Korean Messiah with Jonathan Cheng

April 13, 2026 - Join us for a book talk with Jonathan Cheng, author of the new history book Korean Messiah, which explores "the rise of the Kim dynasty and its surprising ties to American Christianity." In the book, Cheng, who is The Wall Street Journal's current China bureau chief and former Korea bureau chief, documents the profusion and lasting impact of Christianity in North Korea's current capital of Pyongyang, which was once described as the "Jerusalem of the East." Based on letters, diaries, and archival materials, his book reveals how the Kim regime's personality cult "traces its roots back to the Christian fervor of post–Civil War America."

Barbara Demick, author of Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, joins the conversation as a discussant. She described the book as "provocative and fascinating… Jonathan Cheng shows how this country, more hostile to religion than any in the world, was built on a bedrock of Christianity by its founder Kim Il Sung, who discarded the evangelical faith of his family and harnessed its power to create a cult of personality that has endured into the third generation."

The discussion is moderated by policy director Jonathan Corrado, and jointly produced by the Policy and the Arts and Culture teams.

This program is made possible by the generous support of the Korea Foundation and our individual and corporate members.  

This program is co-hosted by The Center for Korean Research at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University.

For more information, please visit the link below:
https://koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/2112-korean-messiah