Notes on North Korean Sources
Sources can be found on the top right of the page.
Introduction
Chosŏn ryŏksa chidoch’ŏp (Atlas of Korean History) (1956) and Chosŏn ryŏksa chidoch’ŏp: kodae, chungse p’yŏn (Atlas of Korean History: Ancient and Medieval Times) (1961) are rare materials that provide a glimpse into North Korean history education in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The atlases are a valuable tool to analyze the Korean history curriculum at the middle school (chunghakkyo) level. The two books are unlikely to be preserved in public DPRK collections, since many parts of their content (like the location of the Ancient Chosŏn state, etc.) has been revised. The books are also not found in libraries outside of the DPRK due to the general ban on any export of teaching materials and textbooks. The publications were acquired by Jaroslav Bařinka (1931–2020) while he was part of the Czechoslovakian embassy in Pyongyang from 1955 to 1959 and during his research stay at the Academy of Sciences between 1960 and 1961.
1956 Atlas of Korean History
The 1956 Atlas of Korean History contains forty-five historical maps chronologically arranged from prehistorical times to the liberation of the Korean Peninsula in 1945. While most maps are full-page pictures, ten pages contain multiple maps or more detailed insets of certain areas (cities, ports, etc.). As the authors of the atlas indicate in their short introduction, the book presents maps showing the “distribution of material relics, territorial changes, wars, uprisings and strikes, administrative divisions, and international relations.”
Included Maps
Locations of primitive communal society material relics
Ancient states
Development of the Three Kingdoms at the end of the fourth century
Fourth and fifth century Three Kingdoms territorial changes
Three Kingdoms from the middle of the sixth to the middle of the seventh century
Koguryŏ repulsion of Sui and Tang invasions
Relics in the Pyongyang area and Ji’an Koguryŏ relics
Relics in Puyŏ and Kongju areas
Silla unification war
Silla administrative division during the eighth century
Silla international relations during the eighth and ninth century
Ninth century Parhae
Peasant uprisings and Koryŏ unification war
Relics in the Kyŏngju area
Locations of Three Kingdoms and Unified Silla material relics
Koryŏ ten provinces and twelve special counties
Koryŏ five provinces and two frontier regions
Koryŏ repulsion of Khitan invasions
Koryŏ, Song, Jin, Liao, Parhae and Western Xia international relations during the eleventh century
Peasants’ uprisings at the end of the twelfth century
Koryŏ territory during the resistance against Yuan invasions
Relics in the Kaesŏng and Kanghwa areas
Repulsion of Red Turbans and Japanese pirate invasions
Administrative division of the later fourteenth and early fifteenth century
Establishment of Four Counties and Six Garrisons
Administrative division during the sixteenth and seventeenth century
1467 Hamgyŏng peasants’ uprising
Four Abolished Counties, Three Ports for trade with Japan
1592–1598 Patriotic War (two plates)
Relics in the Seoul area
Old map of Seoul (around 1861)
1811–1812 Peasant War in Pyŏngan Province
Mid-nineteenth-century East Asian international relations
1862 Peasants’ uprisings; incursions of foreign ships in the middle of the nineteenth century
Attacks of US and French fleets (1866–1871)
Areas of peasants’ uprisings before the Peasants’ War in 1894
Peasants’ War in 1894
Anti-Japanese volunteers’ struggle (1905–1907)
Anti-Japanese volunteers’ struggle (1907–1910)
March First Independence Movement
1921–1935 workers’ strikes and tenant farmers’ struggles
Anti-Japanese guerrilla war under the leadership of Marshal Kim Ilsŏng
Organisation and branches of the Fatherland Restoration Association (1935–1945)
Liberation by the Soviet Army
1961 Atlas of Korean History: Ancient and Medieval Times
The 1961 Atlas of Korean History: Ancient and Medieval Times covers Korean history from prehistorical times to the 1811–1812 Peasant War in Pyŏngan Province. It contains twenty-six plates with four pages containing multiple maps or detailed insets on particular areas or cities. The list of maps is as follows:
Locations of primitive communal society material relics
Ancient tribes (chongjok) and states
Development of the Three Kingdoms at the end of the fourth century
Three Kingdoms from the middle of the sixth to the middle of the seventh century
Koguryŏ repulsion of Sui and Tang invasions
Relics in the Pyongyang area
Relics in the Ji’an, Puyŏ, Kongju areas
Silla unification war
Silla international relations during the eighth and ninth century
Silla administrative division during the eighth century
Late ninth and early tenth-century peasants’ uprisings
Relics in the Kyŏngju area
Locations of Three Kingdoms and Unified Silla material relics
Koryŏ unification war
Koryŏ five provinces and two frontier regions
Koryŏ repulsion of Khitan invasions
Peasants’ uprisings at the end of the twelfth century
Thirteenth- and fourteenth-century resistance to Mongol invasions
Relics in the Kaesŏng area
Fifteenth- and sixteenth-century administrative division
1467 Hamgyŏng peasants’ uprising
1592–1598 Patriotic War (1), 1592–1593
1592–1598 Patriotic War (2), Yi Sunsin’s fleet battles
1592–1598 Patriotic War (3), 1597–1598
Relics in the Seoul area
1811–1812 Peasants’ War in Pyŏngan Province
Book Structure
Content form and media type area
Title and statement of responsibility area, consisting of:
Title proper: Chosŏn ryŏksa chidoch’ŏp 조선 력사 지도첩
Parallel title
Other title information: ch’ogŭp chunghakkyo mit kogŭp chunghakkyo yong 초급 중학교 및 고급 중학교 용
Statement of responsibility: Ch’ae Hŭiguk, Ri Yongjung, Kim Saŏk, Kim Kyŏngin
Edition area
Material or type of resource specific area (e.g. the scale of a map or the numbering of a periodical)
Publication, production, distribution, etc., area
Material description area (e.g. number of pages in a book or number of CDs issued as a unit)
Series area
Notes area
Resource identifier and terms of availability area, e.g. ISBN, ISSN
Bibliographic Entries
Chosŏn ryŏksa chidoch’ŏp (Atlas of Korean History) / Ch’ae Hŭiguk, Ri Yongjung, Kim Saŏk, Kim Kyŏngin. Pyongyang: Kyoyuk tosŏ ch’ulp’ansa, 1956. ii, 45 pages: 45 illustrations; 30×22 cm. No ISBN; DPRK number ㄱ—30353; DPRK wŏn 91.00; 40 000 copies.
Chosŏn ryŏksa chidoch’ŏp: kodae, chungse p’yŏn (Atlas of Korean History: Ancient and Medieval Times) / ??. 2nd edition. Pyongyang: Kyoyuk tosŏ ch’ulp’ansa, 1956. i, 26 pages: ?? illustrations; 25.5×18 cm. No ISBN; DPRK number 교—1215; DPRK wŏn 71.00; 66 000 copies.
Citation
@article{glomb2025,
author = {Glomb, Vladimir},
title = {Notes on {North} {Korean} {Sources}},
journal = {Korean Histories},
pages = {47 - 48},
date = {2025-07-04},
url = {khjournal.com/archives/volumes/2025/glomb.html},
langid = {en}
}