Book Talk by Jonathan Cheng: "Korean Messiah"

Pepperdine Libraries is pleased to partner with the International Studies and Languages Division to present a talk by Jonathan Cheng, the Wall Street Journal’s China bureau chief and former Korea bureau chief, on his new book, Korean Messiah: Kim Il Sung and the Christian Roots of North Korea's Personality Cult. In it, Cheng explores how North Korea's political system and dynasty borrow heavily from Christian rituals, structures, and messianic ideas. Pyongyang was once so dominated by Christianity that it was known as the “Jerusalem of the East.” At the center of this story is North Korea’s founder, Kim Il Sung, son of two fervent Christians and progenitor of an ideology known as Kimilsungism, an exercise in idolatry that has elevated him, and his successor son and grandson, to Christlike status. The Kim family today presides over one of the world’s harshest persecutors of the Christian faith.

Admission is free, and refreshments are provided.