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This book explores Soviet-North Korean relations during the Cold War (1945-1991).
Based on many primary documents and sources (including Russian and Korean), it reveals how the influence of the Soviets on Pyongyang diminished during the course of the Cold War, from overwhelming at the time of the foundation of North Korea to negligible at the time of the collapse of the USSR. The book delves into the early history and foundation of North Korea, the August Plenum and the strategy employed by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in the Sino-Soviet split. It covers topics previously neglected in previous studies on North Korea, such as the preparation and waging of the Korean War, Kim Il-sung's road to political independence, the widespread mockery of North Korean propaganda by Soviet citizens and the Soviet origins of the design of the North Korean flag.
This book will be a valuable resource to students and scholars of North Korea, Russian Studies, the Cold War and Communism.
List of contents
1. The Beginning: Captain Kim Il-sung of the Red Army 2. The Week That Reshaped East Asia: The Soviet-Japanese War of 1945 3. The Soviet Governors of North Korea: Ivan Chistyakov and Terentiy Shtykov 4. Kim Il-sung's Rise to Power: How a Junior Officer Ended Up Leading a Nation 5. The North Korean Flag and Other Symbols: Made in the USSR 6. The Korean People's Army: Forged in the Soviet Image 7. The Korean War Through the Eyes of Pyongyang 8. The Famine of 1954-55: a Forgotten Tragedy 9. The Last Days of Summer: The Story of the August Plenum 10. Kim Il-sung's Road to an Independent Autocracy 11. Stalinism and Kimilsungism: A Comparison 12. Playing Scylla and Charybdis: North Korea and the Sino-Soviet Split 13. Why North Korean Propaganda Was Immensely Popular in the USSR 14. The Father State Dies: North Korea and the End of the Soviet Union
About the author
Fyodor Tertitskiy is Leading Researcher at the Institute for Korean Studies at Kookmin University, South Korea. He studies North Korean military, social and political history and is the author of The North Korean Army: History, Structure, Daily Life (2022) and two Korean-language books on Kim Il-sung and his era.
Summary
This book explores Soviet-North Korean relations during the Cold War (1945-1991).
