always been one of Amazon’s better-selling book titles. Web searches reveal the embarrassing 2018 video “Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers speech on anniversary of Marx’s birth.” In it, Xi openly drooled over the western male racist socialist. China is led around by its nose tied to the same old German who influenced Hitler. Is there any other country of that size that openly worships a foreigner as their great white savior? Marx’s larger-than-life posters are often paired with the outdated hammer and sickle symbol that China parroted from Soviet socialism. How embarrassing. America’s love affair with German philosophy stretches back to the mid-1800s, and farther. Many Americans struggle to bring Germany’s past into the present at every election. MSM polling reports that 70 percent of millennials say they would vote for a candidate who self-identifies the same as Hitler (2019 YouGov poll). Two politicians in the USA (Alexanderia Ocasio Cortez -AOC- & Bernie Sanders -BS) boastfully self-identify the same as Hitler: SOCIALIST. Other politicians gladly adopt and repeat the same ideas even if they are too dishonest to admit that they are socialist. According to another report, 60 percent of Millennials (age 24-39) support a “complete change of our economic system.” Marx and Hitler were both anti-bourgeois and advocated revolution. Many Americans long for the same revolutions. The ideas of the beloved Deutschland duo continue to grow in popularity. Germany’s two top white male racist political philosophers stay in vogue even though their policies remain a mystery. For example, the following facts (with credit to the archives of the historian Dr. Rex Curry) will come as news to most readers: 1. Hitler and Marx were popular in the USA. Two famous American socialists (the cousins Edward Bellamy and Francis Bellamy) were heavily influenced by Marx. The American socialists returned the favor: Francis Bellamy created the “Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag” that was the origin of Nazi salutes and Nazi behavior. The Bellamys were American national socialists. For more on that advance to chapter 6 on “Bellamy salutes.” 2. The classic military salute (to the brow) also contributed to the creation of the Nazi salute (with the right-arm extended stiffly). 3. The Bellamy cousins promoted socialist schools that imposed segregation by law and taught racism as official policy. 4. Hitler and his supporters self-identified as “socialists” by the very word in voluminous speeches and writings. The term Socialist appears throughout Mein Kampf as a self-description by Hitler. 5. Hitler never called himself a Nazi. There was no “Nazi Germany.” There was no “Nazi Party.” Those terms are slang to hide how Hitler and his comrades self-identified: SOCIALIST. 6. Hitler never called himself a “Fascist.” That term is misused to hide how Hitler and his comrades self-identified: SOCIALIST. 7. The term “Nazi” isn’t in Mein Kampf nor in Triumph of the Will. 8. The term “Fascist” never appears in Mein Kampf as a self-description by Hitler. 9. The term “swastika” never appears in the original Mein Kampf. 10. There is no evidence that Hitler ever used the word “swastika.” 11. The symbol that Hitler did use was intended to represent “S”-letter shapes for “socialist.” 12. Hitler altered his own signature to reflect his “S-shapes for socialism” logo branding. 13. Mussolini was a long-time socialist leader, with a socialist background, raised by socialists to be a socialist, and he joined socialists known as “fascio, fasci, and fascisti.” 14. Fascism came from a socialist (e.g. Mussolini). Communism came from a socialist (e.g. Marx). Fascism and Communism came from socialists. 15. German socialists and Soviet socialists partnered for International Socialism in 1939. They launched WWII, invading Poland together, and continued onward from there, killing millions. Soviet socialism had signed on for Hitler’s Holocaust. 16. After Hitler’s death, Stalin continued the plan he had made with Hitler for Global Socialism. Stalin took over the same areas that Hitler had captured. He used the same facilities that Hitler had used. Hitler’s Holocaust never ended. Stalin replaced Hitler. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Mussolini, and other tyrants were influenced by propaganda in the USA, including the childish American socialists Francis Bellamy and Edward Bellamy. Both Bellamy cousins wanted government to take over all schools, to teach socialism to all youngsters worldwide. Francis Bellamy was the author of the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, the origin of the infamous stiff-armed salute adopted later under German socialism and Adolf Hitler. Long before the Deutschland fad began, American schoolchildren were taught to chant in unison and perform the same salute each day in government schools that imposed segregation by law and taught racism as official policy. Anyone who rejected the ritual in the schools was persecuted. “America’s Nazi salute” was often performed by public officials in the USA from 1892 through 1942. What happened to old photographs and films of the American Nazi salute performed by federal, state, county, and local officials? Those photos and films are rare because people don't want to know the truth about the government’s past. TV, newspapers and other MSM will not show a historic photo or video of the early American straight-arm salute nor mention its history and impact worldwide. American youth groups (Scouting) adopted Bellamy's American Nazi salute (with Bellamy’s encouragement) AND saluted swastika badges (卐) worn by fellow scouts. Many Americans were accustomed to “Nazi salutes for swastikas” long before German socialism (and Hitler Youth) adopted similar behavior under Hitler. That helps to explain another inconvenient truth: swastikas were promoted in the US military and worn as a patch on the upper left arm of American soldiers in a fashion that would become uniform under German socialism. There are extremely rare photographs in this book! |
| kim jong il's official biography: Change and Continuity in North Korean Politics Adam Cathcart, Robert Winstanley-Chesters, Christopher K. Green, 2016-11-03 In the years since the death of Kim Jong-il and the formal acknowledgement of Kim Jong-un as head of state, the North Korean regime has made a series of moves to further augment and consolidate the ideological foundations of Kimism and cement the young leader’s legitimacy. Historical narratives have played a critical, if often unnoticed, role in this process. This book seeks to chronicle these historical changes and continuities. Continuity and Change in North Korean Politics explores the stable and shifting political, cultural and economic landscapes of North Korea in the era of Kim Jong-un. The contributors deploy a variety of methodologies of analysis focused on the content, narratives and discourses of politics under Kim Jong-un, tracing its historical roots and contemporary practical and conceptual manifestations. Moving beyond most analyses of North Korea’s political and institutional ideologies, the book explores uncharted spaces of social and cultural relations, including children’s literature, fisheries, grassland reclamation, commemorative culture, and gender. By examining critical moments of change and continuity in the country’s past, it builds a holistic analysis of national politics as it is currently deployed and experienced. Demonstrating how historical, political and cultural narratives continue to be adapted to suit new and challenging circumstances, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Korean Studies, Korean Politics and Asian Studies. |
| kim jong il's official biography: Kim Jong Il and His Leadership Jae-Cheon Lim, 2007 |
| kim jong il's official biography: Tyranny of the Weak Charles K. Armstrong, 2013-06-18 To much of the world, North Korea is an impenetrable mystery, its inner workings unknown and its actions toward the outside unpredictable and frequently provocative. Tyranny of the Weak reveals for the first time the motivations, processes, and effects of North Korea’s foreign relations during the Cold War era. Drawing on extensive research in the archives of North Korea’s present and former communist allies, including the Soviet Union, China, and East Germany, Charles K. Armstrong tells in vivid detail how North Korea managed its alliances with fellow communist states, maintained a precarious independence in the Sino-Soviet split, attempted to reach out to the capitalist West and present itself as a model for Third World development, and confronted and engaged with its archenemies, the United States and South Korea. From the invasion that set off the Korean War in June 1950 to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Tyranny of the Weak shows how—despite its objective weakness—North Korea has managed for much of its history to deal with the outside world to its maximum advantage. Insisting on a path of self-reliance since the 1950s, North Korea has continually resisted pressure to change from enemies and allies alike. A worldview formed in the crucible of the Korean War and Cold War still maintains a powerful hold on North Korea in the twenty-first century, and understanding those historical forces is as urgent today as it was sixty years ago. |
| kim jong il's official biography: Soviet-North Korean Relations During the Cold War Fyodor Tertitskiy, 2023-08-25 This book explores Soviet–North Korean relations during the Cold War (1945–1991). Based on many primary documents and sources (including Russian and Korean), it reveals how the influence of the Soviets on Pyongyang diminished during the course of the Cold War, from overwhelming at the time of the foundation of North Korea to negligible at the time of the collapse of the USSR. The book delves into the early history and foundation of North Korea, the August Plenum and the strategy employed by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in the Sino-Soviet split. It covers topics previously neglected in previous studies on North Korea, such as the preparation and waging of the Korean War, Kim Il-sung’s road to political independence, the widespread mockery of North Korean propaganda by Soviet citizens and the Soviet origins of the design of the North Korean flag. This book will be a valuable resource to students and scholars of North Korea, Russian Studies, the Cold War and Communism. |
Kim Kardashian - Wikipedia
Following the closure of her cosmetics and fragrance brands, Kardashian founded her skincare line, Sknn by Kim, in 2022. [7] She has released a variety of products tied to her name, …
Kim Kardashian (@kimkardashian) • Instagram photos and videos
357M Followers, 346 Following, 6,412 Posts - Kim Kardashian (@kimkardashian) on Instagram: "@SKIMS @SKKYPARTNERS"
Kim Kardashian | Biography, Children, & Facts | Britannica
Jun 7, 2025 · Kim Kardashian (born October 21, 1980, Los Angeles, California, U.S.) is an American television personality and entrepreneur who garnered international fame for her …
Kim Kardashian Celebrates North West’s 12th Birthday - E! Online
16 hours ago · Kim—who also shares kids Saint, 9, Chicago, 7, and Psalm, 5, with Kanye—rounded out the photo set with a picture of her hands bearing gold rings that spell out …
Kim Kardashian (@kimkardashian) - TikTok
Kim Kardashian (@kimkardashian) on TikTok | 86.9M Likes. 10M Followers. Watch Kim Kardashian's popular videos: "Coming May 22: The U...", "". Join 10M followers on TikTok for …
kimkim: Online Travel Agency for Multi-Day Itineraries
Best of Costa Rica in 7 Days: Explore Jungles, Volcanoes and Beaches. With a mix of rugged jungles, active volcanoes and world-class beaches, Costa Rica offers some of the best natural …
Kim Kardashian - YouTube
Exclusive videos from Kim Kardashian. Behind-the-scenes content, beauty tutorials and more.
Kim Kardashian - Kids, Age & Facts - Biography
Feb 19, 2021 · Kim Kardashian is the star of the reality show 'Keeping Up with the Kardashians' and businesswoman, creating brands such as KKW Beauty, KKW Fragrance and SKIMS.
Kim Kardashian - Age, Family, Bio - Famous Birthdays
Oct 21, 2014 · Kim Kardashian: her birthday, what she did before fame, her family life, fun trivia facts, popularity rankings, and more.
Kim by Rudyard Kipling Plot Summary - LitCharts
Kim travels to Lucknow with Colonel Creighton, who tells him of his intention to turn Kim into a chain-man—a British informant in the Great Game, a war of espionage between British and …
Kim Kardashian - Wikipedia
Following the closure of her cosmetics and fragrance brands, Kardashian founded her skincare line, Sknn by Kim, in 2022. [7] She has released a variety of products tied to her name, …
Kim Kardashian (@kimkardashian) • Instagram photos and videos
357M Followers, 346 Following, 6,412 Posts - Kim Kardashian (@kimkardashian) on Instagram: "@SKIMS @SKKYPARTNERS"
Kim Kardashian | Biography, Children, & Facts | Britannica
Jun 7, 2025 · Kim Kardashian (born October 21, 1980, Los Angeles, California, U.S.) is an American television personality and entrepreneur who garnered international fame for her …
Kim Kardashian Celebrates North West’s 12th Birthday - E! Online
16 hours ago · Kim—who also shares kids Saint, 9, Chicago, 7, and Psalm, 5, with Kanye—rounded out the photo set with a picture of her hands bearing gold rings that spell out …
Kim Kardashian (@kimkardashian) - TikTok
Kim Kardashian (@kimkardashian) on TikTok | 86.9M Likes. 10M Followers. Watch Kim Kardashian's popular videos: "Coming May 22: The U...", "". Join 10M followers on TikTok for …
kimkim: Online Travel Agency for Multi-Day Itineraries
Best of Costa Rica in 7 Days: Explore Jungles, Volcanoes and Beaches. With a mix of rugged jungles, active volcanoes and world-class beaches, Costa Rica offers some of the best natural …
Kim Kardashian - YouTube
Exclusive videos from Kim Kardashian. Behind-the-scenes content, beauty tutorials and more.
Kim Kardashian - Kids, Age & Facts - Biography
Feb 19, 2021 · Kim Kardashian is the star of the reality show 'Keeping Up with the Kardashians' and businesswoman, creating brands such as KKW Beauty, KKW Fragrance and SKIMS.
Kim Kardashian - Age, Family, Bio - Famous Birthdays
Oct 21, 2014 · Kim Kardashian: her birthday, what she did before fame, her family life, fun trivia facts, popularity rankings, and more.
Kim by Rudyard Kipling Plot Summary - LitCharts
Kim travels to Lucknow with Colonel Creighton, who tells him of his intention to turn Kim into a chain-man—a British informant in the Great Game, a war of espionage between British and …
