Crisis in North Korea: The Failure of De-Stalinization, 1956

Hawai‘i Studies on Korea

by Andrei Lankov

North Korea remains the most mysterious of all Communist countries. The acute shortage of available sources has made it a difficult subject of scholarship. Through his access to Soviet archival material made available only a decade ago, contemporary North Korean press accounts, and personal interviews, Andrei Lankov presents for the first time a detailed look at one of the turning points in North Korean the country's unsuccessful attempts to de-Stalinize in the mid-1950s. He demonstrates that, contrary to common perception, North Korea was not a realm of undisturbed Stalinism; Kim Il Sung had to deal with a reformist opposition that was weak but present nevertheless. Lankov traces the impact of Soviet reforms on North Korea, placing them in the context of contemporaneous political crises in Poland and Hungary. He documents the dissent among various social groups (intellectuals, students, party cadres) and their attempts to oust Kim in the unsuccessful "August plot" of 1956. His reconstruction of the Peng-Mikoyan visit of that year--the most dramatic Sino-Soviet intervention into Pyongyang politics--shows how it helped bring an end to purges of the opposition. The purges, however, resumed in less than a year as Kim skillfully began to distance himself from both Moscow and Beijing. The final chapters of this fascinating and revealing study deal with events of the late 1950s that eventually led to Kim's version of "national Stalinism." Lankov unearths data that, for the first time, allows us to estimate the scale and character of North Korea's Great Purge. Meticulously researched and cogently argued, Crisis in North Korea is a must-read for students and scholars of Korea and anyone interested in political leadership and personality cults, regime transition, and communist politics.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction

274 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2007

About the author

Andrei Lankov is a North Korea expert and professor of history at Kookmin University in Seoul. He graduated from Leningrad State University and has been an exchange student at Pyongyang Kim Il-sung University.

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really informative about why North Korea is so weird, and gives general insight into the history of a region the history of which is quite opaque. For the methodology alone it is interesting. It seems to rely heavily on chinese and russian diplomatic accounts, accounts from defectors, and north korean media. Its almost like its the study of an ancient society being observed through the fog of time, rather than the study of a contemporary nation.

So as a basic summary, there were 4 original factions in North Korea at the dawn of its existence. The Soviet faction, the Chinese faction, the Manchurian/Guerilla faction, and the South Korean faction. Kim was from the Guerilla faction. Each faction was doing something different during ww2, thats where these labels come from, and that also determined their loyalties. The South Korean leftists were really the original stewards of communism in Korea (makes sense, thats where the population was and the cosmopolitan city), but they were quickly purged. The Chinese and Soviet factions were purged at later points in time, when they attempted to reign in the power of Kim as had happened post-Stalin in many Communist countries. So the Guerilla faction seized control and basically created a new faction of new cadres and peasants which was loyal to itself. The author seems to say that democracy and prosperity were basically alien to North Korea, and nationalism was a stronger current to exploit, and dovetailed more easily with Kim's personality cult than with the party-rule system advocated by the others. There was no popular push for representation or liberality. Its pretty weird, but the Chinese and Soviet factions were really the closest things to "liberals" in this case.

[Mr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Подробный и детальный анализ объясняющий причины политического конфликта внутри партии которые повлекли за собой упрочнения власти Ким Ир Сена и становления государства Северной Кореи в том виде в которой мы можем ее видеть сейчас

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written book. Gives a fantastic insight into how North Korea evolved in its early years.

[Earl Grey Tea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Andrei Lankov writes an academic book about an attempt to remove Kim Il-sung from power in 1956 that is quite approachable to the average reader. While a fair amount of knowledge of 20th century Korean history is needed, the overall language isn't obtuse. There is quite a lot of detail in this book, including events in other communist countries that impacted North Korea during this time.

Due to the secretive habits of governments (especially those of the dictatorial persuasion), the author states when he using official documents versus second or even third hand accounts. In addition to that, he reviews many possible theories when sources are lacking. Lankov doesn't seem to shy away from admitting that certain parts of the story could be greatly enhanced by future declassified information.

During the book, there were a lot of Korean names that could be difficult to keep track of, especially those who are unfamiliar with the Korean language. It was while reading this book that I have come to value the McCune-Reischauer Romanization of Korean over the Revised Romanization method.

Overall, the biggest weakness is that the writing was quite dry and the overall topic was a bit underwhelming when juxtapose to a title of Crisis in North Korea.

[Benemint · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This is an expansion of one section in the same author's From Stalin to Kim Ilsong. He uses great materials that were only available briefly in Russia.