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<p>Dear KS Subscribers: <br>
<br>
Below is an e-mail I received from Andre Lankov. He requested that
I post this for him as he is not currently a KS subscriber. <br>
</p>
<p>Sheila Miyoshi Jager<br>
<br>
********* <br>
<br>
Dear colleagues, the KS list members, <br>
<br>
The situation with Dr. Armstrong’s book looks grimmer and grimmer
<br>
every day. As we all can see from the now easily available data,
the <br>
scale and character of the problems are far more serious than
could be <br>
expected before. <br>
<br>
I checked more notes to the Soviet archival documents which are <br>
present in the recently published table of problems, and, indeed,
the <br>
documents cited have no information which is mentioned in the
book. <br>
<br>
I will not bother you with too many facts, but will mention one.
On <br>
page 68, Dr. Armstrong cites a Soviet archival document which, as
it <br>
is implied, mentions Pyongyang City Rehabilitation Committee
(PCRC), <br>
teams of the Soviet technicians and Soviet Ambassador’s personal <br>
involvement with the city reconstruction as well as Kim Il Song’s
<br>
chairmanship of the PCRC. Judging by the title (“Interview with <br>
Pyongyang City Committee Vice-Chairman Comrade Kim Song-yong”),
the <br>
document in question, indeed, might deal with such matters, but <br>
actually it does not: its main topic is the rules regarding the
party <br>
membership, and there are no references to any of the above
mentioned <br>
topics. <br>
<br>
This is only one of many problems – and I’ve checked only part of
the <br>
problematic footnotes. <br>
<br>
However, there is still some probability that we are dealing with
a <br>
chain of unintentional mistakes, and, frankly, remarkably shoddy <br>
handling of primary sources, and not with a massive case of
foot-mining <br>
(or, likely, something far worse). The matter should be clarified.
From where I sit, <br>
it seems that the only way to resolve the mounting doubts is for <br>
Dr. Armstrong to produce the archival documents he used in <br>
writing the book – to be more precise, the documents which contain
<br>
information and data presented in the book’s text. If this can be
done, <br>
the sooner the better. Producing these documents will dispel most
of the suspicions <br>
which are growing fast. But even if this is done, the mishandling
of footnotes <br>
and/or sources on such scale needs some clarification, I presume.
<br>
<br>
Andre Lankov
</p>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 9/27/2016 12:55 AM, Balazs Szalontai
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:850208207.10006174.1474952107125@mail.yahoo.com"
type="cite">
<div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff;
font-family:Helvetica Neue-Light, Helvetica Neue Light,
Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande,
Sans-Serif;font-size:13px">
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71096"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times
New Roman","serif""
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71097">Dear Subscribers,<o:p
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71098"></o:p></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71099"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times
New Roman","serif""
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71100"><o:p
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71101"> </o:p></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71102"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times
New Roman","serif""
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71103">Let me quote a
few sentences from my latest post of
20 September 2016:<o:p
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71104"></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align:justify"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71105"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times
New Roman","serif""
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71106">“</span><span
style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; font-family:
"Times New Roman", serif;"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71107">When Professor
Armstrong
contacted me privately on 17 September, I asked him to send
me a list of the
inaccuracies he had identified. I also asked him to scan the
AVPRF documents
cited in the section of pp. 54-126. If I can see the cited
documents, it will
be easy to reconstruct which ones contain information
compatible with the
information provided in <i
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71108">Tyranny of the
Weak</i>, and which ones do not. On 17 September,
Professor Armstrong expressed
his readiness to start preparing such a list of inaccuracies
on 19 September. I
welcomed his decision. If I receive this list and the actual
Russian documents,
it will be far easier for me to decide if this matter can be
settled privately
or not.”<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71109"></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align:justify"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71110"><span
style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; font-family:
"Times New Roman", serif;"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71111"><o:p
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71112"> </o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align:justify"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71113"><span
style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; font-family:
"Times New Roman", serif;"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71114">So far I have not
received such a list, or any
scanned documents, or further private messages, from
Professor Armstrong.
Hopefully they will be provided later. In the meantime, let
me provide some
additional information in a systematized form. As it was
correctly pointed out
by a subscriber, it is more effective and less disconcerting
for readers to
collect at least some of the currently known cases of
invalid source citations
in a single downloadable table than to post them one by one.
This way the list
would not be overloaded by messages related to a single
thread. The following
table, to which readers may get access by clicking on the
links below, is a
longer and more detailed version of the list that Jiyul Kim
posted on H-Asia on
September 20, 2016. It includes 33 cases of invalid source
citations in Charles
K. Armstrong's "Tyranny of the Weak," complete with detailed
analysis
of each case (which can be opened by clicking on the links
in the table, then
clicking on the second “floating” link that appears). It
also includes a
statement of the problem and a call for further
investigation.<o:p
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71115"></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;
background-image: initial; background-position: initial;
background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial;
background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial;
background-clip: initial;"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71116"><span
style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New
Roman", serif;"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71117"><o:p
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71118"> </o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; background-image: initial;
background-position: initial; background-size: initial;
background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial;
background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71119"><span
style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New
Roman", serif;"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71120">Balazs Szalontai<o:p
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71121"></o:p></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71122"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times
New Roman","serif""
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71123"><o:p
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71124"> </o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;
background-image: initial; background-position: initial;
background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial;
background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial;
background-clip: initial;"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71125"><b
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71126"><span
style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New
Roman", serif;"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71127">LINK to SHEET</span></b><span
style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New
Roman", serif;"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71128"><o:p
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71129"></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;
background-image: initial; background-position: initial;
background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial;
background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial;
background-clip: initial;"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71130"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Segoe UI",
sans-serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71131"><o:p
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71132"> </o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;
background-image: initial; background-position: initial;
background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial;
background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial;
background-clip: initial;"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71133"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Segoe UI",
sans-serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71134"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1R28ryCj8CTlgLKJqIKLe26eFlSq5SeiPODtSQUyCTs8/edit?usp=sharing"
target="_blank" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71135"><span
style="color:#196AD4"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71136">https://docs.google.com/
spreadsheets/d/ 1R28ryCj8CTlgLKJqIKLe26eFlSq5S
eiPODtSQUyCTs8/edit?usp= sharing</span></a><o:p
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71137"></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;
background-image: initial; background-position: initial;
background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial;
background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial;
background-clip: initial;"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71138"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Segoe UI",
sans-serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71139"><o:p
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71140"> </o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;
background-image: initial; background-position: initial;
background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial;
background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial;
background-clip: initial;"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71141"><b
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71142"><span
style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New
Roman", serif;"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71143">LINK to PDF</span></b><span
style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New
Roman", serif;"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71144"><o:p
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71145"></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;
background-image: initial; background-position: initial;
background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial;
background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial;
background-clip: initial;"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71146"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Segoe UI",
sans-serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71147"><o:p
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71148"> </o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;
background-image: initial; background-position: initial;
background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial;
background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial;
background-clip: initial;"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71149"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Segoe UI",
sans-serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71150"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2Ojwug7juTIdWh0ZDJWamtmZFk/view?usp=sharing"
target="_blank" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71151"><span
style="color:#196AD4"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71152">https://drive.google.com/file/
d/
0B2Ojwug7juTIdWh0ZDJWamtmZFk/ view?usp=sharing</span></a><o:p
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71153"></o:p></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71154"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times
New Roman","serif""
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71155"><o:p
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71156"> </o:p></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71157"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times
New Roman","serif""
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71158">Best regards,<o:p
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71159"></o:p></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71160"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times
New Roman","serif""
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71161">Balazs Szalontai<o:p
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71162"></o:p></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_70737">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71163"><span
style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times New
Roman","serif""
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71164">Korea University<o:p
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474948336475_71165"></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Sheila Miyoshi Jager
Professor of East Asian Studies
Oberlin College
</pre>
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