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Tyranny of the Weak: North Korea and the World, 1950-1992
To much of the world, North Korea is an impenetrable mystery, its inner workings unknown and its actions toward the outside unpredictable and frequently provocative. Tyranny of the Weak reveals for the first time the motivations, processes, and effects of North Korea's foreign relations during the Cold War era. Drawing on extensive research in the archives of North Korea's present and former communist allies, including the Soviet Union, China, and East Germany, Charles K. Armstrong tells in vivid detail how North Korea managed its alliances with fellow communist states, maintained a precarious independence in the Sino-Soviet split, attempted to reach out to the capitalist West and present itself as a model for Third World development, and confronted and engaged with its archenemies, the United States and South Korea.
From the invasion that set off the Korean War in June 1950 to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Tyranny of the Weak shows how despite its objective weakness North Korea has managed for much of its history to deal with the outside world to its maximum advantage. Insisting on a path of "self-reliance" since the 1950s, North Korea has continually resisted pressure to change from enemies and allies alike. A worldview formed in the crucible of the Korean War and Cold War still maintains a powerful hold on North Korea in the twenty-first century, and understanding those historical forces is as urgent today as it was sixty years ago. (Cornell Univ. Press)
From the invasion that set off the Korean War in June 1950 to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Tyranny of the Weak shows how despite its objective weakness North Korea has managed for much of its history to deal with the outside world to its maximum advantage. Insisting on a path of "self-reliance" since the 1950s, North Korea has continually resisted pressure to change from enemies and allies alike. A worldview formed in the crucible of the Korean War and Cold War still maintains a powerful hold on North Korea in the twenty-first century, and understanding those historical forces is as urgent today as it was sixty years ago. (Cornell Univ. Press)
328 pages, Hardcover
First published June 25, 2013
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September 30, 2019
The book has been withdrawn by the publisher for massive plagiarism.
October 8, 2020
Tyranny of the Weak: North Korea and the World, 1950-1992 by Charles K. Armstrong is an attempt to break through the walls of secrecy that is North Korea. Armstrong is a professor of Korean studies at Columbia University. He has an impressive academic record including a Bachelors of Arts degree from Yale, a Masters from the London School of Economics, and a PhD from the University of Chicago. He has written three other books on Korean history and society.
The first part opens with the Korean War and the North's Blitzkrieg capture of Seoul in three days. It examines the role of the United States, China, and the Soviet Union in the conflict. The destruction in both the North and South changed Korea. The South with aid moved from being a third world economy to the first world and the North which had be prosperous until 1950 began a slide into ruin. The North appears to make a quick recovery after the war, but falters. Most of the initial recovery was due to foreign aid from other communist countries particularity USSR, China, and East Germany. North Korea did not fall in line with other communist countries. It accepted aid, but went its own way, especially after Khrushchev took over the Soviet Union and denounced Stalin: a hero to Kim. North Korea seemed to search for enemies even in its friends.
North Korea played by its own rules. It took aid, but was not a grateful nation for it. Eastern European technicians were treated poorly by North Korean authorities while providing aid. The incident with the USS Pueblo, while openly supported by the USSR, was criticized behind closed doors as excessively confrontational and counterproductive. Pressure from the Chinese stopped North Korea from invading the South in 1975 after the fall of Saigon.
North Korea moved to opening to the world slightly. Moving from first world trading partners to the Third World, North Korea looked to build support in the United Nations. Korea sided with Iran after its revolution, not in any ideological way but rather to support Iran's anti-American voice. The 1970s bring more change to Korea as its alliances shift from China (now on friendlier terms with the Untied States) to the Soviet Union. North Korea needs urgent help building its economy and help building its nuclear reactor. The late 1980s bring further frustration to North Korea. The Seoul Olympic Games are an embarrassment to North Korea who has no where the economy and standard of living of South Korea. Secondly, South Korea opened trade to communist nations and North Korea saw it closest allies one by one take advantage of the offer. With the fall of the Soviet Union and China opening relations with South Korea, North Korea stood alone.
Tyranny of the Weak covers the rule of Kim Il Sung and shows him as an ineffective leader. He may have had the support of his people, but his policies and actions as a leader did little to benefit the nation. Although Kim Il Jung would not come to power until 1994 he is mentioned in the book as the student who out performed his political economy professors and the person who ordered the kidnapping a South Korean Film director. The young Kim would quickly run up the ranks of power.
This is the best North Korean history I have read so far. Armstrong uses detailed source information including documents from the former Soviet archives. Extensively foot noted and meticulously detailed he not only writes the history but also supports what he writes. He also keeps the book centered on telling a serious historical study of the country rather than concentrating on the Kim's cult of personality. There was more to North Korea than its leader. If you are going to read one book about North Korea or have any interesting the country, this is the book to read.
The first part opens with the Korean War and the North's Blitzkrieg capture of Seoul in three days. It examines the role of the United States, China, and the Soviet Union in the conflict. The destruction in both the North and South changed Korea. The South with aid moved from being a third world economy to the first world and the North which had be prosperous until 1950 began a slide into ruin. The North appears to make a quick recovery after the war, but falters. Most of the initial recovery was due to foreign aid from other communist countries particularity USSR, China, and East Germany. North Korea did not fall in line with other communist countries. It accepted aid, but went its own way, especially after Khrushchev took over the Soviet Union and denounced Stalin: a hero to Kim. North Korea seemed to search for enemies even in its friends.
North Korea played by its own rules. It took aid, but was not a grateful nation for it. Eastern European technicians were treated poorly by North Korean authorities while providing aid. The incident with the USS Pueblo, while openly supported by the USSR, was criticized behind closed doors as excessively confrontational and counterproductive. Pressure from the Chinese stopped North Korea from invading the South in 1975 after the fall of Saigon.
North Korea moved to opening to the world slightly. Moving from first world trading partners to the Third World, North Korea looked to build support in the United Nations. Korea sided with Iran after its revolution, not in any ideological way but rather to support Iran's anti-American voice. The 1970s bring more change to Korea as its alliances shift from China (now on friendlier terms with the Untied States) to the Soviet Union. North Korea needs urgent help building its economy and help building its nuclear reactor. The late 1980s bring further frustration to North Korea. The Seoul Olympic Games are an embarrassment to North Korea who has no where the economy and standard of living of South Korea. Secondly, South Korea opened trade to communist nations and North Korea saw it closest allies one by one take advantage of the offer. With the fall of the Soviet Union and China opening relations with South Korea, North Korea stood alone.
Tyranny of the Weak covers the rule of Kim Il Sung and shows him as an ineffective leader. He may have had the support of his people, but his policies and actions as a leader did little to benefit the nation. Although Kim Il Jung would not come to power until 1994 he is mentioned in the book as the student who out performed his political economy professors and the person who ordered the kidnapping a South Korean Film director. The young Kim would quickly run up the ranks of power.
This is the best North Korean history I have read so far. Armstrong uses detailed source information including documents from the former Soviet archives. Extensively foot noted and meticulously detailed he not only writes the history but also supports what he writes. He also keeps the book centered on telling a serious historical study of the country rather than concentrating on the Kim's cult of personality. There was more to North Korea than its leader. If you are going to read one book about North Korea or have any interesting the country, this is the book to read.
October 1, 2016
Armstrong provides a sweeping overview of North Korea’s rising international role and prominence, as it has been declared and emphasized, throughout the world. Although far from being cursory in the way the text outlines various meetings, follows key political players, or details economic or political initiatives, Armstrong’s book is concerned with, and therefore mired in, details of North Korea’s foreign policy as it informs its own sense of nationalism and self-reliance. While each chapter presents a lot of information, Armstrong does not contextualize as much as he constructs a precise timeline that he slowly unfolds, into what amounts to an elaborate literature review of other texts, with each page warranting footnotes that beg more attention. In this way, Tyranny of the Weak seems to work more as a thorough point of reference.
North Korea coming into being is framed as an achievement, which is then defined as made possible by the various events that are covered in the book. The complexity of the Korean War being both “a civil and an international conflict simultaneously” speaks to a greater clash of countries in how they strategically influence, manipulate, and support the peninsula during the Cold War (15). Armstrong succeeds in the way he outlines North Korea’s supreme desire to liberate the south and reunite the nation under its banner, and he rightly points out that a good majority of the South Korean working class supported the north (27). In his first chapter, Armstrong explains how each side blamed the other for crimes against civilians and soldiers, which is important to note in defining the scale of Korea’s civil tragedy, despite who’s allegations held more weight (29). Armstrong seems to be noting early on that it is no wonder North Korea became what it is today because the people could never forget the fear that permeated their lives during wartime, which is accurately described as a “long-term psychological effect” that ultimately influenced North Korean political and social consciousness (31).
Though he doesn’t outright say it, Armstrong reveals how the U.S. was complicit in other-ing the north as a communist state, attempting to alleviate their own role in the destruction of the peninsula, through propaganda. In the same way that texts about South Korea may celebrate its recovery on the road to modernity, Armstrong seems to argue that North Korea has become defensive and stubborn in its redemption as a political, nationalistic stronghold in face of a country’s demise at the hands of foreign involvement. Pyongyang had to become emblematic post-war, as did Kim Il-Sung as the trusted and unquestionable leader and father. Pathos is also laden in Armstrong’s text as he details Kim Il-Sung’s hopes that, like North Vietnam, the DPRK will establish itself as a political mainstay for an inevitable union with the south eventually coming to its senses. Yet it is curious as to why the north would insist on improving its military, along with the dispersal of its personnel across the world, as if these preparations could be other than reactionary to U.S. imperialism (194). North Korea has become the most peculiar country, and not by its own hand of the Kim dynasty, but by the way the rest of the world has come to separate itself from, cast, or define it as strange and threatening.
North Korea coming into being is framed as an achievement, which is then defined as made possible by the various events that are covered in the book. The complexity of the Korean War being both “a civil and an international conflict simultaneously” speaks to a greater clash of countries in how they strategically influence, manipulate, and support the peninsula during the Cold War (15). Armstrong succeeds in the way he outlines North Korea’s supreme desire to liberate the south and reunite the nation under its banner, and he rightly points out that a good majority of the South Korean working class supported the north (27). In his first chapter, Armstrong explains how each side blamed the other for crimes against civilians and soldiers, which is important to note in defining the scale of Korea’s civil tragedy, despite who’s allegations held more weight (29). Armstrong seems to be noting early on that it is no wonder North Korea became what it is today because the people could never forget the fear that permeated their lives during wartime, which is accurately described as a “long-term psychological effect” that ultimately influenced North Korean political and social consciousness (31).
Though he doesn’t outright say it, Armstrong reveals how the U.S. was complicit in other-ing the north as a communist state, attempting to alleviate their own role in the destruction of the peninsula, through propaganda. In the same way that texts about South Korea may celebrate its recovery on the road to modernity, Armstrong seems to argue that North Korea has become defensive and stubborn in its redemption as a political, nationalistic stronghold in face of a country’s demise at the hands of foreign involvement. Pyongyang had to become emblematic post-war, as did Kim Il-Sung as the trusted and unquestionable leader and father. Pathos is also laden in Armstrong’s text as he details Kim Il-Sung’s hopes that, like North Vietnam, the DPRK will establish itself as a political mainstay for an inevitable union with the south eventually coming to its senses. Yet it is curious as to why the north would insist on improving its military, along with the dispersal of its personnel across the world, as if these preparations could be other than reactionary to U.S. imperialism (194). North Korea has become the most peculiar country, and not by its own hand of the Kim dynasty, but by the way the rest of the world has come to separate itself from, cast, or define it as strange and threatening.
February 20, 2015
Charles Armstrong writes a clear and coherent narrative of North Korea's place in the world. He succeeds in showing that the "hermit kingdom" wasn't so reclusive for much of the twentieth century – Kim Il Sung tried to make his state's juche, or self-reliance, system a model for emulation throughout the Third World. Armstrong also shows that North Korea is a skillful weak actor state, playing the USSR and China off each other for its own benefit. North Korea is a paradox in that it cannot offer trade goods, yet the Soviet and Chinese communists alike were desperate to retain its friendship and maintain power in the region. North Korea has also succeeded in subverting America's attempts at influence, although Armstrong does hold the George W. Bush accountable for cowboy-like diplomacy that nearly led to war. The book suffers, I think, in looking only at government documents (and perhaps a handful of memoirs) for primary sources. By making elite political actors the only characters and omitting a discussion of North Korean culture or society, Armstrong doesn't get at the full story. In his focus on hard realism and rational choices, Armstrong largely overlooks the role of ideology. His paragraphs on North Korean propaganda and opera are a good start at analyzing ideology, but Armstrong does not fulfill the promise of these passages. Armstrong also reiterates that political history trope of metonymy, using "North Korea" or "China" to stand in for those countries' governments. Politicians are not interchangeable with entire countries. North Korea was not merely Kim Il Sung, even if he dominated the country's government. This political history features almost exclusively men, too. Armstrong gets the broad narrative and revisionist claims correct, but he needs more cultural data and alternative perspectives on the North Korean experience.
March 21, 2014
I really enjoy reading about North Korea and this book offers an extensive overview of North Korean policies during the Cold War period. I’ve read books that focus more on the lives of ordinary North Koreans or about the personality cults of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il but this was more of a strict political and economic history of the Korean peninsula--which is great because it really fleshed out what I already knew and also allowed me to see how the politics and policies of NK’s leaders played out on the world stage.
In particular, I found the first chapter covering the Korean War particularly fascinating. We never really discussed the Korean War in any history class I’ve ever taken and I realized that I knew very little about the particulars of the actual conflict. An extensive discussion of the differing roles that China and Stalin played in the war and the complete decimation of DPRK population centers and crops by the Americans really help to explain the lasting psychological impact the war left on North Koreans and Kim Il Sung. Despite extensive aid from Soviet bloc countries, Kim promoted an ideal of DPRK self-reliance and never allowed himself to fully trust any other country--basically treating everyone as an unreliable ally at best or at worst a possible enemy.
In particular, I found the first chapter covering the Korean War particularly fascinating. We never really discussed the Korean War in any history class I’ve ever taken and I realized that I knew very little about the particulars of the actual conflict. An extensive discussion of the differing roles that China and Stalin played in the war and the complete decimation of DPRK population centers and crops by the Americans really help to explain the lasting psychological impact the war left on North Koreans and Kim Il Sung. Despite extensive aid from Soviet bloc countries, Kim promoted an ideal of DPRK self-reliance and never allowed himself to fully trust any other country--basically treating everyone as an unreliable ally at best or at worst a possible enemy.
July 9, 2017
Liberal author, but very well written book overall. Some of his bias comes in to play when dealing with US policy on North Korea.
December 18, 2015
Would have been 4 stars except for the tirade against the Bush administration and Neoconservatism at the end. It was a well researched book that shows how the North Korean regime built itself into a lasting regime, by engaging with the Eastern European bloc and playing the USSR and China off of each other. It fills a gap by showing the North Korean relations with other Socialist countries and so presents an understudied view of North Korea.
June 18, 2014
An objective and revelatory account of how the current state of affairs of North Korea evolved. It is particularly impressive in making use of the limited arsenal of resources available to researchers on one of the world's most enigmatic countries. An excellent read: well-argued, focused, and refreshingly non-ideological in tone.
October 14, 2023
A list of 76 examples of source fabrication and plagiarism in the book:
http://sthelepress.com/wp-content/upl...
http://sthelepress.com/wp-content/upl...
November 17, 2014
very interesting history and analysis of North Korea
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews