About the Author
Fyodor Tertitskiy
Fyodor Tertitskiy is a lecturer at Seoul’s Korea University. He is the author of "Accidental Tyrant: The Life of Kim Il-sung" and several other books on North Korean history and military.
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Evergreen Kim’s North Korea – not the Soviets’The North's founder gained independence from Moscow through guile, determination and good luck Last time we looked at the early days of Kim Il Sung’s dominance, but saw that much of those early decisions originated with Soviet officials, or at least needed Soviet approval. With the Korean War over and Stalin dead, the Soviets attempted a similar level of influence. Soon after the war, Kim Il Sung started Soviet-style collectivization in the countryside, which led to farmers being put on a brink of starvation. A peremptory shout from the Soviet embassy followed, which, being translated from diplomatic Russian to normal English, sounded like: “What the hell are you doing, fool? You’ll starve the people and will get an uprising on your hands! Have it reversed at once!” Kim did as he was told and the pace of collectivization stopped for the time being. © Korea Risk Group. All rights reserved. |