A Survey of Soviet Publications on Korea, 1950–56

Abstract

In the six-year period from 1950 to 1956 a considerable number of books articles, and pamphlets on Korea were published in the Soviet Union. Although some of these items were noted in the Library of Congress bibliography of Russian language works in August 1950, and although a few have been mentioned in subsequent surveys of Soviet publications on the Far East, there has been no recent attempt to describe and assess in general terms the total Soviet output on the subject of Korea since the North Korean Communist invasion brought war and world attention to the peninsula. Such a general survey is the main objective of the present study. A secondary aim is to present a tentative report on the present state of Korean studies in the Soviet Union. The present survey is by no means all inclusive; Soviet newspapers are not discussed; some items known to exist have not been available for inspection; others unknown undoubtedly lie buried in the voluminous pages of Soviet periodical literature. Nevertheless it is believed that the scrutinized sample of Soviet writings on Korea has been adequate for the presentation of an accurate general picture.