The Marmot’s Hole

For those people who are familiar with Prof. Andrei Lankov’s fine work in the Korea Times (2-3 times a week), as well as his occasional postings at nkzone.org, you might be interested in coming alone to the launch of his latest book tomorrow, at the Royal Asiatic Society’s monthly open lecture, to be held at Sogang University tomorrow (Wednesday) night at 7:30pm. Entry is free and all are invited. Books will be for sale there, and it will also provide a chance for those not yet familiar with this venerable institution to get to know it and maybe even join.

What is the book about? I’ll just give you the title and first paragraph of the link from RASKB above:

1956: An Aborted North Korean de-Stalinization

Using Soviet archival material, contemporary North Korean press, and personal interviews, Andrei Lankov presents for the first time a detailed look at one of the turning points in North Korean history: the country’s unsuccessful attempts to de-Stalinize in the mid-1950s. He demonstrates that, contrary to common perception, North Korea was not a realm of undisturbed Stalinism; Kim Il Sung had to deal with a reformist opposition that was weak but present nevertheless. There were times when Kim Il Sung University president complained about students?? unrest and top officials fumed about the poverty of Korean farmers which, they believed, was a result of Kim Il Sung??s policies.

I will be skulking around there somewhere, so I hope to see you there!

UPDATE: the introduction to the book is available to be read free of charge, without any subscription or log-in, here at the University of Hawaii Press website. They are the book’s publishers.