Kim-IL sung and Kim-Jong il Wrote Childrens Books How Unfortunate For Us

I realise that its difficult for one to  phantom that with all those enemies of the state they had to imprison and execute that these two sociopaths found time to write books for children.  Of course these "childrens books" are exceedingly violent but hey, its North Korea.

   "At last the left cyst burst, emitting fierce flames and the captain fell down, dejectedly dropping his club. At that moment a loud battle cry was heard from outside. Villagers killed the rest of the bandits."

This is an extract from Boys Wipe Out Bandits by Kim Jong-il - North Korea's "Dear Leader" who died in 2011.

Kim Jong-il and his father, Kim Il-sung, recognised the power of books and they are both credited with writing children's stories.

This one is "an extraordinarily violent and exuberant tale," says Christopher Richardson, who is researching North Korean children's literature at Sydney University.

Illustration from Boys Wipe Out Bandits 

It is a story "of reactionaries and bandits and gluttons lurking in the hills of North Korea, predating on the pure-hearted and virtuous villagers who incarnate all of the traditional virtues of the North Korean revolution," he says.

The heroes are a group of brave youngsters who stand up to the bandits. Despite its political message, Richardson thinks it would be wrong to dismiss tales like this simply as propaganda.

"They can be quite fun to read and they're actually quite good yarns, and I imagine children aren't even that aware of the ideological content," he says.

"If you made a cartoon of Boys Wipe Out Bandits and showed it to a bunch of Western six-year-olds or eight-year-olds they'd go nuts for it. They'd love it because it's the same kind of silly violent nonsense that boys everywhere tend to like."


Most of these stories are anti American which I'm sure is just shocking, but back to the original premise how could these two ever found the time write childrens books when they had a country to ruin and population to suppress.

Everyone knows that the dictator business can be a difficult one as you must always watch your back.