Many years ago, when I had just started to study North Korean culture, I lost a bet to my much more experienced colleague Prof. Andrei Lankov. One day, we looked through the table of contents of an issue of the journal Choson Munhak (Korean Literature) and came across the title of a poem: “My First Love.” Prof. Lankov was positive that the poem must be about Kim Il Sung. To me, it sounded a patent nonsense. I knew that Kim Il Sung’s DPRK was often compared to Stalinist Soviet Union, and Soviet culture of the 1930s-1950s for all its politicization was full of romantic motifs and themes; even the most-stubborn dinosaur of Stalinism of the 1930s would not dare to title his poem about Stalin “My First Love.”

Much to my surprise, however, Prof. Lankov proved to be correct. The disputed verse turned to be a recollection of the poet about his first visit to the memorial in Mangyongdae, the supposed birthplace of Kim Il Sung, and the hot feeling which the young poet experienced at that exciting moment.