Kim Il-song's North Korea

Subjects:

• Political Science » Comparative Politics
• Political Science » International Relations
• Multicultural Studies » Asian Studies

Reviews:

• Thanks to efforts by former Sen. Stephen J. Solarz and others, Hunter's exhaustive study was finally declassified and published in the present form....Hunter deals with virtually every aspect of this regimented "Hermit Kingdom" of a nation.
  —The Register-Herald
• This book gives insight into how a powerful and charismatic ruler can influence a strictly layered society and is valuable to any military professional studying Korea.
  —Military Review
• One of the strengths of the book is its first chapter....She also does a good job of exaplaining the role of work and membership in a work unit membership impact family life and personal leisure....interesting read.
  —Korean Studies Book Reviews

• Endorsement From Ezra F. Vogel
  Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences
  Harvard University: North Korea remains the world's most closed Stalinist society. We know very little about life in North Korea. It has only been possible to gain in-depth, detailed study of life in North Korea by working with defectors, and few people have had access to such defectors. Helen-Louise Hunter, then working for U.S. intelligence, conducted a very detailed, nuanced analysis of life in North Korea through defector interviewing. Happily her manuscript has now been declassified and is available to the public.
• Endorsement From From the foreword by Stephen J. Solarz
  Former U.S. Congressman: Let no one ever again say that we don't really know anything about North Korea. The key to the mystery of the 'Hermit Kingdom' is now in print.
• Endorsement From Donald P. Gregg
  Ambassador to South Korea 1989-1993: For many years I have referred to North Korea as America's longest-running intelligence failure. This was because I did not know about Helen-Louise Hunter's seminal study, Kim Il- song's North Korea. With its declassification and publication, a quantum leap forward has been made in raising our national knowledgeability of the Pyongyang regime. This book will be of great assistance to all those who will be working carefully to bring North Korea out of its dangerous isolation and into more normal relationships with the outside world. This is a work that CIA can truly be proud of.
• Endorsement From Selig S. Harrison
  Fellow
  The Century Foundation: Helen Louise Hunter's perceptive analysis of her in-depth discussions with defectors from North Korea contains valuable sociological information and insights not available elsewhere concerning life there during the Kim Il-song period. This book is a significant historical record that will be of continuing interest to scholars during the present period of change opening up in North Korea.

Table of Contents:

• Foreword
• Introduction
• The Twin Pillars of Society
• Songbun
• The Cult of Kim Il-song
• The Kim Il-song Man: Good Songbun and Dedication to Kim
• Kim's Blueprint For Life: From the Cradle to the Grave
• Family Life
• Children: "Living Like Kings and Queens"
• The Teenage Years: A Rude Awakening
• Leisure Activities
• Romance
• Hoodlums
• The Long Years in the Military
• The Women Left Behind
• Marriage
• Working to Death: An Exhausted Population
• The Dream versus Reality
• Pyongyang: Kim's Dream City
• The Privileged Life
• Real Life
• Consumer Goods and Services
• Personal Savings
• Housing
• Education
• Health Care
• Epilogue
• Selected Bibliography
• Index