Book description
Much discussed and often maligned, precious little is known or
understood about North Korea, the world's most controversial and
isolated country. In The Impossible State Victor Cha pulls back
the curtain, providing an unprecedented insight into North Korea's
history, the rise of the Kim family dynasty, and the obsessive
personality cult that surrounds them. He illuminates the repressive
regime's complex economy and culture, its appalling record of
human-rights abuses, its belligerent relationship with its neighbours
and the United States, and analyzes the regime's major security issues
- from the seemingly endless war with its southern counterpart to its
terrifying nuclear ambitions - all in the light of the destabilizing
effects of Kim Jong-il's recent death.
How has this enigmatic nation-state continued to survive when it
regularly violates its own citizens' inalienable rights and has
suffered severe famine, global economic sanctions, a collapsed
economy, and near-total isolation from the rest of the world? Cha
reveals a land facing a pivotal and disquieting transition of power
from tyrannical father to inexperienced son, and delves into the
ideology that leads an oppressed, starving populace to cling so
fiercely to its failed leadership.
With rare personal anecdotes from the author's time in Pyongyang and
his tenure as a White House adviser, this engagingly written,
authoritative, and highly accessible account offers much-needed
answers to the most pressing questions about North Korea and
ultimately warns of a regime that might be closer to its end than many
might think - a political collapse for which the Western world may be
woefully unprepared.
Victor Cha is the former Director for Asian Affairs at the National
Security Council. He was the U. S. Deputy Head of Delegation for the Six
Party Talks, concerned with security risks posed by the North Korean
weapons programme. During his role as adviser to the White House he
spent time in Pyongyang, and is in a unique position to comment on North
Korean affairs. He is currently Professor of Government and Asian
Studies and Director of Asian Studies at Georgetown University.
