From Stalin to Kim Il Sung : the formation of North Korea, 1945-1960 / Andrei Lankov.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

North Korea in 1945-8 : the Soviet occupation and the birth of the state -- Kim Il Sung : an attempt at a biography -- The factions in the North Korean leadership in the 1940s and 1950s -- The emergence of the Soviet faction in North Korea, 1945-55 -- Hŏ Ka-I : a forgotten founding father of the KWP -- The August challenge.

Publisher description: A history of North Korea from 1945 to 1960. To understand how North Korea has survived as the world₂s last Stalinist regime despite international isolation₇and at enormous human costs to its people₇one must look at how its political system was created. The country₂s foundations were laid in the late 1940s and 1950s as a result of interaction between the Soviet Stalinist model, imposed from outside, and local traditions. Andrei Lankov traces the formation of the North Korean state and the early years of Kim Il Sung₂s rule, when the future "Great Leader" and his entourage were consolidating their power base. Surveying the situation in North Korea after 1945, Lankov explores the internal composition of the ruling elite, the role of the Soviets, and the uneasy relations between various political groups. He also focuses on how in 1956 Kim Il Sung defeated the only known attempt to oust him and thereby established absolute personal rule beyond either Soviet or Chinese control. The book is based on previously secret Soviet documents from Russian archives, as well as interviews with Russian and Korean participants.