Special Lecture

• Date & Time: Friday, 12 October, 2018, 10:00-12:00
• Place: Room #406, SNUAC(Bldg#101)
• Speaker: Professor Jung-sik Lee (Professor Emeritus, Univ. of Pennsylvania)
• Organizers: SNUAC Northeast Asia Center, SNU Inst’ for Peace & Unification Studies
• Inquiry:  Seungjoon Lee /  dltmdwns1108@snu.ac.kr

This special lecture will deal with the questions below:

• How did his Soviet years affect Kim Il Sung’s thoughts, strategies, governance, Korean War, and etc.?
• Why did Kim Il Sung worship Stalin and faithfully follow Stalin’s tracks?
• What is the reason behind Kim Il Sung’s refusal of Mao Zedong’s advice that consequently led to failure to prepare for the Incheon Landing Operation?
• Why did Stalin ignore Kim Il Sung’s request for Soviet military dispatch?

Honorary Professor Jung-sik Lee’s close examination on the political relationship between North Korea and Soviet Union in the early 40s and the unprecedented appearance of Kim Il Sung in that time was discussed in this special lecture. Specifically, Professor Lee explained about the process where Kim Il Sung was chosen as the head of the communist regime in North Korea when the Japanese was on the verge of surrender and the 88^th brigade was formed. The special lecture provided the audience with important glimpses of the history of how Kim Il Sung rose to power. Particularly, Professor Lee explained the process when Kim Il Sung was first chosen by the Soviet Union as the head of North Korean communist regime, but later emerged as a powerful North Korean leader who established his communist regime and enforced persistent communist education while maintaining close political ties with the Soviet Union.