by Sabrin Kassam

Approaching the anniversary of Kim Jong-Il’s demise, Professor Bruce Cumings drew attention to the importance of the historical context around North Korea that can often get overlooked. Speaking on Saturday at the Korean Economic and Political Forum in London, he explained that looking into North Korea’s history as a monarchy and understanding of transition of power that followed Kim Il-Sung’s demise is valuable in trying to make sense of current developments.

Cumings brought to light the events that followed the previous transition in evaluating the current-day North Korean leadership, noting “there wasn’t much of a ripple when