Adventure in the Library and an encounter with The Great Leader

I was wandering around the library today looking for books about humanitarian intervention...alas, there are several hundred other people looking for these same books, so Saving Strangers by Nicholas Wheeler was nowhere to be found...however, in my moment of tragedy a rather serendipitious moment occured. I peeked over at the carts with the books that were to be reshelved, and in the corner of my eye I found a old red covered book, entitled The Brief History of the Revolutionary Activities of the Great Leader Comerade Kim Il-Sung. This book, published in Pyongyang in English, documented Kim Il-Sung's life from his early years as a Korean patriot to his later years as leader of North Korea.

Unfortunately (perhaps?) graffiti covered many portraits of the supposed "great leader", with pig noses and the occasional "Kim Il-Sung does not care about Korean people" (except in much more vulgar terms). Obviously the work of passionate yet over-ardent scholars, it nevertheless brought up an interesting question in my mind: did Kim Il-Sung care about Korean people?

His track record would say so. He spent the early years of his life resisting Japanese colonialism in northern Korea and Manchuria. Kim was even jailed as a young man for resisting Japanese authorities and encouraging Korean nationalism. His hatred of fascism and tyrrany is the stuff of legends: there is legend among Communist countries that Kim Il-Sung volunteered for service in the Soviet Red Army and led Russian soldiers against Nazi German invaders at Stalingrad, the largest battle in human history. This legend can be supported by the Soviet's decision to implement Kim as leader of North Korea following the Japanese surrender in 1945.

Kim's policy has always been geared around helping the Korean people. Under him, industrial development skyrocketed and agricultural booms allowed for an increased population. Kim was known to love children and worked to establish facilities for learning and education for North Korean kids. Even my father fondly remembers Kim Il-Sung as a child growing up in Pyongyang, as the Great Leader personally retrieved his soccer ball from a gutter near his presidential headquarters. Seems pretty convincing...

But then the American in me came through in the latter part of the book, describing the Korean War (or as North Koreans put it "The Great Liberation War of the Fatherland from US Imperialism"). In it, the North Korean historian described the South Korean regime invading North Korea with the help of US "imperialists". North Korean soldiers thus made it their crusade to rid the peninsula of America's presence, their "sworn enemy".

Although history can have multiple lenses and views, facts are universal. Fact: a transcript between Kim Il-Sung and Joseph Stalin exists that documents Kim's request to invade the South. Fact: Seoul was captured in three days by North Korean soldiers equipped with Soviet weapons. Fact: South Korean soldiers and civilians suffered immensely in the earlier part of the war, and if not for a galant stand at the Naktong River (the famous Pusan Perimeter), there would be no Republic of Korea today. Fact: close to 600,000 South Korean soldiers died and close to a million civilians were killed under North Korean rule. But the same can be said about South Korea and the United States. In war, everyone's hands are covered in blood.

It is a bold statement to say that Kim Il-Sung did not care about Korean people. Kim was a patriot and a pioneer in modern Korean politics, no doubt. But he was blinded by political dogma, as most leaders usually are. Kim unfortunately drew the distinction between Northern Communist Koreans and the "puppets" of US imperialism in the South. This is a mistake that still exists today, as North Koreans believe that South Koreans are victims of US control and need to be saved. If healing is to begin in the Korean peninsula, it must start by eliminating such arbitrary distinctions.

Today's humanitarian crisis is partly but not completely Kim Il-Sung's responsibility. However, we cannot view Kim as a simple blood thirsty war monger. To understand Kim Il-Sung is to understand North Korea. If you are still interested, I suggest you check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Il_Sung. He is to North Koreans what Jesus is to Chirstians, Muhammad is to Muslims, and Siddartha Gautama (Buddha) is to Buddhists.