IN-PERSON: An Evening with Sung-Yoon Lee, Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and Author of The Sister

Join the Hudson Library & Historical Society on Tuesday, January 23 for an in-person author event with Sung-Yoon Lee, Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars who will discuss his book, The Sister. The Sister is a fascinating, authoritative account of the mysterious world of North Korea and its ruling dynasty—a family whose lust for power entails the brutal repression of civilians, a missile program that can reach the continental U.S., and the constant threat of global havoc. The New York Times Book Review calls the book “a timely, important treatment of a dangerous leader, and a sincere warning not to underestimate her.”

The first woman ever to issue the threat of a nuclear weapons strike is not even officially a head of state. Kim Yo Jong is the sister of North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un and, as their regime’s chief propagandist, internal administrator, and foreign policymaker, she is the most powerful woman in North Korean history. Cruel but charming, she threatens and insults foreign leaders with sardonic wit, issuing proclamations and denunciations in her own name, a first for any woman in the Korean royal family. She memorably called the South Korean Defense Minister “a senseless and scum-like guy” before going on to promise South Korea “a miserable fate little short of total destruction and ruin.” A princess by birth with great expectations for her macabre kingdom, she was brought up to believe it is her mission to reunite North Korea with the South or die trying.

Sung-Yoon Lee is a scholar of Korean and East Asian studies and a specialist on North Korea. He is a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and previously taught Korean history at Tufts University. He has written on the politics of the Korean peninsula for numerous publications including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. He has testified as an expert witness at the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee hearings on North Korea policy and has advised senior leaders, including the President of the United States.

Registration for this program is required. Copies of The Sister will be available for purchase and signing courtesy of the Learned Owl Book Shop.

For more information, email askus@hudson.lib.oh.us or call (330) 653-6658 x1010.