Summary of andrei lankov's the real north korea

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The North Korea of Kim Jong Il's era was very different from the North Korea of the 1953–1994 period. It was a National Stalinist regime, and it survived all outside challenges. It was a time when the Kim family regime grew and matured. #2 Kim Il Sung, the supreme leader of North Korea, was a native of Pyongyang, which in late August 1945 became the headquarters of the Soviet forces in Korea. The Soviet Union had no clear plans about Korea in 1946, but they were increasingly inclined to establish a friendly and controllable regime in their zone of occupation. #3 The native Korean Communist movement emerged in the early 1920s, and Marxism was much in vogue among the Korean intellectuals of the colonial era. However, due to the harshness of the Japanese colonial regime, a majority of the prominent Korean Communists operated outside the country. #4 Kim Il Sung was chosen as the head of the Communist regime in North Korea in 1945. He had a good speaking Russian, and his military exploits were exaggerated by propaganda of later days.