Kim Il-song's North Korea: First Edition Edition

by Helen-Louise Hunter (Author)

10 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0275962968

ISBN-10: 0275962962

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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.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"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

?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

?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

"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."-From the foreword by Stephen J. Solarz Former U.S. Congressman

"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."-Selig S. Harrison Fellow The Century Foundation

"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."-Ezra F. Vogel Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences Harvard University

"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."-Donald P. Gregg Ambassador to South Korea 1989-1993

About the Author

HELEN-LOUISE HUNTER is an attorney who has engaged in private practice with an large international law firm in Washington, D.C. and has served as Permanent Law Clerk in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland./e For more than 20 years, she was a Far East specialist at the CIA. In the late 1970s, she served as the Assistant National Intelligence Officer for the Far East.

Product details

Hardcover: 296 pages
Publisher: Praeger; First Edition edition (April 30, 1999)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0275962962
ISBN-13: 978-0275962968
Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.7 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 10 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,006,608 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #270 in Books > History > Asia > Korea > North
- #1782 in Books > Law > Legal Theory & Systems > Non-US Legal Systems
- #1881 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Political Science > Comparative Politics

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critical baseline study for measuring change in north korea

ByMerrily Bairdon April 9, 2005

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

As another reviewer appropriately noted in assessing this book, "Kim Il-song's North Korea" is now 25+ years out of date. Because of this, Helen-Louise Hunter's study--edited down from a longer, classified report that she prepared while working at the Central Intelligence Agency--offers little meat for assessing the personal style and leadership track record of Kim Chong-il, who succeeded his father--Kim Il-song--as the absolutist leader of North Korea in 1994. Still, the book is a must-read for any scholar or journalist seeking to estimate the likelihood of future social collapse and regime change and/or to establish how much policy change Kim Chong-il has initiated.

The raw material of "Kim Il-song's North Korea" was meticulously culled from thousands of intelligence reports, most from defectors, which documented life in the North Korea of the mid-1970s, and this material is presented in a descriptive, generally non-judgmental manner. To the degree that any period in North Korea can be called a golden age, it was the years covered here. P'yongyang's social contract with the populace--the government will meet your basic economic and welfare needs if you cede to us all decisionmaking authority and forego any personal liberties--was basically intact at this time. So too were the country's industrial infrastructure and its tight controls on the physical movement of the citizenry, and serious questions of political stability rarely arose. Outrage over Kim Chong-il's leadership style had not yet crystallized and Kim Il-song was seen as a demigod who had helped liberate Korea from Japan's colonial occupation.

As even the most casual observer of North Korea today knows, the relative political and economic stability of the 1970s are long past, and for a dynamic understanding of North Korea in the 21st century, "Kim Il-song's North Korea" cannot stand alone. Neither, however, can we mine the full richness of more current books, including the gripping testaments of defectors, without referring back to Hunter's pathbreaking work.

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Misleading and very limited

ByA customeron April 24, 2003

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

A book strictly for North Korea specialists. Certainly, as its reviews and the book-cover blurbs indicate a "unique" study. However what none of them say is; (1) this is strictly a basic socio-economic or sociology-type study; and (2) most tellingly, it may well be "a recently declassified CIA study", but what they are not saying is that this study was written in 1980-81 and not updated for a 1999-2000 book publication release. It is a study written in 1980 and is thereby utilising 1970s material. In consequence we have a book about Kim Il-Sung's North Korea of the 1970s. We are reading about conditions in the North Korea of 25+ years ago.

Material content and style presentation is straightforward and "just the facts". Nothing laid out in this book will surprise anyone who is familiar with Communist bloc social control systems. There is no analysis or extrapolation worth mentioning from the socio-economic presentation. Key aspects even within that range e.g. Party-Army-Population relationships are not examined in any analytical way.

This is a quite specific piece set in a quite specific time frame. It is a read only for those with real interest in North Korea. It is, at best, a "background" information source. As one reviewer has alluded to, the only real purpose of any description of conditions and life in the North Korea of the 1970s, is to give us an indication of the seeds of the mismanagement and decline that has subsequently unfolded. The same mixture of issues that have brought down, principally from within, other Communist regimes, in this case merely with a particular North Korean spin to it.

Thus as a book - a very particular snapshot. In its own right, as well as in terms of content.

0Comment 9 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Misleading and very limited

ByA customeron April 24, 2003

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

A book strictly for North Korea specialists. Certainly, as its reviews and the book-cover blurbs indicate a "unique" study. However what none of them say is; (1) this is strictly a basic socio-economic study; and (2) most tellingly, it may well be "from a declassified CIA study", but what they are not saying is that this study was written in 1980-81 and not updated etc for a 1999-2000 book publication release. Thus a study written in 1980 is dealing with 1970s material. Thus we have Kim Il-Sung's North Korea of the 1970s. We are reading about North Korea of 25+ years ago.
Material content and style presentation is straightforward and "just the facts". Nothing laid out in this book will surprise anyone who is familiar with Communist bloc social control systems. There is no analysis or extrapolation worth mentioning from the socio-economic presentation. Key aspects even within that range e.g. Party-Army-Population relationships are not examined in any analytical note.
This is a quite specific piece set in a quite specific time frame. Thus a read only for real North Korean buffs. As one reviewer has alluded to, the only real purpose of the description of conditions and life in North Korea of the 1970s, is to give us an indication as to the seeds of the (self-made) trouble and decline that has subsequently unfolded. The same mixture of issues that have brought down, principally from within, other Communist regimes, in this case merely with a particular North Korean spin to it.
Thus as a book - a very particular snapshot. In its own right, as well as in terms of content -...

0Comment 6 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

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Most recent customer reviews

A unique must read.

A well written, comprehensive look at the hermit kingdom. A must read for anyone trying to make sense of current events in North Korea.

Published on December 30, 2013 by BS Hunter

Great book that provides much insight

These authors really did excellent research and they take the attentive reader behind the closed borders of North Korea.Read more

Published on January 30, 2002

a fascinating account

This book is a fascinating account of North Korea under Kim Il-sung. I learned many things, such as his emphasis on the family.Read more

Published on November 17, 2000 by Jun Nishikawa

The clear picture of the Hermit Kingdom

I,m researcher North Korean politics from 25 years . I visited north Korea two times in 1986 ,1987 . I wrote book about Noeth Korea in Poland in 1995 y. and 30 articles .Read more

Published on July 9, 2000 by Marceli Burdelski Ph. D.

A Glimpse Inside a Closed Society

My initial interest in North Korea grew due to a hobbyist's interest in adventure tourism. While exploring travelogues on the internet, I came across the reports of travellers...Read more

Published on January 19, 2000 by rdt

As a high school student reading the book, I had expected a dry study full of politics. Although you won't find a book that gives you a more educational look at North Korea, Ms...Read more

Published on June 18, 1999

One of the finest and most striking books I have ever read

Mrs. Hunter has written what I consider to be one of the most fascinating and absorbing books I have ever read.Read more

Published on June 16, 1999

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