Essays

Hagiography of the Kims and the Childhood of Saints: Kim Jong-il

By | August 12, 2014

Christopher Richardson examines the mythological narrative of Kim Jong-il’s genesis, uncovering the carefully constructed combination of religion, half-truths, and state propaganda.

Politics and Pollack: It Takes a Nation of Fishes

By | July 24, 2014

Bringing his Politics and Pollack series to a close, Robert Winstanley-Chesters explores the most recent pelagic developments in North Korea, focusing on the January 8 Fishing Station and the problematic notion of “charismatic time.”

A Pragmatic Approach to Collapsing the Regime: A Critique

By | July 15, 2014

In a June 16 op-ed in the New York Times, Sue Mi Terry promoted expediting the end of the North Korean regime. The piece energized analyst Michael Bassett to respond.

Politics and Pollack: Fishing in the Age of the Six Goals

By | June 17, 2014

Continuing his series of essays focusing on maritime development in North Korea, Robert Winstanley-Chesters encounters the pelagic realm of the 1970s, revealing deficiencies in Kim Il-sung’s persistent attempts to increase the nation’s harvest of fish.

National Identity and Historical Legacy: Ahn Jung-geun in the Grand Narrative

By and | June 06, 2014

Take the slow train to Harbin and you’ll arrive right at the locus of fractious Northeast Asian history: the spot where Korean nationalist Ahn Jung-geun killed the first Resident-General of Korea Ito Hirobumi in 1909. With support from an Academy of Korean Studies grant, Steven Denney and Christopher Green try to get behind the national narrative(s).