Recommended Reading on North Korea
by Richardson ~ July 9th, 2007. Filed under: Book Reviews.This list of books on North Korea includes my own favorites, as well as a few books recommended to me that I’ve not yet read but plan to. If you have any suggestions, please post them in a comment.
- Kim Il-sung: The North Korea Leader, by Suh Dae-sook (1995)
- Kim Il-song’s North Korea, by Helen-Louise Hunter (1999)
- The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag, Kang Chol-hwan (2002)
- Famine in North Korea: Markets, Aid, and Reform, by Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland (2007)
- Over the Line: North Korea’s Negotiating Strategy, by Chuck Downs (1998)
- Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty, by Bradley K. Martin (2004)
- Rogue Regime: Kim Jong Il and the Looming Threat of North Korea, by Jasper Becker (2005)
- US DPRK Agreed Framework and Implementation, by Yo Taik Song (1999)
- Crisis in North Korea: The Failure of De-Stalinization, 1956, by Andrei N. Lankov (2004)
- Negotiating on the Edge: North Korean Negotiating Behavior, by Scott Snyder (1999)
- Disarming Strangers: Nuclear Diplomacy with North Korea, by Leon V. Sigal (1994)
- The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History (Revised and Updated Edition), by Don Oberdorfer (2002)
- The Great North Korean Famine: Famine, Politics, and Foreign Policy, by Andrew S. Natsois (2002)
- North Korea Through the Looking Glass, by Konngdan Oh and Ralph C. Hassig (2000)
- The Guerilla Dynasty: Politics and Leadership in North Korea, by Adrian Buzo (1999)
- The Tears of My Soul, by Kim Hyun-hee (1993)
- Scenes from an Unfinished War: Low-Intensity Conflict in Korea, 1966-1969, by MAJ Daniel P. Bolger
- Flash Point North Korea: The Pueblo and EC-121 Crises, by Richard A. Mobley (2003)
- The Hidden Gulag: Exposing North Korea’s Prison Camps, by David Hawk (2001)
July 9th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
thank you so much for the list of books Richardson! There is one book I have been dying to get my hands on, but is too expensive for me right now:
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) (Cold War International History Project) (Hardcover):
Here are some others that I have seen that look good:
Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty (Hardcover):
Stephen Kim who spoke for the Woodrow Wilson School gave some suggestions as well. You can hear them at this link.
I cannot decipher the author’s names, but if somebody can find those, I would be greatly interested in those. Thanks!
[edit: inserted links in text]
July 9th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
As a less expensive (~$28) and excellent alternate, I recommend, Kim Il-sung: The North Korean Leader, by Suh Dae-sook. The same era is covered, if perhaps not focusing on as much on that era alone. My review of the book is here.
July 9th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
Thank you for the recommendation. I have not read any physical book on the DPRK, but would like to start my collection.
July 9th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
I just found that Kim Il-sung: The North Korean Leader is available to read online via Google books, so you can read it there if you like.
July 9th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Way cool, I will check it out right now!
July 10th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
Don;t forget “Eyes of the Tailless Animals: Prison Memoirs of a North Korean Woman” by Soon Ok Lee.
[edit: added link for book]
July 10th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
I can’t believe I missed that one, it’s sitting right there with the rest of my North Korea books!
July 11th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
Richardson,
I would add all the books and articles written by Joseph S. Bermudez Jr.
Books:
- North Korean Special Forces (2 editions and translated into Japanese and Korean)
- Terrorism: The North Korean Connection (translated into Japanese and Korean)
- Armed Forces of North Korea (translated into Japanese and Korean)
Kevin
July 17th, 2007 at 6:39 am
“Dear Leader, Great Leader” by Bertil Lintner is by far the most informative book that I’ve ever read on North Korea. It’s as if all the articles and reports that I’ve read over the years make so much more sence after reading this book. It really explains and makes sence of every subject that it deals with. The fact that he actually went to Vyatskoje (where KJI was born) and interviewed people who lived there back when the korean guerilla’s were at the training camp near the village says so much about the way that the book was written, everything is extremely thoroughly researched.
August 20th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Benjamin,
While Lintner’s book is ok, I think you need to read a few others.