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North Korea: Another Country by [Bruce Cumings]

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Bruce Cumings

North Korea: Another Country Kindle Edition

by Bruce Cumings (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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Depicted as an insular and forbidding police state with an "insane" dictator at its helm, North Korea—charter member of Bush's "Axis of Evil"—is a country the U.S. loves to hate. Now the CIA says it possesses nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, as well as long-range missiles capable of delivering them to America's West Coast.

But, as Bruce Cumings demonstrates in this provocative, lively read, the story of the U.S.-Korea conflict is more complex than our leaders or our news media would have us believe. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of Korea, and on declassified government reports, Cumings traces that story, from the brutal Korean War to the present crisis. Harboring no illusions regarding the totalitarian Kim Jong Il regime, Cumings nonetheless insists on a more nuanced approach. The result is both a counter-narrative to the official U.S. and North Korean versions and a fascinating portrayal of North Korea, a country that suffers through foreign invasions, natural disasters, and its own internal contradictions, yet somehow continues to survive.

Print length

256 pages
Language

English
Publisher

The New Press
Publication date

May 10, 2011
File size

711 KB
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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Few books of political commentary are as insightful, outspoken, and even personable as this one. The author feels no obligation to keep his opinions to himself (unlike many commentators, who strive so hard for neutrality that they wind up not saying anything of substance). "I have no sympathy for the North, which is the author of most of its own troubles," he writes at one point, although he does allude to the "significant responsibility that all Americans share for the garrison state that emerged on the ashes of our truly terrible destruction of the North half a century ago." He also asserts, flatly contradicting the prevailing wisdom, that the Korean War, whose armistice was signed 50 years ago, is still the defining event of modern-day North Korea. The book is full of assertions that will challenge readers to reconsider several of their conceptions of contemporary history. It's also, and this is most unusual for a book of this nature, occasionally funny or even sarcastic, especially in its criticism of media responses to North Korea. A fresh, original take on a subject of growing international importance. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

Review

"Cumings counters the hype with an instructive history." ―The New York Times

"Few books of political commentary are as insightful, outspoken, and even personable, as this one." ―Booklist

"America's leading historian and political analyst of contemporary Korea." ―Chalmers Johnson, Author of Blowback

--This text refers to the paperback edition.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0054JVX7Q
Publisher ‏ : ‎ The New Press (May 10, 2011)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 10, 2011
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 711 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #1,341,626 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #242 in History of Korea
- #304 in North Korean History
- #716 in International Diplomacy (Kindle Store)

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Allie Hastings

Brilliant and witty. Recommended reading for all.

Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2017

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I think this book should be required reading for all U.S. citizens. Cumings does an expert job reminding us of our troubled (and brutal) history with the Korean peninsula, why it matters today, and he provides the reader with a more empathetic (though not sympathetic) view of North Korea than the one we are shown in the media. The book is a pretty quick read and Cumings is so witty I actually laughed out loud several times. My only complaint is that it is a bit dated, seeing as Kim Jong-il was still in power at the time of his writing, as was President Bush, and so there is no analysis of the U.S. relationship with Kim Jong-un, which I would've liked. However, the basic premise of the book is still as relevant today as it was when it was published, which speaks volumes for both Cumings' knowledge and our seemingly endless cycle of saber-rattling and brinkmanship with the DPRK.

4 people found this helpful

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R. L. Huff

The Other Side

Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2012

I've always enjoyed Bruce Cumings' iconoclastic take on Korean (and US) affairs. His two-volume "Origins of the Korean War" remains, to me, the definitive account of the postwar era and the escalation of a civil war into a superpower proxy "conflict," like Spain a generation before. In this slim update Cumings remains true to his passion.

The very notion that the North might have a "side" is bloody heresy in the West, and to more than a few reviewers. Cumings concedes it's not a preferred place to live, with all the warmth and charm of a 19th-century Prussian field barracks. But he does raise the uncomfortable history of what can only be called war crimes, as US bombs and South Korean forces ravaged the countryside in the early 1950s. Korea has a legacy of being "the hermit kingdom" of Asia; combined with the psychosis of 20th-century total war, it's not hard to see why the North hides behind a curtain of paranoia as well as iron.

Whenever the West raises its hue and cry over the Kim family's nuclear blackmail, one should recall that Pyongyang was literally bombed underground. When fingers are pointed at a regime unable to feed itself, recall also the bombing of northern reservoirs that flooded rice crops with the intention of destroying the North through famine.

It may so happen that North and South Korea unite, as did East and West Germany. One can only hope that it will be accomplished with more dignity, and not leave the poor relation stripped to the skin and thrown to the wolves in a political-economic Anschluss. Total indifference to the fate of ordinary people is the hallmark of "post-socialist transitions." After all the people of the North have lived and suffered through, author Cumings (and myself) state they deserve better.

10 people found this helpful

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Craig Rowland

A slow start but a surprising read from an American author

Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2011

North Korea: Another Country by Bruce Cumings starts off as a very slow read. The book is divided into six chapters yet the first two--about the history of the Korean War and the DPRK's nuclear record--take up the first half of the book just between themselves. It took me so long just to get through these two chapters. They were interesting, yet boringly written if that makes any sense, and I can only say that I am surprised I never fell asleep while reading them. The next four chapters in the second half of the book proceed at a quicker pace and were a breeze to finish.

Of all the books that I have read so far on the DPRK, Cumings is unlike any other American writer in that he often comes to the defence of the North while putting down the United States. The author makes a sincere effort to understand why the North acts and reacts as it does on the world stage, when other authors would merely find excuses in blaming the North's "despotic dictators". Cumings often portrays the US as ignorant and racist, and having no clue behind its military policies on the Korean peninsula. As a result, Cumings comes across as an apologist, ready to defend the North for its actions while condemning the US and its shuttered view of the world for always getting things wrong in its foreign policy, whether it be its involvement in Vietnam or Iraq. Cumings has taken a lot of heat for his seemingly anti-American, pro-DPRK views, and he shocked me with his constant hammering of American foreign policy and its journalistic integrity:

"Predicting the behavior of crazy people is by definition impossible, and American officials constantly harp on Pyongyang's unpredictability. I would argue, to the contrary, that North Korean behavior has been quite predictable and that an irresponsible American media, almost bereft of good investigative reporters, often (but by no means always) egged on by government officials, obscures the real nature of the United States-Korean conflict. The media has had the wrong stories in the wrong place at the wrong time; the absurd result is that often one has to read North Korea's tightly controlled press to figure out what actually is going on between Washington and Pyongyang."

As seen above, Cumings also has a similar low opinion of Western, specifically American media in their reporting about North Korea. While even I, a self-professed "Friend of North Korea" was shocked by his constant USA-bashing, I have to admit that his assessment of the Western media was bang on:

"With the occasional exception, most of it [ = the news the Western media report about North Korea] is uninformative, unreliable, often sensationalized, and generally fails to educate instead of deceive the public. Given the mimetic nature of our media, the same stories circulate endlessly; often they are contemporary variations on the same old tales that have been around since North Korea became our enemy sixty years ago: they're about to attack the South, their leader is nuts, their people are brainwashed, the regime will implode or explode. Literally for half a century, the South Korean intelligence services have bamboozled one American reporter after another by parading their defectors (real and fake), grinding the Pyongyang rumor mill, or parlaying fibs that even a moment's investigation in a good library would expose."

There are very dry moments in North Korea: Another Country, which seem all the more to drag on by the copious amount of endnotes. Endnotes are not themselves an annoyance, but they become so when they are not easy to find in the notes section since there are no chapter headings to inform the reader what chapter the notes apply to. Throughout my entire read I had to keep a bookmark or a finger holding the place where my last endnote was explained.

The Financial Times called North Korea: Another Country "tart and witty", yet these tart and witty moments were few and far between. Cumings wrote about Andrew Holloway's experiences in Pyongyang, where he worked reediting the English translations of the works by the Great Leader Kim Il Sung. Holloway, coincidentally, worked at the same job as Michael Harrold, who wrote about his own experiences in his book Comrades and Strangers: Behind the Closed Doors of North Korea, which I reviewed earlier this year. Cumings writes about Holloway:

"Like the ambassador, Andrew Holloway was appalled and mortified to find out about the depth, ubiquity, and never-ending self-parody of regime propaganda, but he got to know it better than most, because his job was to polish its English representation in various publications. Within just a week or two, he could barely stand his daily portion of hagiography, gross exaggeration, unseemly self-importance, ridiculous excess, profound solipsism, and all-around mind-numbing drivel that it was his lot to put into something resembling English and that is the butt of jokes around the world--when anyone is paying attention."

The only chuckle I got out of North Korea: Another Country was reading about the reaction Cumings received while on a tour outside of Pyongyang:

While in the North Korean city of Kaesong,"I was surprised by the large numbers of people standing around in midday, gaping at us as if we were Martians".

This is not unlike other reactions I have read when North Koreans see foreigners. I suppose I will have this to look forward to, especially since I will be visiting some cities and towns that only last year were open to tourists for the first time ever.

6 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

paperback reader

A very biased view of North Korea

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 19, 2019

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I read this on a friend’s recommendation, and absolutely hated it. It was written in 2003, and churns out every hackneyed fact, figure and stereotype about North Korea, with unapologetic Western bias. I have visited North Korea, and while it has a very different ideology from my life, I was met with nothing but warmth and kindness. Even the border guard just wanted to have his photo taken with me wearing his hat. As for the children’s palace in Pyongyang, what a wonderful opportunity for any child to try any hobby or sport for free. If I ever get the chance, I would love to go back to North Korea to see the annual Arirang games.

scooter wey

Excellent book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 23, 2014

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How refreshing that a highly respected academic power-house like Bruce Cummings can cur through the usual anti-North Korea bias and propaganda, and tell the story of what happened in Korea and how it happened, with honesty and clear-headedness that exposes the many popular myths and assumptions about North Korea to be nothing more than complete fantasy with no historical base. North Korea sits behind a tightly locked door. But is the door being held fast from the inside or the outside- and why?

One person found this helpful

janice silver

Excellent book very informative

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 9, 2020

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What a brilliant book, so informative really gave an insight into life in north Korea. Really good

Shaka

Great read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 5, 2014

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A must read for those interested in North Korea - Cumings is very detailed and still interesting

Dr. R. Brandon

An Excellent Read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 23, 2006

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This is an excellent little book that goes a long way to explaining the present siege mentality of the North Korean government and society. It meticulously charts the efforts of the Clinton administration to break the deadlock in US - Korean relations and to end the need for the North Koreans to construct missiles and nuclear weapons. The wrecking of this carefully constructed approach by G. W. Bush is described. The book goes on to chart the background of Kim Il Sung and the present leader Kim Jong Il in the most interesting terms and describes the country and the natural and other disasters that have set back its progress in the 1990s. The book ends with a discussion of the life values of Korean society and how these differ from the West and our (or American) ignorance of these important values. A stimulating read for anyone interested in modern politics and history.

13 people found this helpful

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