With the Century
{{short description|Book by Kim Il Sung}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox book
|italic title =
|name = With the Century
|image = With the Century cover.jpg
|image_size =
|caption = Cover page of the English edition of With the Century, Vol. 1
|alt = Cover page of a book with illustration of Mount Paektu. The text reads: "Kim Il-sung. Reminiscences: With the Century 1."
|author = Kim Il Sung
|title_orig =
|orig_lang_code =
|title_working =
|translator =
|illustrator =
|cover_artist =
|country = North Korea
|language = Korean
|publisher = Pyongyang: Workers' Party of Korea Publishing House (Korean ed.)
Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House (English ed.)
|series =
|subject = {{flatlist|
- Kim Il Sung
- Heads of state, Korea (North), biography
- Korean resistance movements, 1905–1945}}
|genre = Autobiography
|published = {{Start date|1992}} (Korean ed.)
|media_type = Print in eight volumes
|pages = 3,447 (English ed.)
|awards =
|isbn =
|oclc = 28377167
|dewey = 951.9303/092 B
|congress = DS934.6.K5 A3 1992
|preceded_by =
|followed_by =
|wikisource =
|exclude_cover =
}}
{{Infobox Korean name
| hangul = 세기와 더불어
| hanja = 世紀와 더불어
| rr = Segiwa deobureo
| mr = Segiwa tŏburŏ
| context = north
| image =
| caption =
}}
{{quote box
| align = right
| width = 25em
| quote = In a ruined country neither the land nor the people can remain at peace. ... A man who perceives this truth before others is called a forerunner; he who struggles against difficulties to save his country from tragedy is called a patriot; and he who sets fire to himself to demonstrate the truth and overthrows the injust society by rousing the people to action is called a revolutionary.
| salign = right
| source = From "My family", section one of "Land of Misfortunes", the first chapter of With the Century (Volume 1)
}}
Reminiscences: With the Century ({{Korean|hangul=세기와 더불어|hanja=世紀와 더불어|rr=Segiwa deobureo|mr=Segiwa tŏburŏ|context=north}}) is the autobiography of Kim Il Sung, founder and former president of North Korea. The memoirs, written in 1992 and published in eight volumes, retell Kim's life story through his childhood to the time of Korean resistance.{{cite web |url=http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199756223/obo-9780199756223-0109.xml |title=Politics of North Korea |work=Oxford Bibliographies|date=26 August 2013 |author1=Victor Cha |author-link1=Victor Cha |author2=Ji-Young Lee |access-date=8 October 2014}} Initially, a total of 30 volumes were planned but Kim Il Sung died in 1994 after just six volumes; the seventh and eight volumes were published posthumously. The work reveals early influences of religious and literary ideas on Kim's thinking. An important part of North Korean literature, With the Century is held as an intriguing if unreliable insight into the nation's modern history under late colonial Korea. The book is considered one of a few North Korean primary sources widely available in the West and as notable research material for North Korean studies.
Authorship of With the Century is disputed, with some claiming that it was written by professional writers instead of Kim Il Sung himself.
History
Until the 1960s, Kim Il Sung had encouraged his fellow revolutionaries to publish their memoirs, and generals such as Eulji Mundeok, Kang Kam-ch'an and Yi Sun-sin were featured in North Korean history books. Kim Il Sung's son and future successor Kim Jong Il, however, called back such biographies and sought to reinforce Kim Il Sung's cult of personality by controlling the works that made reference to him. In this regard, With the Century effectively replaced another work, Reminiscences of the Anti-Japanese Guerillas, as one of the most important propaganda pieces.{{cite book|author=Jae-Cheon Lim|title=Leader Symbols and Personality Cult in North Korea: The Leader State|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yswqBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA22|access-date=21 May 2015|date=24 March 2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-56741-7|page=22}}
In 1974, Kim announced that he would write his memoirs.{{Cite web| title = Kim Il Sung's reminiscences distributed worldwide|agency=KCNA|date = 8 July 2002| access-date = 25 March 2015| url = http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2002/200207/news07/08.htm#4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402132309/http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2002/200207/news07/08.htm#4|archive-date=2 April 2015}} According to Kim himself, before that he had spared little thought about writing his memoirs. When Kim Jong Il assumed the office of Secretary for Organizational Affairs, Kim Il Sung was allowed more time to focus on his writing. Kim also describes being encouraged to write his memoirs by literary people and foreign statesmen.{{cite book|author=Adrian Buzo|title=The Guerilla Dynasty: Politics and Leadership in North Korea|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L74cVf94cGIC&pg=PA209|year=1999|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-86064-414-6|pages=2, 209}} With the Century was written in 1992 when Kim was in his 80s, two years prior to his death.{{cite news |agency=AP|title=Mt Paektu holds key role in N Korea lore |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2012/04/09/2003529904/1 |newspaper=Taipei Times|date=9 April 2012 |access-date=8 October 2014|pages=1–3}} Initially the memoirs were supposed to span 90 chapters in 30 volumes comprising five parts: "The Anti-Japanese Revolution", "People's Country", "Along the Road of Socialism", "The Nation's Desire", and "Turning Point of Century". However, only the first six volumes of part one, "The Anti-Japanese Revolution", were completed before Kim's death and two additional volumes were published posthumously.
Kim Il Sung's ideological influences
The memoirs suggest that Kim Il Sung was influenced by communism, Christianity, Confucianism, Cheondoism and wide range of other traditions. Kim Il Sung was born to a Presbyterian family, even though he downplays their devotion in his memoirs. The anti-foreign pro-independence Donghak Movement, founded by a Korean scholar Choe Je-u and influenced by Catholic missionaries, is one of the fascinations of his youth that Kim Il Sung treats at length in the memoirs. The Donghak rebellion served as a model for other contemporary Korean movements combining religion with nationalism.{{cite book|author=Jasper Becker|title=Rogue Regime : Kim Jong Il and the Looming Threat of North Korea: Kim Jong Il and the Looming Threat of North Korea|url=https://archive.org/details/rogueregimekimjo00beck|url-access=registration|date=1 May 2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-803810-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/rogueregimekimjo00beck/page/78 78]–80}} Kim Il Sung describes being intrigued by the native Korean Cheondoism movement that evolved from the Donghak rebellion. Cheondoism believes in the idea that all men are equal and bear the spirit of heaven in themselves.
The memoirs disclose that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) member and author Sang Wol (Shang Yue) was Kim Il Sung's teacher in literary matters at private Yuwen Middle School in 1928, where Sang Wol taught for six months. This was young Kim's most decisive and the only formal educational influence on his background with both literature and esthetics. Sang Wol introduced Kim Il Sung to the classics of Chinese, and Russian literature such as Maxim Gorky's Mother and Enemies. Sang Wol encouraged Kim to become a 'proletarian writer'. Outside of school, Kim Il Sung also came into contact with Joseph Stalin's writings.{{cite journal |last=David-West |first=Alzo |date=January 2009 |title=The Literary Ideas of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il: An Introduction to North Korean Meta-Authorial Perspectives |url=http://clogic.eserver.org/2009/david-west.pdf |journal=Cultural Logic |volume=12 |pages=5–6 |access-date=10 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123131224/http://clogic.eserver.org/2009/David-west.pdf |archive-date=23 November 2015 |url-status=dead }}
The memoirs reveal the impact of Kim Il Sung's knowledge of religion and scholarship of literary classics and art on the theory of Juche. Juche ideology has been interpreted as being similar to Cheondoism, as both think that people are the masters of their own fates. Despite the various early religious influences, Kim Il Sung frowned upon the practice of religion, and instead demanded near-religious loyalty and adherence to the militaristic rules that are part of living in North Korea. In the preface of With the Century, Kim writes: {{" '}}The people are my God' has been my constant view and motto. The principle of Juche, which calls for drawing on the strength of the masses who are the masters of the revolution and construction, is my political creed."{{cite book |last=Kim |first=Il-sung |title=With the Century 1 |url=http://www.naenara.com.kp/en/book/download.php?2+2001 |location=Pyongyang |publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House |page=xxxii |access-date=17 October 2014|oclc=28377167}}
Volumes
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| scope="col" | #
! scope="col" | Title ! scope="col" | Author ! scope="col" | Publisher ! scope="col" | Date ! scope="col" | Genre ! scope="col" | Length {{Book list | book_number = 1 | title = Reminiscences: With the Century 1{{cite web |url=http://www.naenara.com.kp/en/great/leader.php?memoris |title=Kim Il Sung Reminiscences |author= |website=Naenara |publisher=Korea Computer Center in DPRKorea & Foreign Languages Publishing House |access-date=17 October 2014}} | author = Kim Il Sung | publisher = Foreign Languages Publishing House | publish_date = 1994 (English ed.){{cite book |last=Kim |first=Il-sung |title=With the Century 1 |url=http://www.naenara.com.kp/en/book/download.php?2+2001 |location=Pyongyang |publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House |pages=1–357 |access-date=17 October 2014|oclc=28377167}} | genre = Autobiography | line_color = novel | short_summary = Volume 1 includes the book's chapters for the time period between April 1912 – May 1930. Kim Il Sung tells about his childhood, youth and family in detail and how he came to join the communist rebels and the Korean independence struggle. His father Kim Hyong-jik was a member of the March 1st Movement, founding member of the Korean National Association, and actively resisting the Japanese when Kim Il Sung was still a child. The first volume ends with Kim Il Sung in prison. }} {{Book list | book_number = 2 | title = Reminiscences: With the Century 2 | author = Kim Il Sung | publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House | publish_date = 1994 (English ed.){{cite book |last=Kim |first=Il-sung |title=With the Century 2 |url=http://www.naenara.com.kp/en/book/download.php?2+2002 |location=Pyongyang |publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House |pages=1–466 |access-date=17 October 2014|oclc=28377167}} | genre = Autobiography | line_color = novel | short_summary = Volume 2 includes the book's chapters for the time period between May 1930 – February 1933. After being released from prison Kim Il Sung is in the middle of the 30 May and 1 August uprisings at the unstable Manchuria under martial law. After the 18 September Incident Kim Il Sung and his comrades decide to prepare for the coming armed struggle. However, in the end after many battles, Kim Il Sung and his comrades-in-arms have to ponder the National Salvation Army's situation in Manchuria. }} {{Book list | book_number = 3 | title = Reminiscences: With the Century 3 | author = Kim Il Sung | publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House | publish_date = 1993 (English ed.){{cite book |last=Kim |first=Il-sung |title=With the Century 3 |url=http://www.naenara.com.kp/en/book/download.php?2+2003 |location=Pyongyang |publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House |pages=1–586 |access-date=17 October 2014|oclc=28377167}} | genre = Autobiography | line_color = novel | short_summary = Volume 3 includes the book's chapters for the time period between February 1933 – February 1935. Kim Il Sung arrives at Wangqing where anti-Japanese struggle had been fiercer than in other areas. According to Kim Il Sung, at that time the nationalist trend in the struggle had changed into a communist struggle. The Japanese Kwantung Army was gaining the upper hand and independence fighters like the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army had to withdraw towards the Soviet Siberian border. }} {{Book list | book_number = 4 | title = Reminiscences: With the Century 4 | author = Kim Il Sung | publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House | publish_date = 1993 (English ed.){{cite book |last=Kim |first=Il-sung |title=With the Century 4 |url=http://www.naenara.com.kp/en/book/download.php?2+2004 |location=Pyongyang |publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House |pages=1–477 |access-date=17 October 2014|oclc=28377167}} | genre = Autobiography | line_color = novel | short_summary = Volume 4 includes the book's chapters for the time period between February 1935 – May 1936. As Kim Il Sung is exhausted by illness, the expedition to north Manchuria had ended in victory and the Korean communists had a new hope for developing the revolution. As Mao Zedong and Zhu De's communists have their 25,000-li journey, Kim Il Sung's comrades cross the {{ill|Laoyeling Mountains|zh|老爷岭}}. The first national united anti-Japanese body, the {{ill|Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland|ko|조국광복회}}, is founded at the foot of the Mount Paektu in May 1936 giving a new dawn for the national liberation. }} {{Book list | book_number = 5 | title = Reminiscences: With the Century 5 | author = Kim Il Sung | publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House | publish_date = 1994 (English ed.){{cite book |last=Kim |first=Il-sung |title=With the Century 5 |url=http://www.naenara.com.kp/en/book/download.php?2+2005 |location=Pyongyang |publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House |pages=1–414 |access-date=17 October 2014|oclc=28377167}} | genre = Autobiography | line_color = novel | short_summary = Volume 5 includes the book's chapters for the time period between May 1936 – March 1937. Spring of 1936 had been an unusual and busy time, as the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland was founded, the Mount Paektu base was being planned and established, and a new division was formed. However, two forces in the Fusong area were a threat: commander Wang's Manchukuo police and nationalist Wan Shun's anti-Japanese National Salvation Front's rebels. The latter half of the 1930s was the heyday of the {{ill|Korean People's Revolutionary Army|ko|조선인민혁명군}}'s activities. }} {{Book list | book_number = 6 | title = Reminiscences: With the Century 6 | author = Kim Il Sung | publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House | publish_date = 1995 (English ed.){{cite book |last=Kim |first=Il-sung |title=With the Century 6 |url=http://www.naenara.com.kp/en/book/download.php?2+2006 |location=Pyongyang |publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House |pages=1–407 |access-date=17 October 2014|oclc=28377167}} | genre = Autobiography | line_color = novel | short_summary = Volume 6 includes the book's chapters for the time period between March 1937 – November 1937. Kim Il Sung decides to start an expedition to Fusong across the Changbai Mountains, and later on leads his comrades in the Battle of Pochonbo. As Kim Il Sung's troops were operating in Fusong and Mengjiang counties, the Japanese fabricated the Hyesan Incident, one of the most serious blows to the Korean revolution according to Kim Il Sung. }} {{Book list | book_number = 7 | title = Reminiscences: With the Century 7 (Continuing edition){{cite book |last=Kim |first=Il-sung |title=With the Century 7 |url=http://www.naenara.com.kp/en/book/download.php?2+2007 |location=Pyongyang |publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House |pages=1–333 |access-date=17 October 2014 |edition=Continuing|oclc=28377167}} | author = Kim Il Sung | publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House | publish_date = 2007 (English ed.) | genre = Autobiography | line_color = novel | short_summary = Volume 7 includes the book's chapters for the time period between November 1937 – March 1940. In the winter of 1937, the Korean People's Revolutionary Army was training in the eastern part of the Mengjiang County at the secret Matanggou forest base. The last of the nationalist anti-Japanese forces were in decline, and about to join forces with Kim Il Sung. The Korean People's Revolutionary Army embarks on the Arduous March in late 1938 to relocate to Changbai County. According to Kim Il Sung, this was the bitterest time of the independence struggle. }} {{Book list | book_number = 8 | title = Reminiscences: With the Century 8 (Continuing edition){{cite book |last=Kim |first=Il-sung |title=With the Century 8 |url=http://www.naenara.com.kp/en/book/download.php?2+2008 |location=Pyongyang |publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House |pages=1–407 |access-date=17 October 2014 |edition=Continuing|oclc=28377167}} | author = Kim Il Sung | publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House | publish_date = 1998 (English ed.) | genre = Autobiography | line_color = novel | short_summary = Volume 8 includes the book's chapters for the time period between March 1940 – August 1945. Kim Il Sung holds a conference in Xiaohaerbaling to adopt a new strategic policy, after having encircled and beaten the Maeda punitive force at the Battle of Hongqihe. Later on Kim Il Sung starts his final campaign for the liberation of Korea, and the Soviet Union invades Manchuria. }} |
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Publication
The first six volumes of With the Century were published before Kim's death in 1994. The seventh and eight volumes were published posthumously.{{cite book|author=Charles K. Armstrong|author-link=Charles K. Armstrong|title=The North Korean Revolution, 1945–1950|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eUf-_XACg3UC&pg=PA26|access-date=8 October 2014|date=15 April 2013|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-6879-7|page=26}} The volumes have been reprinted as part of at least two collections: the 50-volume Kim Il-Sung: Works ({{korean|김 일성 저작 선집|mr=Kim Il-sŏng chŏjakchip|context=north|labels=no}}){{cite web |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/12050864 |title=Kim Il-sŏng chŏjakchip. (Book, 1979) (WorldCat.org) |website=Worldcat.org |date= |author= |accessdate=October 13, 2014}} and the 100-volume Complete Collection of Kim Il Sung's Works ({{korean|김 일성 전집|mr=Kim Il-sŏng chŏnjip|context=north|labels=no}}).{{cite web |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/29752035 |title=Kim Il-sŏng chŏnjip. (Book, 1992) (WorldCat.org) |website=Worldcat.org |date= |author= |accessdate=October 13, 2014}}{{cite web |url=http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2012/201201/news18/20120118-12ee.html |title="Complete Collection of Kim Il Sung's Works" Off Press |agency=KCNA |date=18 January 2012 |access-date=13 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150509211200/http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2012/201201/news18/20120118-12ee.html|archive-date=9 May 2015}} The volumes are also included with the North Korean made tablet computer Samjiyon. In addition to the full eight volumes, the electronic library on the tablet includes the 50-volume Works which holds the first 18 chapters of With the Century.{{cite web |url=http://38north.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/SamjiyonProductReview_RFrank102213-2.pdf |title=The North Korean Tablet Computer Samjiyon: Hardware, Software and Resources — A 38 North Product Review by Ruediger Frank |website=38 North |date=22 October 2013 |author=Ruediger Frank |author-link=Rüdiger Frank |access-date=13 October 2014|page=15}}
Translations exist in 20 languages,{{cite book|author=O Song Chol|title=Exposition of the Principles of Juche Idea 2: The Torch of Juche that Illuminates Human Society|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House|url=http://naenara.com.kp/en/book/download.php?4+4049|location=Pyongyang|page=30|date=March 2014|isbn=978-9946-0-1111-0}} including Chinese, Japanese, English, French, Spanish, Russian, German and Arabic.{{cite book|title=Korea Publications Exchange Association catalogue|url=http://www.nordkorea-info.de/files/KPEA-Catalogue-2014HP.pdf|publisher=Korea Publications Exchange Association|pages=25–27|year=2014|access-date=15 February 2015|archive-date=15 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215172547/http://www.nordkorea-info.de/files/KPEA-Catalogue-2014HP.pdf|url-status=dead}}
Reception
File:With the Century held by North Korean tour guide.jpg
In North Korea, With the Century holds an important role in culture and society and is genuinely popular. There it is a major source of the myth of the "anti-Japanese" struggle in propaganda.{{cite book|author=Jae-Cheon Lim|title=Leader Symbols and Personality Cult in North Korea: The Leader State|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yswqBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA54|access-date=21 May 2015|date=24 March 2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-56741-7|page=54}} Western scholars, on the other hand, have focused on the historicity of events portrayed in the memoirs and have critically assessed the value of With the Century as a historical source. The omnipresence of With the Century has also been linked to Kim's cult of personality.{{cite book|title=North Korea on the Brink: Struggle for Survival|author1=Glyn Ford|author2=Soyoung Kwon|publisher=Pluto Press|location=London / Ann Arbor|year=2008|page=53}}
=Popularity in North Korea=
Despite its political nature and conformity with the official political line of the state, With the Century enjoys genuine popularity in North Korea. It is considered Kim Il Sung's most popular work,{{cite book|author=Jae-Cheon Lim|title=Leader Symbols and Personality Cult in North Korea: The Leader State|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yswqBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA28|access-date=21 May 2015|date=24 March 2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-56741-7|page=28}} and when the first volume was released, it supposedly became an instant hit. As a child, defector Jae-young Kim remembers reading "every page with fascination, despite the highly ideological subject matter" and being particularly intrigued with stories about Kim Il Sung's first wife, Kim Jong-suk.{{cite web |url=http://www.nknews.org/2012/10/the-shocking-truth-about-propaganda-texts-theyre-actually-fun-to-read-2/ |title=The Surprising Truth About Propaganda Texts: They're Actually Fun To Read. |newspaper=NK News |date=12 October 2012 |author=Jae-young Kim |access-date=8 October 2014}} Defector and former propagandist, Jang Jin-sung recalls in his book Dear Leader: My Escape from North Korea how when he wants to impress a fellow escapee, he brags that his friend's "grandparents are mentioned in our textbooks as leading anti-Japanese resistance fighters, as well as in Kim Il Sung's own memoir, With the Century."{{sfn|Jang|2014|p=6}} According to Hwang Jang-yop, a high-ranking North Korean defector, the book's contents were as if they were straight out of revolutionary movies making it a very pleasant read.
The work typifies the attitude of North Korean propaganda toward military affairs. Military decisions are not based on strategy and reason but emotional conviction to a cause.{{Cite web | title = Warfare by Feelings: Strategy, Spontaneity, and Emotions in Kim Il-sung's Tactical Thinking | first = Benjamin | last = Silberstein | work = Sino-NK | date = 10 May 2016 | access-date = 11 May 2016 | url = http://sinonk.com/2016/05/10/warfare-by-feelings-strategy-spontaneity-and-emotions-in-kim-il-sungs-tactical-thinking/}}
=Ban in South Korea=
The book is banned in South Korea for the general public similarly to other printed material originating from North Korea.{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-08-08-mn-24823-story.html |title=S. Korea Seizes Copies of Book by Kim Il Sung |author= |agency=AP |date=8 August 1994 |website=Los Angeles Times |access-date=25 March 2015}} In August 2011, the South Korean Supreme Court regarded With the Century as “anti-state expression” under the National Security Law.{{Cite web|url= https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2021/04/22/national/northKorea/North-Korea-Kim-Il-Sung-memoir/20210422181800952.html|title= South Korean publisher releases memoirs of North's founder|work=Korea JoongAng Daily|date=22 April 2021}}
In April 2021, the memoirs were published by a publisher in South Korea, causing great controversy.{{Cite web|url= https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2021/04/4b85ad0be6b4-s-korea-probes-how-n-korea-founders-memoir-got-published.html|title= South Korea probes how North Korea founder's memoir got published|agency=Kyodo News|date=23 April 2021}}{{Cite web|url= https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2024/05/103_308395.html|title= Opinions clashing in South Korea on how to handle 'pro-North' publications|date= 6 May 2021|work=The Korea Times}} On 23 April 2021, Kyobo Book Center, South Korea's biggest bookstore chain, decided to cease sales of the memoirs, in order to "protect customers".{{Cite web|url= https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20210425001300315|title= Bookstore chain pulls memoirs of N.K. founder over controversy|agency=Yonhap|date= 25 April 2021}} Several conservative organizations, such as New Paradigm of Korea, sought an injunction to ban the sales of With the Century, because "distribution of the memoirs 'glamorizing the Kim family' infringes on human rights and harms the dignity of South Koreans as well as the country's democracy." The injunction was rejected by the Seoul Western District Court on 16 May 2021. The court said that the memoirs did not directly involve the plaintiffs, so their rights have not been violated by the book's content.{{Cite web |url= https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2024/05/103_308857.html|title= Court dismisses civic groups' request to ban North Korea founder's memoirs|agency=Yonhap|date= 16 May 2021}} On 26 May 2021, South Korea police raided the office of the publisher Minjok Sarangbang, confiscated materials as evidence, as the publication of the memoirs allegedly violated the National Security Act.{{Cite web|url= http://world.kbs.co.kr/service/news_view.htm?lang=e&Seq_Code=161746|title= Police Raid S. Korean Publisher in Probe on Kim Il-sung Memoir|date= 26 May 2021|work=KBS World}}{{Cite web|url= https://en.yna.co.kr/view/PYH20210526180100325?section=image/general|title= Probe into publication of late N. Korea founder's memoir|agency=Yonhap|date=26 May 2021}}{{Cite web|url= https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2021/05/26/skorea-south-korea-kim-il-sung-memoir-publisher-raid/9571622032862/|title= South Korea police raid office, residence of Kim Il Sung memoir publisher|date= 26 May 2021 |agency=UPI|first=Elizabeth|last=Shim}}
=Western commentary on historicity and authorship=
File:Youth of Kim Il-sung.jpg |page=xx |access-date=17 October 2014|oclc=28377167}}]]
With the Century is one of the few North Korean primary sources widely available in the West, and is therefore considered an important source for scholars of North Korean studies. However, the accuracy of the portrayal of historical events in the book has been questioned by scholars. According to Fyodor Tertitskiy, With the Century compromises accuracy and molds events to support the view point of North Korean ideology.{{cite web |url=http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?num=12194&cataId=nk03600 |title=North Korean History through the Lens of Soviet Power- Daily NK |newspaper=Daily NK |date=11 August 2014 |author=Fyodor Tertitskiy|access-date=8 October 2014}} For instance, the autobiography recounts the official version of the birth of Kim's son, Kim Jong Il, on Mount Paektu, widely discredited in the West.{{cite book|author=Sung Chull Kim|title=North Korea under Kim Jong Il: From Consolidation to Systemic Dissonance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P3u7A04Cn-MC&pg=PA107|access-date=8 October 2014|date=16 February 2012|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-8093-9|page=107}} Hwang Jang-yop calls With the Century a "masterpiece of historical fabrication".{{cite web |url=http://www2.law.columbia.edu/course_00S_L9436_001/North%20Korea%20materials/hwang%20jang1.html |title=The Problems of Human Rights in North Korea |publisher=Columbia Law School |date=2002 |author=Hwang Jang Yop |author-link=Hwang Jang Yop |access-date=8 October 2014 |archive-date=2 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702180948/http://www2.law.columbia.edu/course_00S_L9436_001/North%20Korea%20materials/hwang%20jang1.html |url-status=dead }} Others like Bradley K. Martin note that With the Century is more truthful about Kim's life than official sources published before the 1990s. While it is impossible to verify his writings on his early childhood, Kim's account of events in his youth during the resistance are often more believable than his contemporaries'. For instance, Kim's association with the Church in his childhood is not denied, and neither is the fact that he joined the foreign CCP in 1931.{{cite book|author=Bradley K. Martin|title=Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qoZx6hOCNukC&pg=PA12|access-date=8 October 2014|date=1 April 2007|publisher=St. Martin's Press|isbn=978-1-4299-0699-9|pages=11–12, 731}}
According to Hwang Jang-yop, With the Century was not written by Kim Il Sung himself but was composed by professional writers and journalists. These writers were supposedly revolutionary film authors, tasked with giving the work movie-like scenes. According to Jang Jin-sung, the authors were novelists of the April 15 Literary Production Group, a "First class" institution reserved to serve the Kim family{{sfn|Jang|2014|p=6}} (Jang also claimed that in 1993, Kim allegedly told a group of Chongryon members how much he enjoyed reading With the Century),{{sfn|Jang|2014|p=5}} while Hwang attributes the writing to the staff of the Party History Center. The production of the memoirs may have been supervised by Kim Jong Il.{{cite book|author=Michael Breen|author-link=Michael Breen (author)|title=Kim Jong-Il, Revised and Updated: Kim Jong-il: North Koreas Dear Leader, Revised and Updated Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GSTWAO6omXYC&pg=PA155|date=1 February 2012|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-118-15377-2|page=155}} Hwang, who held a top position in the party at that time, was opposed to publishing the posthumous volumes as he thought that the ones published so far were "too intriguing to be true". Hwang also opposed rewriting post-liberation history because later events would be easier to verify, and historical revisionism could anger North Korea's diplomatic allies.
See also
{{portal|North Korea|Biography|Books}}
References
=Citations=
{{reflist|30em}}
=Sources=
{{refbegin}}
- {{cite book|author=Jang Jin-sung|author-link=Jang Jin-sung|title=Dear Leader: My Escape from North Korea|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ljTIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT6|date=2014|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1-4767-6657-7|ref={{SfnRef|Jang|2014}}}}
{{refend}}
External links
- [http://www.korean-books.com.kp/en/search/?page=work-memoirs Full text of With the Century] at Publications of the DPRK
- [http://www.vok.rep.kp/CBC/index.php?CHANNEL=6&lang= Audiovisual excerpts] at Voice of Korea
- {{YouTube |channel= UCndGz3c8ImJ216C4kZMxaWA/search?query=세기와+더불어| title= Audiovisual excerpts on DPRK Today}} {{in lang|ko}}
- [http://www.korean-books.com.kp/en/packages/xnps/download.pg.php?496#.pdf Thematical quotations] in {{cite book|title=Principles of Life|year=2018|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House|location=Pyongyang}}
- [https://www.marxists.org/archive/kim-il-sung/autobio/index.htm Indexes] at the Marxists Internet Archive
{{Kim Il Sung}}
Category:1992 non-fiction books
Category:Korean non-fiction books
Category:Korean-language non-fiction books
Category:Multi-volume biographies