Andrei Lankov has gone where few outsiders have ever been. A native of the former Soviet Union, he lived as an exchange student in North Korea in the 1980s. He has studied it for his entire career, using his fluency in Korean and personal contacts to build a rich, nuanced understanding.
In The Real North Korea, Lankov substitutes cold, clear analysis for the overheated rhetoric surrounding this opaque police state. After providing an accessible history of the nation, he turns his focus to what North Korea is, what its leadership thinks, and how its people cope with living in such an oppressive and poor place. He argues that North Korea is not irrational, and nothing shows this better than its continuing survival against all odds. A living political fossil, it clings to existence in the face of limited resources and a zombie economy, manipulating great powers despite its weakness. Its leaders are not ideological zealots or madmen, but perhaps the best practitioners of Machiavellian politics that can be found in the modern world. Even though they preside over a failed state, they have successfully used diplomacy-including nuclear threats-to extract support from other nations. But while the people in charge have been ruthless and successful in holding on to power, Lankov goes on to argue that this cannot continue forever, since the old system is slowly falling apart. In the long run, with or without reform, the regime is unsustainable. Lankov contends that reforms, if attempted, will trigger a dramatic implosion of the regime. They will not prolong its existence.
Based on vast expertise, this book reveals how average North Koreans live, how their leaders rule, and how both survive.
0 有用 火車大巴扎 2022-05-11 15:52:58
@2019-09-13 13:30:21
0 有用 Kimh 2015-04-09 12:58:34
之前添加这个条目失败了...
0 有用 陈德柱 2017-02-26 09:03:48
好看
0 有用 kayoko 2021-10-16 08:39:22
好看,干货多
0 有用 白菜爱好者 2024-05-13 01:36:06 上海
把朝鲜视为弱国家,改革或开放不会带来解决而是风险
0 有用 白菜爱好者 2024-05-13 01:36:06 上海
把朝鲜视为弱国家,改革或开放不会带来解决而是风险
0 有用 vale 2024-03-02 01:58:31 上海
thanks the book,i get a lot information about how people live in a country so similar to mine. the leniency wish in the end is so optimistic
0 有用 Ruihan睿涵 2024-02-25 07:54:51 英国
好书
0 有用 Bruce 2023-11-11 22:06:57 日本
2023年第79本,李钟元的reading,看了日语版,大変勉強になりました。应该是了解朝鲜的必读书物了。
0 有用 チリ大統領 2022-10-05 06:16:19 北京
不错的入门书