Accidental Tyrant

The Life of Kim Il-Sung

De: Fyodor Tertitskiy

Narrado por: Gildart Jackson

Kim Il-sung was the enigmatic architect of North Korea. His life is an extraordinary tale of improbable success: once a barely educated guerrilla fighter, he rose to lead the nation at the young age of thirty-three. Against all odds, he established a horrifyingly stable dictatorial regime, one that still struggles to provide for its people, yet could obliterate Hollywood, Silicon Valley, and much of East Asia in nuclear strikes.

Based on extensive new sources in Korean, Russian, Chinese, and Japanese, Fyodor Tertitskiy tells the unlikely story of one of the twentieth century's most brutal but little-known dictators, from his early life in Japanese Korea to the lasting repercussions of his autocratic rule today. Tertitskiy showcases Kim's political prowess in gaining autonomy from the USSR; explores how his inept economic policy led to catastrophic famine; and highlights how he implemented a system of hereditary rule, paving the way for today's 'Supreme Leader', Kim Jong-un, to assume power and continue his grandfather's vision.

Accidental Tyrant serves as a stark cautionary tale, underscoring that the triumph of liberty is never guaranteed. Met with insufficient resistance, even the most unlikely leader can build a regime of repression and privation that long outlives its founder.

©2025 Fyodor Tertitskiy (P)2025 Tantor Media

Helpful information, Great storytelling, inaccurate pronunciation. Book should be probably be renamed “Intentional Tyrant”

Review of “Accidental Tyrant” Audiobook

Helpful information, Great storytelling, inaccurate pronunciation. Book should be renamed “Intentional Tyrant”

Perhaps due to the author’s situation as a person coming from a Russian background but assimilated into South Korean society, he was able access aspects of history and to weave together the geopolitical context in a way that would be understandable for Western readers.

I had no big disagreement with any of the information in the book except the claim that Christianity had come to the Korean peninsula through foreign missionaries (It didn’t, it came through native Korean merchants). I also sensed that a bit of a de-emphasis of Christianity’s role in the life of Kim Il-sung, that of his family members, Juche ideology, and even other historical figures like Cho Man-sik. Mentions of the role Christianity or other religions seemed to be more like concessional glosses rather than inquisitive explorations.

Because the name of the book is “Accidental Tyrant”, I went through the entire book waiting for some shocking piece of information not found in other sources that revealed that Kim Il Sung actually did not want to be a tyrant. But, instead, the book ended by concluding that Kim Il-sung did want to secure power over Korea for himself and exercise eternal influence on the regime he had built and has been successful in doing so. The only reason I could conceive of to title the book “Accidental Tyrant” is that the Soviets at various points may not have intended for Kim Il-sung to seek absolute domination of the North Korean state.

(The following part of the review only applies to the audiobook)

The audiobook narrator seemed to be somewhat familiar with pronunciation of Russian proper nouns (and for some reason mimicked local pronunciation only when reading quotes from Russian people) but not with pronunciation of Korean, Chinese or Japanese. This really put a dent in my trust in the level of professionalism involved in making the book, but I have decided to attribute it to the narrator rather than the author. Still, I wish that more consideration would be given have been given to at least Korean pronunciation of names and other proper nouns, if not the other languages. Sometimes it was difficult to know who, what, or where the book was talking about due to the pronunciation.