"A meaty, fast-paced portrait of North Korean society, economy,
politics and foreign policy." -Foreign Affairs
The definitive account of North Korea, its veiled past and uncertain
future, from the former Director for Asian Affairs at the National
Security Council
In The Impossible State, seasoned international-policy expert and
lauded scholar Victor Cha pulls back the curtain on this controversial
and isolated country, providing the best look yet at North Korea's
history, the rise of the Kim family dynasty, and the obsessive
personality cult that empowers them. He illuminates the repressive
regime's complex economy and culture, its appalling record of
human-rights abuses, and its belligerent relationship with the United
States, and analyzes the regime's major security issues--from the
seemingly endless war with its southern neighbor to its frightening
nuclear ambitions--all in light of the destabilizing effects of Kim
Jong-il's recent death.
How this enigmatic nation-state--one that regularly violates its own
citizens' inalienable rights and has suffered famine, global economic
sanctions, a collapsed economy, and near total isolation from the rest
of the world--has continued to survive has long been a question that
preoccupies the West. Cha reveals a land of contradictions, one 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 an adviser in the White House, this engagingly written,
authoritative, and highly accessible history 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 America and its allies may be woefully
unprepared.
