This article intends to understand the unique characteristics of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea)’s interpretation of western history by examining the Dictionary of History (Pyeongyang, 1971). Published by the Institute of History/Academy of Social Science in the midst of the Cold War Era, the Dictionary of History (DH) represents an official version of world civilization in general and western history in particular. Consisting of a total of 3,402 items in two volumes, the DH comprises 2,910 items of Korean history (85.5% of the total entries) and 492 items of world history (14.5%), thus revealing a kind of Korea-centrism. The category of world history can be subdivided into 265 items of Western history (54%), 173 items of Asian history (35%), and 54 items of comparative history (11%). Historical materialism and anti-(American) imperialism are shown to be indisputable backbones and guiding ideologies of the dictionary, and play a decisive role in selecting, describing, and assessing all entries. The author believes that this case study will offer an opportunity to observe how writing history and state (re)building in North Korea interact with and support each other. After a close examination and analysis of all the items relevant to western history, the author arrives at the following tentative conclusions. Most of all, the DH is an interesting and valuable primary source which vividly illustrates how the ruling elite of North Korea perceived themselves and the surrounding world at the peak of the Cold War Era. By highlighting and often exaggerating the perceived threat and hostility of Western (American) imperialism, the DH has contributed to the endorsement and propagation of the ideological legitimacy of the Juche-Idea, that is, of the indispensability of self-reliance vis-à-vis foreign powers. On the other hand, judging from the perspective of global history, the DH deserves, ironically speaking, to be one of the most rare and impressive masterpieces where the center and the periphery, the West and the East, the colonizer and the colonized collide and become embroiled and entangled with each other. In these respects, the author is confident that the Dictionary of History serves as a commemorating underground tunnel which leads us to the strange wonderland of North Korea during the Cold War Era, helping us to grasp the mentalité of most North Korean in the 1960's

This article intends to understand the unique characteristics of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea)’s interpretation of western history by examining the Dictionary of History (Pyeongyang, 1971). Published by the Institute of History/Academy of Social Science in the midst of the Cold War Era, the Dictionary of History (DH) represents an official version of world civilization in general and western history in particular. Consisting of a total of 3,402 items in two volumes, the DH comprises 2,910 items of Korean history (85.5% of the total entries) and 492 items of world history (14.5%), thus revealing a kind of Korea-centrism. The category of world history can be subdivided into 265 items of Western history (54%), 173 items of Asian history (35%), and 54 items of comparative history (11%). Historical materialism and anti-(American) imperialism are shown to be indisputable backbones and guiding ideologies of the dictionary, and play a decisive role in selecting, describing, and assessing all entries. The author believes that this case study will offer an opportunity to observe how writing history and state (re)building in North Korea interact with and support each other. After a close examination and analysis of all the items relevant to western history, the author arrives at the following tentative conclusions. Most of all, the DH is an interesting and valuable primary source which vividly illustrates how the ruling elite of North Korea perceived themselves and the surrounding world at the peak of the Cold War Era. By highlighting and often exaggerating the perceived threat and hostility of Western (American) imperialism, the DH has contributed to the endorsement and propagation of the ideological legitimacy of the Juche-Idea, that is, of the indispensability of self-reliance vis-à-vis foreign powers. On the other hand, judging from the perspective of global history, the DH deserves, ironically speaking, to be one of the most rare and impressive masterpieces where the center and the periphery, the West and the East, the colonizer and the colonized collide and become embroiled and entangled with each other. In these respects, the author is confident that the Dictionary of History serves as a commemorating underground tunnel which leads us to the strange wonderland of North Korea during the Cold War Era, helping us to grasp the mentalité of most North Korean in the 1960's

Dictionary of History, North Korea, Western History, Historical Materialism, Anti-American Imperialism, Global History