In this lesson, students will learn how North Korea’s Kim Il Sung came to power. They will compare his actions to the tactics used by many authoritarian leaders and determine which tactics helped him achieve and maintain his power. In a writing assignment, students will identify and research other autocratic leaders (past or present) and identify the tactics they used to gain and sustain power. 

Students will do the following:

• Understand the conditions in North Korea that led to Kim Il Sung’s rise to power.
• Understand the tactics Kim Il Sung used to gain and maintain power in North Korea.
• Describe how Kim Il Sung was able to mix ideology and authoritarian tactics to achieve political goals.
• Analyze how other dynamic leaders have used authoritarian tactics to gain and maintain power. 

About the Author
Greg Timmons has been a social studies teacher for over 30 years. He has written lessons for several PBS productions, including The NewsHour; FRONTLINE; Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise; and various Ken Burns productions, such as The War, Baseball, The Central Park Five, The Roosevelts, Jackie Robinson, and The Vietnam War. He is the winner of the 2007 American Educational Publishers Award.