South Korea is in the spotlight right now with the Olympic Games going on. But what about North Korea? Right before the Olympic Games all everyone was talking about was North Korea and their missile threats to the U.S and South Korea. North Korea wasn’t always like this. It has only been for the last 80ish years. What happened you might ask? Well what happened is that Kim il sung founded what was called the Korean Workers Party in 1946 and ruled as a internal president until 1996. After his son Kim jong il took over until he died and then his son Kim jong un took over and is still presently leading the country. I’m going to talk about why Kim Il sung becoming the leader changed our would.
To look at one single event like a historian you need to break it into 6 main factors. To figure out why something is historical and why it impacted our world.
Historical Significance
More often than not people know what is history but they don’t know why we get taught it. That is where historical significance comes handy. We determine is something is historically significant looking at three main factors.
1.) How notable was the event at the time.
2.) How wide spread and lasting the consequences of the event was.
3.) If the event became symbolic or representative of key historical issues and trends.
When we look at what is historically significant of Kim il sung’s start of North Korea we think about those three things. Firstly this event was notable at the time. Prior to the start Korean Workers Party, Korea was informally divided into 2 sections after the Second World War. The south was in control by the U.S and the North was in control by the soviets. Kim il sung starting this Party was notable at the time because it was really was caused the Korean War. Secondly the consequences of this event can be seen almost 80 years later. We see still the same family. Control as a direct consequence of the Korean Workers Party. Thirdly this event has become somewhat symbolic in North Korea because it highlights Kim il sung, who birthday is celebrated as the start of the the world to North Korea. In the rest of the world the year is 2018 in North Korea it is 105, because that is how long ago Kim il sung was born.
Evidence and Interpretation 
Determining what happen a long time ago can be difficult. However that’s what the second main concept is used for. Evidence and interpretation is used to see what really happen back then using primary and secondary sources. Again you have three main concepts
1.) Can we trust the source of information?
2.) Do the sources provide evidence that is relevant to the questions we are trying to answer?
3.) Does the evidence support the interpretation offered?
When we look at the Evidence and interpretation of this event it is difficult to say what truly happened. This is because North Korea does not disclose a lot of information about this topic.
When seeing weather or not we can trust information of this event, you take a look at primary and secondary sources. We can look at what went down of the day based off of a average of what both sources say. Typically the sources do provide evidence that is relevant to this event because, primary sources lived during the “birth” of North Korea. Also secondary sources took information of what what happened at took a new perspective of it.
Continuity and Change 
The third thing a historian looks at when depicting a historical event is the continuity and change over time. what this means is what is the overall impact today. Like the previous two there are main aspects that we have to look at.
1.) How have things stay the same? And how have they changed?
2.) Where the changes negative or positive?
3.) How rapid or slow where the changes?
4.) Did it mark a turning point in history?
Similarly when looking at the change we go through the factors. Things in North Korea have stayed the same. In the sense that it is still in complete family control. Although it has changed when somewhat because it is no longer Kim il sung in charge. While determining if the changes where negative or positive it depends on who you ask. While America might see the changes negatively, Russia or North Korea might see them positively. The changes that resulted from the Korean Workers Party where quite rapid because it lead to Kim il sung becoming the leader. Also it definitely marked a turning point in history because it changed the way the world looked at North Korea.
Cause and Consequence 
Another important thing historians think about while looking at past historical events is the Cause and consequence the event had. Again there are main factors we look at.
1.) The range of factors contributing to the event.
2.) What was the most influential cause?
3.) what were the unintended and intended consequences?
There were many contributing factors to why Kim il sung became the self proclaimed president of North Korea. The main one being the divide between South Korea (in U.S control) and North Korea (in soviet control). The most influential cause from Kim il sung becoming the founder of North Korea was the complete family control he had. Unlike many places in the world North Korea is in totalitarian control. One of the main Intended consequence from this was like I just said to become in complete control. An unintended consequence was for South Korea and North Korea going to war. They went to war because South Korea did not want to be a part of the Korean Workers Party
Historical Perspective
The fifth thing you need to look when taking a historical lens is His historical perspective. This basically means that we have to take a historical perspective of the event we’re looking at,
not the perspective that we usually look at past events.
1.) Using the values of the time that the event took place to interpret It.
2.) Are the interpretations representative of the believes, practises and values at the time?
When looking at North Korea beginnings the people did allow Kim il sung to become the president. This is because their values reflected of what the soviet valued. So the N.Korean people did not mind the complete control at the time. For the second part of historical perspective the beliefs and values where represented for the same reason.
Ethical Judgement
The last thing historian look at when looking at past events is ethical judgement. The basic premise following this is was it right or fair for this to happen?
1.) Are there any ethical judgments?
– clear praise or blame
2.) Do the judgements consider?
– the interest of key groups
– the beliefs at the time
While looking at North Koreas ethical judgement it really depends who you ask. Most people not in N.Korea don’t find the dictatorship very ethical. Although if you look at it through the lens of a citizen they might see it differently. The people of North Korea now days most don’t mind or openly mind about the complete control. However back in the day most people where on board with what was going on.
I always thought history was the the study of the past. Well that’s the denotation, but many people have a connotation that’s different. A wise person once said without history we are nothing, and after studying in depth about history I have shifted my connotation on the word. History has never been my most favourite thing to study, although after learning that there’s so much more to it than I thought it’s got a little cooler. If we take in count all of the six factors we can understand why something are in a history book and somethings aren’t. That’s the cool part history literally is the study of the past, but when we break it down it’s so much more than that..
