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Highly Recommended: The one modest blessing of being sick is that it gave me time to finish Gordon Cucullu’s book, Separated at Birth: How North Korea Became the Evil Twin. By now, I consider Gordon a personal friend, so I approach a critique of his work with some discomfort–and a need to disclaim that discomfort openly to readers who might mistake me for an objective reviewer.

The real strength of Separated at Birth is its description of South Korea, not the North. Specifically, its strength is Gordon’s in personam knowledge of South Korea’s transformations, both political and economic, and his insider’s report on the turbulent period from Park Chun-Hee’s assassination, to the rise of Chun Doo-Hwan, to Kwangju. He testifies credibly that there was certainly plenty of incompetence and insensitivity in the U.S. military command structure that failed to send sufficiently strong signals of opposition, but nothing approaching U.S. approval or collusion. He also makes a good case that Chun was largely immunized to U.S. pressure to democratize because Jimmy Carter’s threats to withdraw had forced Park Chung-Hee into a crash program of military independence. It was in fact the 1988 Olympics and the broad pro-democracy movement that preceded it that eventually forced Chun out. That may be reason to rethink the Beijing Olympics, too.

Carter, of course, went on to give us the diplomatic fiasco known as the Agreed Framework, which is why North Korea is now capable of making a credible nuclear threat.

Gordon’s observations about the chaos in Korea at the end of the Japanese occupation were also of great interest, and he offers a solid and coherent defense for U.S. actions that temporarily kept Japanese officials in power and ultimately led to Korea’s division. He could well have brought up the comparison of Iraq, where we did instantly dissolve the existing power structure–a decision blamed for looting, chaos, and fueling the insurgency. Sometimes, even perfect hindsight only shows bad options.

Another point: Gordon Cucullu explained the Korean concept of han than any other person, Korean or American, has ever explained it to me. Understanding that concept is essential to understanding Korea.

Quibbles? Minor ones. The Soviet-made tank the North Koreans used to invade the South was the T-34, not the T-47, and I’ll buy lunch for the first person who can prove that the SKS carbine is a bolt-action rifle (as opposed to a semi-automatic). Surprisingly, given the book’s title, only about one-third of it is about North Korea. Given the author’s relative depth of experience in the South, however, it wouldn’t have been easy for him to describe the North with the same degree of illuminating detail (here’s a thought: an edition co-written with Andrei Lankov!). Everything Gordon says about the North seems true enough, but there wasn’t much in there that was news to me. But Gordon is involved in several other projects that more directly impact the North. These may add much to his direct knowledge of North Korea, and to our own.

My final word on Separated at Birth is that it ought to passed out to American officer, NCO, and diplomat who boards the long charter flight for a PCS to Korea. Readable, insightful, and narrated with affection for the Korean people, it gives historical context to events today. Had I read it in 1998, it would have immeasurably broadened by own understanding of events I later observed.