Kim Jong Ils Leadership of North Korea
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 Ils 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 undergraduates, postgraduates, and academics interested in North Korean politics, and also those in Political Theory.
Jae-Cheon Lim is a researcher at the Institute for Korean Unification Studies, Yonsei University.
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- Kim Jong Ils Leadership of North Korea
Jae-Cheon Lim
Kim Jong Ils Leadership of North Korea
Jae-Cheon Lim
First published 2009
by Routledge
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2009 Jae-Cheon Lim
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Acknowledgments
This work was originally written as a doctoral dissertation. It could not have been produced without many peoples help. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to my advisor Dae-Sook Suh. I owe him an immeasurable intellectual debt for his help to my master and doctoral studies at the University of Hawaii for six years. My appreciation also extends to John Wilson, Carolyn Stephenson, James A. Dator and Edward J. Shultz, the members of my dissertation committee. I benefited from their scholarship, advice, and encouragement throughout the research of Kim Jong Il and his leadership.
Many thanks to Jeffrey A. Tripp and Kristine Kotecki for reading my book meticulously. I am particularly indebted to Jeffrey and his wife, Sujin Hwang Tripp, for helping me adjust to American life and fueling my research with great food. I appreciate Son Kwang-ju and Chng Ch'ang-hyn whose expertise on Kim Jong Il helped this research. I am also grateful to Haksoon Paik and the employees of t'ongilbu charyo cent' (Archives Center of the Ministry of Unification) who kindly allowed me to copy documents on Kim Jong Il and North Korea.
Intellectual discussions with Eundak Kwon, Jungmin Seo, Mooweon Rhee and Mihyang Ahn will remain unforgettable memories, as will my friendships with Sung Jae Lee, Hyuncheol Kim, Chan Lee, Jihye Yeom, Sangyoung Park, Whi Chang, Jih-Un Kim, Hyeonju Son, You-jeong Lee, Joongho Kim, Yongseok Suh, Noa Matsushita, Shunichi Takekawa, and James Rae. I am additionally thankful to several people, including Eun Kook Lee, Yong Ho Kim, Kay-Soon Chang, Bum-Suk Kim, Yongsoon Kim, and Jae-Hong Hwang, at the Institute for Korean Unification Studies, Yonsei University, who discussed many Korean issues with me. I also feel obligated to express my deep gratitude to Jae Shik Sohn at the Graduate Institute of Peace Studies, Kyunghee University, who has been my mentor.
At Routledge, when my manuscript was delivered, Stephanie Rogers carefully read it and encouraged publication. I was lucky to have her wise counsel. Sonja van Leeuwen and Leanne Hinves also deserve my appreciation due to their assistance for this publication.
In addition, I owe a debt to my brother, sister, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, nephews and nieces for their support. Finally, my wholehearted gratitude goes to my father, mother, and wife Sun-hee whose unconditional love was the driving force for finishing this book. This book is dedicated to them.
Abbreviations
CCP Chinese Communist Party
CMAC Central Military Affairs Committee
DC Department of Culture
DEL Department of External Liaison
DUF Department of the United Front
DWU Democratic Womens Union
KIA Kaesng Industrial Area
LSWY League of Socialist Working Youth
MSC Military Security Command
NDC National Defense Commission
OD Operation Department
SKLB South Korean Liaison Bureau
SSD State Security Department
TRFM Three-Revolution Red Flag Movement
Introduction
Purpose
After the death of North Koreas founding leader Kim Il Sung in 1994, his son, Kim Jong Il, began to rule the state. He was little known to the outside world at the time. Experts on North Korea wondered whether Kim had the same power base and personal capacity to govern the state as his father had possessed. After the first leaders death, the second leader had to deal with the most difficult period in North Koreas history, the natural disasters and mass starvation of 19951998. Many people wondered how long Kim Jong Il could maintain the regime and whether a coup against the new totalitarian leader might soon result from his instatement.