The founder of North Korea Kim Il-sung’s autobiography “With the Century” was recently published in South Korea for the first time. Major online and brick and mortar bookstores began selling the book even though the South Korean Supreme Court has earlier ruled that it is a publication that benefits the “enemy”.
The book (all eight volumes) was originally published in 1992 by a North Korean Workers’ Party-owned publishing company. It was published to celebrate Kim Il-sung’s 80th birthday. The book retells Kim’s life story, from his childhood to the Korean independence movement against Japanese colonialism.
The book was published in South Korea by a company called Minjok Sarangbang, which roughly translates as “People’s Reception Room.” The company was registered as a publishing company in November, and it was established by Kim Seung-kyoon, the former chairman of the Inter-Korean Civilian Exchange Commission, a private organization that focuses on inter-Korean exchanges. Kim is also the CEO of a company called Nambook that trades with North Korea. The eight-volume memoir is being sold for 280,000 won ($250.22).
According to the publishing company’s press release, “the book is about Kim’s armed struggle against Japan until Korea was liberated from Japanese imperialism on August 15, 1945.” The company states that Gen. Kim Il-sung was not considered a legendary figure under Japanese colonialism, but this book resolves questions [regarding truths] surrounding him.
“We are facing the second Cold War between China and the United States as the era of the previous Cold War is collapsing,” the company said. “If we do not stay focused, our blood might get destroyed if the country becomes the new battleground of the second Korean War. We need to accomplish the unification process through reconciliation between the North and South.”
The publication of the book creates potential legal issues. One such issue is whether it violates the South Korean National Security Act. Article 7 of the act states the following.
“Any person who praises, incites or propagates the activities of an anti-government organization, a member thereof or of the person who has received an order from it, or who acts in concert with it, or propagates or instigates a rebellion against the State, with the knowledge of the fact that it may endanger the existence and security of the State or democratic fundamental order, shall be punished by imprisonment for no more than seven years.”
In 2011, one South Korean national surnamed Chung who visited North Korea without the South Korean government’s approval was found guilty by the Supreme Court. The court ruled that the items he carried, including “With the Century,” were publications that benefited the enemy. Chung was sentenced to a year in prison.
In 2016, the Supreme Court also found a professor from Ulsan University who gave an assignment to students to write a report on a reading from “With the Century” to be guilty under the act. He was sentenced to six months in prison and one-year probation.
There were multiple attempts to publish the book in South Korea throughout the 1990s. However, the book is controversial, as it distorts history and glamorizes Kim Il-sung. North Korea argues that most of the struggle against Japan was led by Kim and does not give credit to any other activists at the time.
In 1994, the South Korean publishing company Gaseowon tried to publish the book, but the company and printing factory were seized and searched, and the owner of the company was arrested.
“I know it is controversial, but the memoir is a record of the premier Kim Il-sung’s childhood to his struggles against Japan, and I think it can be introduced in South Korea,” said Kim Seung-kyoon, the head of the publishing company. “The South Korean Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, publication, and conscience.”
Reportedly, the book was not written by Kim Il-sung himself but was composed by professional writers and journalists. The late Hwang Jang-yop, former international secretary of North Korea’s Workers’ Party who defected to South Korea, explained the book as follows.
“The masterpiece of historical fabrication is Kim Il-sung’s memoirs ‘Together with the Century.’ Kim Il-sung ordered the publication of the memoirs of revolutionaries who had been part of the partisan struggle and got party members and workers to read the memoirs as part of their studies. Naturally the memoirs were written by writers and journalists to make the half-truths more interesting and flattering to Kim Il-sung. Nevertheless, the memoirs proved very useful in heightening the awe and adoration that youths and party members felt for Kim Il-sung and the partisan struggle.
But when Kim Jong Il entered the central party in the late 1960s, he recalled all the memoirs written by members of the partisan struggle.”
Hwang said the book was created by artists who had been writing scenarios for revolutionary novels and films, which made it very interesting to read. He said he argued the book should not be published after Kim Il-sung died.
“I pointed out that quite a few people already questioned the integrity of the memoirs published, so far because it was too intriguing to be true. So if the memoirs continued to be published even after Kim Il-sung’s death, people would lose their faith in even the ones that had been published while he was alive. I also had another reason in mind. It was all right to stretch the truth about the partisan struggle before liberation, since no one would take issue with that. But exaggerating the post-liberation period, which is public knowledge, was a different matter. I was afraid it might cause problems in diplomatic relations.”
However, his attempts to stop the publication in North Korea failed.
“Overzealous officials ignored my advice and submitted the sequel to Kim Il-sung’s memoirs for Kim Jong Il’s approval. The memoirs are still being published, long after the death of Kim Il-sung. Distortion of history will not go unpunished forever. But for now, the memoirs are still being used to fool the North Korean people and maintain the absolutism of the Great Leader.”
South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party’s full name in Korean is “Deobureo-Minjoo-Dang,” which translates as “Together Democratic Party.” Kim Il-sung’s memoir in Korean is “Segiwa Deobureo,” which translates as together, or with, the century. The party’s name was changed in 2015, and at that time many speculated that the party took the word “Deobureo” (together) from the memoir.
“‘Deobureo’ sounds like a nice word but the title of Kim Il-sung’s book uses the same word,” said conservative politician Hong Joon-pyo in a 2019 YouTube video. “I felt that the Democratic Party might have taken the word from Kim Il-sung’s book.”
