North Korea: US, Western aggression, China, Russia, South Korea (w) UChicago Professor Bruce Cumings

I just wanted to say how much I appreciate Mr. Cummings and thank you for having him on. My mom lost relatives in the Gwangju uprising and my dad was there in the peace corps during the dictatorships so I certainly grew up with a more realistic view of American power and influence in the region. I learned so much from his books which are invaluable to English readers and helps shine a light on how much more complicated and beautiful Korea is than just North versus South.

If you are taking questions, mine would be if he thinks or knows if the U.S. had advanced warning of Chun Doo-hwan’s coup? And on a lighter note, what’s his favorite Korean dish😊?

Valuable discussion on history. 🙏🙏🌺💚✍️-bmd

Tnx for the interview

Bruce Cummings is an indispensable guide for Anglophone outsiders to 20th century Korean culture and history!

Excellent discourse on a rarely discussed topic.

The United States has committed war crimes in WWII and since. The west and Americans have been fooled by propaganda, lies and deliberate selective information. Thank you for providing modern history of North Korea.

Prof. Cumings should do more talks and interviews more often. The public would certainly benefit from it.

Great content. It filled in a lot of blanks for me.

US gov 1st started to steal Korea after it « gave » Korea from Chinas protection to Japanese empire after Russo Japanese War
as part of consolation prize as part of Theodore Roisevelts « diplomacy » to end that 1905 war that had England help
Japan defeat Russia.
Want a « free » country as a gift ??

Excellent stuff

He reminds me of mearsheimer

Excellent information. Great work as usual.

Russia is declining state? Is this guy in 2024?

The heinous crimes against the nation’s of the world will haunt America!!

I had the extreme pleasure of studying under Chalmers Johnson at UC-San Diego. RIP

Thank you so much for this.

I was surprised by some of Prof. Cumings answers. For instance, he views the Russia-DPRK defense treaty as not a real treaty, and Russia as much more of a self-interested actor who is "using" NKorea. I strongly disagree.

Prof. Cumings views Trump's detente with NKorea in the most cynical way. He seems to give him no credit for doing as much as he did, despite being attacked on all sides, Republican and Democrat, for pursuing peace and dialogue with NKorea.

Cumings also seems to suggest that NKorea's "image problem" is wholly of their own making. He intimates that if only NKorea could get "hip" to what's cool and fashionable, they might be viewed more favorably in the West.

On these 3 main points, I strongly disagree. I don't think Russia's relation with NKorea is purely transactional but consists of genuine good-will and brotherly spirit as well. Russia is also not on the decline but the very opposite.

While Trump eventually bungled a historic peace treaty with NKorea (not least because of his Neocon advisors), he deserves credit for doing as much.

NKorea's image problem is also not completely in their control but shaped and manufactured by US foreign policy. The American propaganda machine can demonize anyone, or make a champion of anyone.

For example, China, Russia and Iran's image problem in the West is not due to anything they did, but how US authorities want to shape American perception.

I don't believe NKorea wants to be poor and isolated. NKorea wants to trade and interact with other nations.

Failure to unify with SKorea is also not their doing, but the South's. NKorea has repeatedly signaled and stated that they want good relations. But these attempts are rebuffed by every conservative SKorean administration with demands of unilateral disarmament.

Some reasonable and useful perspectives from Cummings, but his view of history is still shaped from the perspective of a lifetime of anglo-american domination/exceptionalism. While he makes concessions to the US meddling, he still seems to have blinkers on when it comes to surrounding Eurasian context - ie Russian decline. Indicative of the pervasive ignorance of western commentators who don't do the hard yards to get past the mountains of propaganda.

I think Russia just wants North Korea to sleep better and not see fantasies in the current disorder

The global left, global north, global South, global west, collective west. Blah, blah, blah, blah blah. WTF is going on with all these ridiculous and grammatically incorrect expressions???

Really very interesting and informative program. I don't believe a single word anymore that comes out of the mouths of the western legacy press. It's amazing how a totally skewed picture one gets in the West about North Korea. One comment about Russia: I'm not sure whether it is a country in decline. Especially as it's in BRICS+. This alternative market seems to me to be a powerhouse. It's also not clear to me about the status of the communist party in Russia. I do think it's quite alive and seemingly well representing a sizeable percentage of the population.

Eye opening

The Russians "fought with" or "against the Japanese"....not to be a grammar Nazi- but sometimes it does matter.... and why would anyone knowing that 260,000 Chinese troops petty much kept North Korea alive as an entity, be surprised their extremely close to China ...???
You ,Chas Freeman and Doug MacGregor have to have a talk...

He says that Russia is a declining state. It sure doesn't seem that way.

I heard an interview with a demographer recently, and he said that like South Korea and China are basically done because they're not having (enough) children. It seems there's a tension between what environmentalists say and what some believe is necessary to replenish society. I think environmentalists would like the global population to stay the same at least and get smaller at best. Some in the field of demography say that the globe and specific nations need a growing population (economically) for continued well being into the future.

I'd love to see a demographic expert interviewed and these issues delved into/discussed.

I think in the 1980s this guy had a great perspective. Sadly as the most propgandiest people Americans are not able to have a realistic view of the world ouside of their special interest and they lack the ability to connect things they learned about one topic to another.

Still a good entry into changing your views on the DPRK for Americans.

Thank you for hosting this interview!

marvelous about k.history cumings, but strangely schizophrenic MSM-nonsense-spewing about current geopolitics, e.g,, RUS is only using N.K.! but then: N.K truly can use the oil, weapons, etc, that RUS is giving it... Comm''on bruce, whom you think are you kidding?

Enjoyed the interview. Very interesting facts about DPKR. Not so sure about his views on the geopolitical perspective.
Thank you IGL✊🏼

Cummings tries hard to be show us that he’s fair but cannot hide his true colors; he is a biased white man.