[Global NK Interview] Professor Kim Kwang-un (Kyungnam University Institute for Far Eastern Studies)

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWlynUEwlyY

[Editor's Note]

Global NK <Interview> directly meets with various researchers in Korea who study North Korea to understand the current state of North Korean studies through their voices. In this issue, we met with Professor Kim Kwang-un, a distinguished visiting professor at Kyungnam University and the overall planner of the "Bukjoseon Surok" (North Korean Annals) project, which has recently reached its 100th volume. In a situation where the North Korean authorities revise and distort historical materials for political purposes, we ask Professor Kim Kwang-un about the path to approaching the historical truth of North Korea.

Video Transcript

The reason I was initially interested in North Korea, beyond just "Bukjoseon," reflects the academic research level at the time. While a tremendous amount of research had accumulated, it was largely focused on promoting the superiority of South Korea's system in the inter-Korean regime competition, highlighting its risks or exposing its contradictions. I believed this was insufficient for objective research. Naturally, as time progresses, research tends to move from the top down.

Therefore, I think I chose that particular period. Historians fundamentally explain causality by focusing on things like the origins of the Korean War. They show interest in the origins of the Korean War, the outbreak, and so on. Thus, they inevitably had to focus on questions like how the state of "Bukjoseon" and the Workers' Party of Korea came into being. Furthermore, I believed that the characteristics of the current "Bukjoseon" regime and leadership archetypes were largely formed during that period.

Therefore, I sought to reconstruct the early stages of their nation-building process. History is often called a "collection of past experiences." It is a repository of knowledge and wisdom needed today. However, the urgent issue of North Korean unification, which we must resolve now, can only be properly understood by considering the flow of history, not through moment-to-moment improvisation. I believe that if we truly understand past history, it will pave the way for seeking peace on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia in the future.

A common statement in academic papers, appearing in the introduction, concerns the issue of free access to materials. The core problem is that the available materials are too few or insufficient. There are also difficulties with the materials themselves. Early North Korean materials are often in a mixed Korean-Hanja script and are extremely difficult to read. There are calls for these to be processed. Furthermore, researchers often struggle to identify what materials are essential for their topics and where to find them, as there is no effective search map. Moreover, while we often talk about newspapers, there is no institution in South Korea that systematically collects and preserves the Rodong Sinmun from its inception to the present day.

The reality is that there are no usable "Bukjoseon" yearbooks. Naturally, there are no "Bukjoseon" photo archives either. If the situation were to improve, it would be difficult to expect such archives from Pyongyang, as the Workers' Party of Korea has systematically controlled and destroyed documents from an early stage. Therefore, it will be difficult to find what we need in Pyongyang. The Workers' Party of Korea's primary focus is on accumulating the leader's achievements and self-promotion. Consequently, even if we go to university libraries like Kim Il Sung University to find the materials we need, we cannot freely access or use even the Rodong Sinmun. They invariably favor absolute, inevitable, and eternal modifiers.

However, these are modifiers that cannot be used in objective research. I felt the urgent need for systematic compilation and preservation of the most essential primary sources for North Korean studies, which is why I began the "Bukjoseon Surok" project. This is because, over time, materials deteriorate and are lost. The task of collecting and compiling North Korean materials is truly unreliable, especially for materials created in the 1960s and 1970s, which are now crumbling when touched. If we do not quickly devise preservation measures, these materials will be lost forever. Therefore, we created the "Korea Data Project" and are publishing "Bukjoseon Surok" in cooperation with Kyungnam University's Graduate School of North Korean Studies, building a North Korean digital archive.

Currently, we have published volumes 1 through 13 covering the period from August 15, 1945, to December 17, 1950, and volumes 98 through 124 covering the period from July 1, 1953, to September 23, 1954, totaling 100 volumes. The remaining period to be covered is from December 18, 1950, to June 30, 1953. We plan to focus on collecting and organizing more materials to complete this section by the end of this year. The reason this period is omitted is the urgent need to present the war period more carefully and accurately. The pain and trauma of the war are still with us, so we must exercise extreme caution, reviewing it multiple times.

The "Bukjoseon Surok" project aims to cover history up to 1967. This is because North Korean publication policies underwent a complete change around May-June 1967. We anticipate approximately 500 volumes and aim to complete the project by around 2030. This timeline is determined based on the given roles and circumstances. We have already established a system for publishing books, even in my absence, centered around the Korea Data Project.

We are currently working on publishing "Bukjoseon Surok" as printed books while simultaneously creating the "Bukjoseon Archive." I am also serving as the director of the North Korean Digital Materials Center at this university. Since printed books cannot contain everything, and digital materials have limitations, we are working on incorporating those aspects. I need to explain the criteria for evaluating whether materials have historical value.

First, we assess whether the material significantly reflects critical turning points in events or is essential for understanding "Bukjoseon" at a specific time. Second, we check if it contains information about specific places that played a crucial role in the historical and cultural development of "Bukjoseon." Third, we consider individuals or groups who contributed to North Korean history and culture. Fourth, we examine the themes that were considered important in North Korean history and culture.

For example, if the theme is "self-reliance," we select materials that include collective concepts or groups related to "self-reliance." Fifth, we select materials that have contributed to the identity of the "Bukjoseon" community at the present time and have helped to unite their society internally. Sixth, even if a phenomenon appears individually, we consider it if it could have national, central significance for "Bukjoseon."

To be more specific, we select all materials related to Chairman Kim Il-sung, the Workers' Party of Korea, or military and labor organizations. We also select editorials and major commentary articles from the Rodong Sinmun. We handle propaganda as well. If a specific narrative is presented, we clearly state the facts of that narrative and consider why it was written. In other words, instead of simply discarding what is false or exaggerated, understanding why it was falsified or exaggerated becomes another way to reflect and approach the reality of that time.

I believe this allows us to uncover the truth even within falsehoods. The reality is that not all records we encounter contain only truth; they are a mixture of falsehood and truth. We operate under the premise that the records we encounter contain not only truth but also falsehoods, and historians engage in textual analysis. This process begins with the question 'Why?'. Considering the historical context means questioning 'Why?'. First, we verify the source. We only use materials with 100% confirmed sources.

Second, we explore materials with questions about their context. We examine the meaning of the claims within the social context of the time and understand them in light of that situation. Furthermore, instead of relying on a single document, for example, the 2020 Party Rules of the Workers' Party of Korea, we compare them with the Party Rules from 1946 onwards, which have undergone nine revisions, to understand the meaning of these materials. Therefore, we believe it is important to critically question 'Why?' and confirm the historical records through this process. Another terrifying aspect of distortion is not changing the description of a specific fact.

The most frightening thing is to omit any mention of it. For instance, there is no mention of the "Six-Point Policy" on July 25, 1967, in Kim Il-sung's memoirs. Naturally, it is not included in the Party Rules either. This is truly more frightening. We aim to find and reorganize these aspects that have been omitted or selectively exaggerated over time. We try to guide readers by clarifying the meaning of these changes or selective exaggerations through footnotes. This is another significant aspect of our compilation.

This work is intended to provide references for accurate historical understanding, filling in the gaps in existing knowledge and information. The "Bukjoseon Surok" project is also known in the North. Recently, the Rodong Sinmun introduced our work in its external affairs section. It is likely not a pleasant development for them that materials that individuals have not been able to publish are being released in the South.

This is a point that requires much reflection. In the future, when inter-Korean historical exchanges and cooperation take place, establishing and utilizing joint databases like this would be highly meaningful and play a significant positive role.