Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Mao Zedong



In the book I'm currently reading, "우리가 몰랐던 동아시아(meaning 'East Asia We Haven't Known', written by Noja Park, 2007), there is a chapter comparing Mao Zedong/ Ho Chi Minh and Kim Ilseong. They have one thing in common: founding fathers of modern East Asian countries. However, the author seeks for a reason why it is not easy to find a biography about Kim Ilseong comparing to easy access to biographies about other two leaders.

Apart from the two Koreas' relations, the writer questions why even mainstream scholars in Western countries are neutral and/or favourable to other two leaders but hostile to Kim Ilseong. In brief, he says they have different growth backgrounds and policy lines: higher education vs military service and political leader vs military leader. Therefore, Kim Ilseong's ideology is based on his specific experience unlike others' on their philosophical reasoning, and the phase of North Korea, Kim Ilseong the Patriarch in DPRK the Family Country, has led to a barrier of favourable reactions by Western society, where Individualism prevails, he concludes.

The poster is about Park Sang Hee's sculpture exhibition, "Hello, 마오쩌뚱(Mao Zedong)!"

3 comments:

Maraï said...

This book looks very interesting!
Nice picture!
Maraï from Brisbane

Lavenderlady said...

I very intersting commentary.

Sunkyoung said...

Thank you, ladies, for your comments. The book is so much interesting indeed, and I wish it were translated in English. I do admire the way the author approach toward social and historical affairs.