Kim Il Sung in the Khrushchev Era: Soviet-DPRK Relations and the Roots of North Korean Despotism, 1953-1964 (Cold War International History Project Series)

360 Pages·2006·2.046 MB·English

by  Balázs Szalontai

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Kim Il Sung in the
Khrushchev Era
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COLD WAR
INTERNATIONAL HISTORY
PROJECT SERIES
James G. Hershberg
series editor
Brothers in Arms
The Rise and Fall of the Sino–Soviet Alliance,
1945–1963
edited by Odd Arne Westad
Economic Cold War
America’s Embargo against
China and the Sino–Soviet
Alliance,1949–1963
By Shu Guang Zhang
Confronting Vietnam
Soviet Policy toward the
Indochina Conflict,1954–1963
By Ilya V. Gaiduk
WOODROWWILSON CENTER PRESS
STANFORD UNIVERSITYPRESS
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Kim Il Sung in the
Khrushchev Era
Soviet–DPRK Relations and the
Roots of North Korean Despotism,
1953–1964
Balazs Szalontai
Woodrow Wilson Center Press
Washington, D.C.
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
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©2005 by Balasz Szalontai
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[TK]
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WOODROWWILSON INTERNATIONALCENTER FOR SCHOLARS
Lee H. Hamilton, President and Director
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, established by Congress in 1968 and headquartered
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The Cold War International History Project
The Cold War International History Project was established by the Woodrow Wilson In-
ternational Center for Scholars in 1991. The project supports the full and prompt release
of historical materials by governments on all sides of the Cold war and seeks to dissem-
inate new information and perspectives on Cold War history emerging from previously
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tains a website, cwihp.si.edu.
In collaboration with the National Security Archive, a nongovernmental research in-
stitute and document repository located at George Washington University, the project
has created a Russian and East-bloc Archival Documents Database at Gelman Library,
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At the Woodrow Wilson Center, the project is part of the Division of International
Studies, headed by Robert S. Litwak. The director of the project is Christian F. Oster-
mann. The project is overseen by an advisory committee that is chaired by William
Taubman, Amherst College, and includes Michael Beschloss; James H. Billington, Li-
brarian of Congress; Warren I. Cohen, University of Maryland at Baltimore; John Lewis
Gaddis, Yale University; James G. Hershberg, George Washington University; Samuel
F. Wells, Jr., associate director of the Woodrow Wilson Center; and Sharon Wolchik,
George Washington University.
The Cold War International History Project was created with the help of the John D.
and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
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Contents
Series Preface ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xvii
Abbreviations xx
Chapter 1. Historical Background 1
The Transformation of Traditional Korea 1
The Impact of Colonialism and the Birth of the
Korean Communist Movement 4
The Emergence of the North Korean
Communist Regime 13
Early Soviet–North Korean Relations and the
Peculiarities of Kim Il Sung’s Dictatorship 18
The Political Consequences of the Korean War 25
Chapter 2. Arisen from Ashes 35
From War to Purge 35
“AHavoc Beyond Description” 43
Disagreements over Aid 47
“They Would Like to Curtail the Activity of the
Whole Diplomatic Corps” 54
Chapter 3. Crisis and Confrontation 62
“It Is Impossible to Get Rice in the Villages” 62
Clashes at the CC Plenum 67
“The Personality Cult Is a Primary Factor in
Every Mistake” 70
Kim Il Sung Takes the Offensive 77
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Contents
Chapter 4. A Challenge to the Leader 85
Coping with the Twentieth Congress 85
“Whose Party Is This?” 94
“The Koreans Ought To Be Brought Down
a Peg or Two” 98
Deprivation and Discontent 103
Chapter 5. Ch’ollima and Repression 113
Pyongyang Regains the Initiative 113
Crushed by the Hooves of Ch’ollima 121
The Shadow of China 127
Chapter 6. Breezes of Reform 136
“They Already Speak About the Mistakes” 136
“We Will Unite Korea Next Year” 140
Cautious Corrections 147
The DPRK and the South Korean Revolution 155
Balancing Between Moscow and Beijing 161
The Chances of Reform and Reconciliation 166
Chapter 7. Defying the Kremlin 174
Pyongyang Welcomes Park’s Coup 174
“Peaceful Co-Existence Smells of Revisionism” 179
Arming the Whole People 188
“One Cannot Feed the People on Coal and Iron” 195
“You Have No Political Line of Your Own” 199
Chapter 8. The Matrix of North Korean Despotism 210
Imported Despotism? 211
Inherited Despotism? 218
The Roots of Repression 229
The Decline of Soviet Influence in the DPRK 241
“Corrections,” North Korean Style 248
Summary 259
Bibliography 267
Notes 281
Index 337
viii
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Series Preface
[TK]
ix