With the Century

About “With the Century”

Reminiscences: With the Century is an autobiography by Kim Il Sung, the founder and former president of North Korea. Written in 1992 and published in eight volumes, it recounts his life from childhood through the period of Korean resistance. Originally, 30 volumes were planned, but Kim Il Sung died in 1994 after six volumes were completed. The seventh and eighth volumes were published after his death. The work includes early influences of religious and literary ideas on his thoughts. It is considered an important part of North Korean literature and an unreliable but intriguing glimpse into the country's modern history during late colonial Korea. The book is one of the few North Korean primary sources available in the West and is used as research material for North Korean studies. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.)