Fyodor Tertitskiy | |
|---|---|
| Фёдор Тертицкий | |
 Tertitskiy in January 2022 | |
| Born | (1988-08-23)23 August 1988 (age 37) Moscow, Soviet Union |
| Citizenship | Soviet Union (1988–1991), Russia (1991–2024), South Korea (2024–present)[1] |
| Alma mater | Seoul National University (PhD) |
| Occupations | Historian, scholar ofNorth Korea |
| Notable work | Accidental Tyrant: The Life of Kim Il-sung (2025);The North Korean Army: History, Structure, Daily Life (2022) |
| Father | Konstantin Tertitskiy [ru] |
Fyodor Tertitskiy (Russian:Фёдор Тертицкий; also known by his Korean nameLee Hwisung,Korean:이휘성,Hanja 李輝星; born 23 August 1988) is a Russian and South Korean historian and specialist onNorth Korea. He lives in Seoul, lectures atKorea University, and has held a research post atKookmin University's Institute for Korean Studies.[2][3]
Tertitskiy was born in Moscow in 1988. During high school, he decided to pursue a career as a scholar of North Korea.[4]He majored inKorean studies at university and moved to Seoul in 2011. He completed his master's degree at theUniversity of North Korean Studies in Seoul and earned a PhD fromSeoul National University in 2017. Tertitskiy lectures atKorea University.[5]Tertitskiy writes on North Korean political, social, and military history for outlets includingNK News andDaily NK.[2][3][6]
Tertitskiy'sAccidental Tyrant (Hurst andOxford University Press, 2025), a biography ofKim Il Sung, was reviewed by theFinancial Times,The Wall Street Journal,Foreword Reviews (which awarded it a starred review), and theAsian Review of Books. The book was also selected for theFinancial Times' 'Best summer books: History" list and included inThe Week's roundup of notable history titles for 2025.[7][8][9][10][11][12]South Korean media have credited Tertitskiy with several archival discoveries, including: a 1941 Soviet interrogation protocol of Kim Il Sung;[13] Kim Il Sung's confession regarding clandestine financial assistance toCho Bong-am, an opposition candidate in the1956 South Korean presidential election;[14] a 1969KGB report on Kim family relatives;[15] and records of talks betweenPak Song-chol andLeonid Brezhnev.[16]
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