Posts Tagged ‘Kim Il-sung’

Vanadium and Socialism: Rare Earth Prospecting, Politics, and History in North Korea

By | April 28, 2014

Behind every cloud there is a silver lining and behind every developmental story in North Korea there is a narrative from Kim Il-sung. Robert Winstanley-Chesters investigates the pre-history of SRE Minerals’ contemporary Rare-Earth gambit.

Raising a Fiercer Wind: Meetings and Messages

By | February 12, 2014

Robert Winstanley-Chesters examines the scaling and rescaling of important political and narrative messages in 2014 and 1964, including the vital role played by group meetings at different institutional levels.

Framing Epistemic Communities in North Korea: From Fungus to Botanical Gardens

By | January 30, 2014

North Korean developmental praxis relies on epistemic communities and research institutions to achieve its goals. The country’s institutions are not only meta-devices for rolling out in reportage to add a veneer of intellectual legitimacy to centralized dictat, as Robert Winstanley-Chesters reveals in the case of Pyongyang Botanical Gardens.

Raising a Fierce Wind: Back to the Future in the New Year’s Message

By | January 14, 2014

The 2014 New Year’s Address leaned heavily upon a classic work of land management. On the brink of its 50th anniversary, Kim Il-sung’s “Rural Theses” seems set to inform much that goes on in North Korea this year, and not just in the agricultural sector. Robert Winstanley-Chesters investigates via the adapted preface to his debut monograph.

History and Revolution: An Interview with Dr. Suzy Kim

By | December 16, 2013

Steven Denney speaks with Dr. Suzy Kim (Rutgers University) about the DPRK’s tangled origins, the impact of Bruce Cumings, and her new book: Everyday Life in the North Korean Revolution, 1945-1950.