Forever President: A Biography of Kim Il Sung

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Kim Il Sung ruled his country, North Korea, for longer and shaped it more profoundly than almost any other modern leader. He created a unique and seemingly bizarre and menacing political and social system, establishing a dynasty that has maintained it for two more generations. Yet he remains a curiously inaccessible, little understood figure, partly due to the closed and secretive nature of the state he founded. Michael J. Seth puts together what we know of Kim's life from all available sources and places it in the context of Korean and modern world history to make both Kim and North Korea comprehensible. He looks at the unusual circumstances that contributed to Kim's rise to power and at the early experiences that help to explain the directions he took his country. Seth examines his impressive early achievements and his later failures, which left North Korea the isolated, impoverished half of a divided nation. Kim was a charismatic and resourceful leader determined to reunify and modernize his country. But he pursued these aims with ruthlessness, egotism and extreme narrow-mindedness. Ultimately, his political inflexibility led to disaster.

Reviews

Michael Seth traces the life of North Korea's famous leader from the Japanese colonial period to his final days. This concise and highly readable volume avoids excessive moralizing while helping readers to understand how Kim Il Sung gained and retained power. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the Kim Dynasty and how North Korea became the totalitarian state that it is today. * Gregg A Brazinsky, Professor of History and International Affairs, The George Washington University *
Much of Kim Il Sung's life 'remains a mystery' says Michael Seth. So does his death, aged 82, in 1994. For half a century the North Korean dictator confounded international opinion and the geo-political odds to father a nation and found a dynasty. Having comfortably outlived mentors like Stalin, Mao and Ho Chi Minh, officially he yet lives as the state's 'Forever President'. Seth's necessarily political biography is judicious, authoritative and unexpectedly readable. * John Keay, author of Himlaya: Exploring the Roof of the World *
A fascinating look into the man that founded and transformed North Korea into an ultra-militaristic and highly repressive state. * Benjamin R. Young, author of Guns, Guerillas, and the Great Leader *

Author Bio

Michael J. Seth is a historian at James Madison University and one of the foremost experts on the history of Korea. His many books include Korea: A Very Short Introduction (2020) and Korea at War (2023).