The history of Korean Communism has long been obscured by the myth making of anticommunist regimes in the South, but also in the North, where Korean leftists outside of the partisan tradition have been erased. In the first part of this interview with historian Owen Miller, we uncover the birthplace of Korean communism in the expatriate communities in Siberia and Manchuria, review how fair Korean communists reputation for factionalism was, and their stubborn rise through the height of Japanese repression.

Owen Miler is a professor at SOAS University of London. His current research interests include: the social and economic history of 19th and 20th century Korea; urban history; Korean nationalist and Marxist historiographies; the economic history of North Korea; and state formation in Northeast Asia.

You can find him on twitter @SOASModernKorea or at his faculty page here: https://www.soas.ac.uk/staff/staff31439.php