North korea another country pdf

Want more? Advanced embedding details, examples, and help! But, as Bruce Cumings demonstrates in this provocative, lively read, the story of the U. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of Korea, and on declassified government reports, Cumings traces that story, from the brutal Korean War to the present crisis. Harboring no illusions regarding the totalitarian Kim Jong Il regime, Cumings nonetheless insists on a more nuanced approach.

The result is both a counter-narrative to the official U. Background Citations. Methods Citations. Citation Type. Has PDF. Publication Type. More Filters. North Korea — what everyone needs to know. Trends in the Study of North Korea. The Journal of Asian Studies. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il can be criticized for many failings, but if one of his goals has been keeping his country in the global media spotlight, he has been wildly successful. Of course, … Expand. Eye-opening and told by an expert on Korea.

Oct 10, N rated it liked it. I feel like Cumings has a pretty constant thread in most of his work - every valid point he makes is undermined by either a totally unsubstantiated analytical comment or questionable research. For instance, he is harsh on the West's reporting on N.

Korea, which I can generally understand, but he then claims that the N. Korean media is completely trustworthy and reliable. I don't care how sympathetic you are to the Kim dynasty View 1 comment. Oct 30, Sherri Molen rated it it was amazing. North Korea: Another Country is very informative for such as easy read. Everyone should read this book! Jan 28, Joanna Mounce rated it liked it Shelves: non-fiction , cultural.

This book is difficult for me to rate. On the one hand, it gave me a different perspective on North Korea, which I appreciate. I think I can see North Korea's perspective now, and I feel this ability is a unique skill in America. The main point that stuck with me is that North Koreans have such a communal mindset that culturally they see "freedom" as a communal quality. That is, "freedom to be Korean" or "freedom from foreign oppression". In this sense, they see themselves as the free country an This book is difficult for me to rate.

In this sense, they see themselves as the free country and South Korea as the enslaved country. Obviously this is a generalization, but I thought it was a cultural insight I had not heard before.

Also, it presented the history of the Japanese oppression in Korea from the North Korean perspective, which I had also never heard. I am really interested North Korea, and documentaries and articles get really repetitious. This book presented a side I had never heard before and was thus intellectually refreshing.

On the other hand, I am not sure how much I trust the author, and I feel like I need to read something critical of North Korea to "remind" myself about what I already know. The author seems to gloss over the great evils of North Korea and instead treats them as a totally legitimate country run by an eccentric. He even gives an example that seems to condone their gulag system as comparable or better than the worst of the American prison system. Little things like that, plus constant digs on the American right, really revealed an agenda beyond just educating the reader.

Overall though, I'm glad I read it and enjoyed the unique peek at another culture. May 22, Jason Harper rated it did not like it. Cumings is one of the leading leftist academics covering the Korean Peninsula.

However, this book is beneath someone of his credentials. It's understandable to have different interpretations of facts, or different analyses of how to move forward, but it's inexcusable to parrot propaganda for popular consumption and call it history. One of the most egregious examples in this book is the so-called DPRK land reform, which Cumings claims was "relatively bloodless. He also parrots propaganda about the mythical beginnings of Kim Il Sung, conveniently leaves out Kim Dae Jung paying off the North for summitry, and leaves out the North's stated objective of unifying the Peninsula under the auspices of Pyongyang.

This isn't a serious book for understanding the DPRK from a leftist perspective. Mar 22, Elizabeth rated it it was amazing Shelves: books-i-own. Understanding that this review will cause some ruffled feathers, I will say that Cumings is a treasure and his works should be more widely read in the United States.

Thoughtful, respectful, yet far from preachy, this is a must-read for modern Americans who vote. Dec 28, Daya4goal rated it did not like it. North Korea's isolation makes it a difficult country to understand. It has become an international pariah and bogeyman based on what is unknown as much as is known. Significantly it has continued to totter along defying all pundits predictions of imminent collapse.

Cumings takes a new look at Korea putting the DPRK of today into context taking an in depth look at Korean history, culture and politics. The one thing that is pretty clear in all this is that Korea's main protagonist has failed to un North Korea's isolation makes it a difficult country to understand.

The one thing that is pretty clear in all this is that Korea's main protagonist has failed to understand much about the country which it has occupied and fought over for some 60 years now. As is so often the case the ideological mindset of the US political system prevents much thinking outside the box. This peaked once again with Bush juniors absurd division of the world into the spheres of "Good" and "Evil".

US strategists and politicians are once again trapped in an imaginary world of their own making and are frustrated that the real world is not responding to their blinkered view of it. Cumings looks at how this mindset has met with that of the leadership of the DPRK and examines how opportunities for engagement, especially on the nuclear question, have been squandered repeatedly by US ideologists.

In doing so he revisits in detail the legacy and impact of decades of warfare and especially the effect of the nationalist resistance to the Japanese occupation which is essentially where this all kicked off. Cumings also covers in detail the US plan to carpet bomb North Korea with nuclear weapons to wipe out North Korean resistance and create a toxic curtain to "protect" South Korea from "communism".

An excellent book by someone who has researched and understood his subject and is no doubt written off as a "fellow traveller" and apologist for the DPRK regime for his efforts.

Intelligence operatives, diplomats and anyone wanting to understand the DPRK beyond the rhetoric could do no better than to start with this seminal work.

Bruce Cumings is not an apologist for North Korea, but he does try to counterbalance the picture Americans receive from our lock-step anti-NK media. Kim Il Sung was not a poseur with a made-up history, installed by the Soviets at the end of WWII, he was in fact a well-known guerilla fighter and leader in the s and 40s.

Kim Jung Il is not the dissipated playboy depicted in Western media, and the government of NK, for all its faults, has always acted rationally, at least according to its own l Bruce Cumings is not an apologist for North Korea, but he does try to counterbalance the picture Americans receive from our lock-step anti-NK media.

Kim Jung Il is not the dissipated playboy depicted in Western media, and the government of NK, for all its faults, has always acted rationally, at least according to its own lights.

Up until the s, citizens of North Korea rightly felt they had much to be proud of. But the most important revelation Bruce Cumings offers is an honest recounting of the American air war against NK during the Korean conflict, when we devastated the countryside, reduced cities and towns to rubble regardless of their strategic value to the enemy , and incinerated a good part of NK's population with napalm. I myself saw the parochial-mindedness of the American military in Seoul during a command briefing at CINCUNC in the mid s, where all the slides referring to North Korea called it "nk," pointedly uncapitalized.

We have been in a petty tit for tat relationship with this nation since the mid s, and it's about time someone grew up. It won't be the North Koreans, so it has to be us. I learned a LOT from this.

And now I know This is a fairly dense read Cumings has a very sympathetic, non-alarmist, non-patr I learned a LOT from this. Cumings has a very sympathetic, non-alarmist, non-patronizing perspective on Korean culture which is very refreshing for a USAian to read, since obviously most of our media May 03, Eric rated it really liked it. As someone who's only knowledge of North Korea came from American high school textbooks, I felt I have a more rounded perspective of the country after reading this book.

The author aims to counter the American media's one-sided depiction of the country as an "axis of evil" by providing a more detailed story of the country beyond the headlines. This book contains a wealth of information for those who want to learn more about North Korea's history, and subsequently how the nuclear crisis came to b As someone who's only knowledge of North Korea came from American high school textbooks, I felt I have a more rounded perspective of the country after reading this book.

This book contains a wealth of information for those who want to learn more about North Korea's history, and subsequently how the nuclear crisis came to be. However what ruined part of the book for me was the author's occasional, political asides that sometimes veered too far from the material. Still, I highly recommend anyone who wants to learn more about North Korea read this book.

A lot has changed since the book was released in , but it is still a great resource on how the country came from its humble beginnings to making headlines around the world. Feb 16, Raymond rated it it was amazing. This is the best work on understanding North Korea today. We may not agree with all or any of it but the fact remains that this view should be read and understood.

I read this book each time I prepare for a trip to the Hermit Kingdom and it was helpful to put into a cultural context the events taking place in the DPRK. Cumings knows the territory and his in-country experiences illustrate the larger historical context of the most closed nation on the planet. I would use this as the text for my co This is the best work on understanding North Korea today.

I would use this as the text for my course on the Hermit Kingdom. Some find it too far to the left or apologetic but we know so little about the country I think it is best to take a step back and approach the country with a fresh approach. Try to understand their perspective of events and their neighbors.

Jul 03, Pranjal rated it liked it. Pretty good, basic reading on the subject. Goes into the history of North Korea's establishment and the horrors of the Korean War, as well as present day life in the country. Much more accessible than Cumings' other books, but the awesome detail of his other books is missing. Also there are a couple of inexplicably strange lines, such as his description of sleeping with someone's wife during a homestay as "an unexpected treat", which made me raise my eyebrows a bit.