North Korean House of Cards : Leadership Dynamics Under Kim Jong-un

Ken E. Gause is the author of HRNK's "Coercion, Control, Surveillance, and Punishment: An Examination of the North Korean Police State" (2013). His book, "North Korean House of Cards: Leadership Dynamics Under Kim Jong-un," examines the leadership of the first three and a half years of the Kim Jong-un era. In addition to charting the rise and fall of the core group of leaders who make up the circles of power around the new Supreme Leader, it lays out a model for how the regime operates based on the major events from the end of 2011 through the summer of 2015. This model argues that Kim Jong-un is the ultimate decision maker and sole source of legitimacy for the regime, although he has yet to fully consolidate his power. This book also provides an unprecedented, open source look into the men and women who comprise the "who's who" of the four echelons of Kim's leadership and delivers detailed biographies of these key advisors to the Supreme Leader. Names, positions, and little-known information on these individuals are organized in highly useful tables within the book.