Ooohh a good book!

http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20050514/610000000020050514122518E5.html
Top U.S. nuclear negotiator reading book on N. Korean leaders
SEOUL, May 14 (Yonhap) -- The top U.S. envoy on North Korea is reading a book about the personality cult surrounding the leadership of the North, the world's most impenetrable state, a diplomatic source said Saturday.When U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill arrived at a South Korean airport on Saturday for talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, he was seen holding a book titled, "Under the loving care of the fatherly leader: North Korea and the Kim dynasty," the source said.

The book, written by Bradley K. Martin, a North Korea expert and professor at Louisiana State University, offers an in-depth portrait of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and his late father Kim Il-sung, compiled from declassified documents, interviews with 50 North Korean defectors and North Korean media reports.In the book published in October 2004, Martin argues dialogue is a more effective way to deal with North Korea than seeking a regime change.In a recent interview, the author suggested U.S. President George W. Bush send a high-profile figure such as his father, former President George Bush, to Pyongyang as a special envoy, given North Korean leader Kim enjoys almost demigod-like status in his country. Martin cited the first North Korean nuclear crisis in 1994 which was resolved after former U.S. President Jimmy Cater went to Pyongyang as a special envoy.North Korean leader Kim inherited the same absolute power and personality cult that surrounded his father, the founder of the communist country. All North Koreans must wear lapel pins bearing the image of the late Kim and hang the two leaders' portraits side by side on the walls of their homes.

Hill's trip to Seoul comes amid mounting fears that North Korea might soon conduct a nuclear weapons test. A series of press reports have recently speculated that North Korea was preparing to conduct such a test, citing satellite images and other intelligence analyses, but no substantial evidence has yet emerged to confirm the reports.North Korea in February declared itself a nuclear power anddemanded the six-way nuclear talks, involving the two Koreas, theUnited States, China, Japan and Russia, be changed to disarmamenttalks which address not only the North's nuclear weapons but alsothe U.S. nuclear arsenal.The dispute over North Korea's nuclear activities flared in the fall of 2002, when U.S. officials claimed the North admitted to having a secret nuclear arms program in violation of a 1994 pact.Several rounds of six-party talks were held in Beijing to resolve the issue but failed to produce any significant progress.

I'm just finishing reading this book actually (it is quite thick) and would recomend it to anyone with an interest in the DPRK. Although the 700 pages may seem daunting to some, it is well written and rarely gets stale. If someone in the US admistration is reading this book then I am pleased.

I honestly think that one of the major stumbling blocks to diplomacy on the peninsula is simply that the US does not understand Korea very well. That is not to say it hasn't been studied, but I find those in power to have a shocking lack of knowledge in the area.

My wife had mentioned to me that on Korean news it was said that George W. Bush was reading Aquariums of Pyongyang.

definitely another great book but in my opinion it should be read as part of a greater works. If one was to read it alone, and know nothing else of the DPRK, a resolution to the problems facing the peninsula might not seem attainable.