Author and journalist Blaine Harden discusses his new book, The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot:The True Story of the Tyrant Who Created North Korea and the Young Lieutenant Who Stole His Way to Freedom, with Kenneth Rowe (No Kum Sok), the former fighter pilot in the North Korean Air Force who defected to South Korea in his MiG-15 in 1953. The book interweaves Rowe’s story with that of Kim Il-Sung’s rise to power during the Korean War.
Using government documents found in Chinese and Russian archives related to the role of Mao and Stalin in Kim’s rise to power, as well as Rowe’s never-before-released FBI, CIA, and US Air Force files, Harden has written a heart-pounding escape adventure that provides an entirely new way to understand the world’s longest-lasting totalitarian state.
The book will be available for sale and a reception, and book signing will follow.
Wednesday, March 18, 2015 | 6:30 PM
Students, Explorers and Above: Free
Members: $10
Nonmembers: $20
“I could not put this book down. The interwoven stories of Kim Il-Sung and MiG fighter pilot No Kum Sok are carefully researched and artfully told. Harden shows how each man played the system to achieve his lifelong goal—in Kim's case, the creation of a personality cult and oppressive regime, and in No's case, defection from it. Harden succeeds in offering a unique lens on North Korean history and politics that offers something for both the general and expert readership.”
—Dr. Victor Cha, Professor of Government and Director of Asian Studies, Georgetown University; former National Security Council director for Asian affairs, 2004-7
“Having exposed the full horror of the North Korean gulag by telling the story of Shin Dong-hyuk’s escape from Camp 14, Blaine Harden now uses contrasting portraits of the founding tyrant Kim Il Sung and the young MiG pilot who flew to freedom six decades ago to explain how the monstrous political system of North Korea came into existence in the first place. The result is a triumph of story-telling that brings history to life and explains why the North Korean regime is such a menace to its own people and to the world.”
—Carl Gershman, President of the National Endowment for Democracy
